Nearly two-thirds of businesses in the UK want to recruit staff with foreign language skills. French is still the most highly prized language, but Spanish and Mandarin speakers are more【C1】______ demand than in the past. Katja Hall, deputy director-general of Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said that, 【C2】______ the EU was the UK"s largest export market, it was no surprise to see European languages so【C3】______valued. "【C4】______ with China and Latin America seeing solid growth, ambitious firms want the language skills that can【C5】______the path into new markets," she said. The 2014 annual education and skills survey by the CBI and Pearson, the educational 【C6】______that owns the Financial Times, 【C7】______that 41 percent of the 291 companies surveyed across the UK【C8】______ knowledge of a foreign language was 【C9】______to their business. European languages—French, German and Spanish—still【C10】______the list in terms of desirability, but these were closely【C11】______by Mandarin and Arabic. Ms Hall said it was【C12】______whether recent government initiatives to encourage language learning in schools would have any 【C13】______. "It has been a【C14】______to see foreign language study in our schools under pressure with one in five schools having a 【C15】______ low take-up of languages," she said. "Young people【C16】______their future subject choices should be made more【C17】______of the benefits to their careers that can 【C18】______from studying a foreign language." The number of students studying foreign languages has【C19】______in the past decade. In January, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills said the number of "skills shortage vacancies" had risen from 16 per cent of all【C20】______ in 2009 to 22 per cent in 2013. 【C20】