SIR – On January 31, the T&A revealed that in Bradford there are 24,000 people who speak little or no English.

Add the people whose English is just poor and you can double that number. No wonder we spend a fortune on interpreters and translators.

Then, on February 5, children seem to be urged to learn Mandarin. Is there a problem with priorities?

Surely people living in Britain should learn English. After that, major European languages are ever more useful in business.

Perhaps learning Mandarin should be relegated to a hobby activity, at least until we get relatively local communications up to a reasonable standard.

L A Hobsbaum, Willow Crescent, Bradford