PUPILS from a Stirling secondary school recently had the chance to engage with businesses and hear why language skills are important.

Youngsters from St Modan's High School joined 140 S3 students from across Scotland at the Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh for a Business Brunch with Scotland's National Centre for Languages (SCILT).

They heard from a range of business leaders who view language skills as key to growth and success in their companies.

Leading one of the workshops on the day was Sonia Valcarcel from VisitScotland. She said: “Speaking another language made me free to travel around the world, meet amazing people and work in some great jobs within the tourism sector.

“I would encourage all the young people attending today to consider language skills seriously when planning for their future.”

Other companies attending included Asia Scotland Institute, National Galleries Scotland, National Library of Scotland, GlobalScot and the China-Britain Business Council.

SCILT director Fhiona Mackay added: “Events such as these are a really important way of providing young people with high quality careers advice delivered by the business people themselves and of demonstrating to them the value of language skills in our increasingly globalised world.”