The line chart compares the number of 13-year-old students in a school in England choosing the two different languages, namely French and Mandarin from 2000 to 2010.
What is most striking when looking at the data is that French remained the dominant language throughout the period, despite a downward trend in student enrolment , whereas Mandarin saw a steady rise. It is also important to note that both languages had nearly the same number of students at the end of the period , reflecting a shift in language preferences among 13-year-old students.
Looking at the first 5 years, around 150 students preferred French in 2000, which was far higher than that for Mandarin with fewer than 10 students choosing to study. Thereafter, however, the number of French learners dropped dramatically to approximately 90 students in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, the figure for Mandarin rose steadily to nearly 80 students in 2005.
Concerning the rest of the period, after recovering to exactly 100 students, the number of students registering French gradually declined again to roughly 90 students. In contrast, the figure for Mandarin hovered around 70 students before increasing slightly to nearly 80 students in 2010, which, despite a modest rise, was still lower than the number of students selecting French.