London needs to speak every language

English is just one of my tongues. I speak several Indian languages, Swahili and some French. Most immigrants are similarly multilingual. How does that diminish our nation? Why is it a problem if Precious comes in speaking a bit of, say, Polish or Punjabi? International research repeatedly shows that a child who speaks his/her mother tongue is in no way handicapped when acquiring another language, and may become proficient faster.

I used to teach English as a Foreign Language. Among my enthusiastic pupils were a Saudi princess, an Iranian scientist, a Brazilian forester, the Hungarian who invented the Rubik Cube; a Czech film-maker, an Italian interior designer and Swiss and Japanese businessmen. They were eager to add English to their linguistic repertoire and were baffled by wilfully monolingual Britons. Jaroslav, the Czech, asked in class: " Why do they not want to learn other languages, these English? Are they afraid of something?" It was a good question. Perhaps it is fear of bedlam that makes traditionalists panic so when surrounded by words they don't understand, but it is their loss.

The issue goes way beyond words. Our cities have been revived by incomers and they, in turn, have been invigorated by British inventiveness. Increasingly exposed to lingo not their own, British children will learn to negotiate with and find inspiration in cultures their parents avoided.

Last week I chaired an event in Shoreditch Town Hall organised by the Design Museum, asking why London attracts so many creative people. More than 600 young Londoners came to praise their city; they spoke dozens of languages between them. Likewise everyone on the panel, including designer and artist Hussein Chalayan, Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic, architect Farshid Moussavi and playwright Bola Agbaje, were all at least bilingual.

Language puritanism is not cool and not clever. Taken to its logical end, it would mean no opera, no Bollywood movies, no French menus, no chicken tikka masala, no Polish builders, no Congolese carers, no Chinese entrepreneurs. The future belongs to those who embrace such diversity: in London, thankfully, they are growing up fast.