GCSE languages “too hard”

I think GCSE's are now much harder than Olevels once were. But the demise of languge teaching can't be seperated from the lack of foreign language teachers
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-47421735

I think the harder marking talked about in the Guardian article (based on a letter from academics in MFL) is inevitably going to put students off, especially at A level. If you know you are likely to get a lower grade then why would you risk it? When you combine that with grade inflation from native speakers, problems in recruitment and retention of teachers and often a general lack of interest in other languages from parents, then you can see why there is a problem.
From the Guardian article:
"At A-level the situation is even starker, down by more than one-third in French and 45% in German since 2010. As a result, the number going on to study languages at university in the UK has also fallen 12% since 2013, causing growing numbers of universities to cut back or even scrap language degrees.
Part of the reason for these declines is both the difficulty of languages compared with other subjects and what many experts believe is harsh marking. This means that at GCSE, languages have typically been marked half a grade more severely than other Ebacc subjects. And the introduction of new GCSEs has made the problem worse."

I think that UK pupils often don't see the need for mfl as the prioritize getting a better grade in subjects deemed "easier".

UK students specialize very early so a lot of subjects are dropped after age 14 - to focus on 7-10 GCSE subjects. Other countries do not allow you to drop subjects. For example a Swedish school certificate consists of 17 compulsory subjects.

Also in other countries there is a much higher expectation that students will be able to read texts in other languages at University - even if they are not language students. I know a Nordic qualified doctor who, at medical school, had compulsory textbooks in Swedish, Danish, English and German.