Capisci?

Another language calls for four basic skills. In ascending order of difficulty they are: reading, listening, speaking, writing.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has cancelled the requirement for demonstrating the capacity to listen and to speak in the foreign language being learned, under examination conditions. It has been ruled too stressful for examination candidates.

I wonder how candidates will get on in Florence railway station asking for a ticket and holding up an irate queue of equally stressed commuters? Not to speak of being questioned by the police, a regular occurrence for English visitors to Europe these days as they mislay infant children, boyfriends, and fellow students, after a couple of bottles of wine.