List of most commonly learned second languages in the United States
The tables below provide a list of second languages most frequently taught in American schools and colleges. They reflect the popularity of these languages in terms of the total number of enrolled students in the United States .
Lists
Below are the top second languages studied in public K-12 schools (i.e., primary and secondary schools). The tables correspond to the 18.5% (some 8.9 million) of all K-12 students in the U.S. (about 49 million) who take foreign-language classes.[1]
K-12
K-12 students (2007-2008)
Rank
Language
Enrollments
Percentage
1
Spanish
6,418,331
72.06%
2
French
1,254,243
14.08%
3
German
395,019
4.43%
4
Latin
205,158
2.30%
5
Japanese
72,845
0.82%
6
Chinese
59,860
0.67%
7
Russian
12,389
0.14%
Others[2]
489,356
5.49%
Total
8,907,201
100%
Colleges and universities
Below are the top foreign languages studied in American institutions of higher education (i.e., colleges and universities), based on fall 2016 enrollments.[3]
College and university students (2021)
Rank
Language
Enrollments
1
Spanish
584,453
2
French
135,088
3
American Sign Language
107,899
4
Japanese
65,661
5
German
53,543
6
Chinese
46,492
7
Italian
45,182
8
Arabic
22,918
9
Latin
19,472
10
Korean
19,270
11
Russian
17,598
12
Greek, Ancient
11,433
13
Hebrew, Biblical
10,442
14
Portuguese
7,684
15
Hebrew, Modern
4,125
Others
31,302
Total
1,182,562
List of top five most commonly learned languages by year
Grades K-12
Year
Languages
1
%
2
%
3
%
4
%
5
%
2004–2005
Spanish
72.9
French
15.0
German
4.2
Latin
2.6
Japanese
0.7
[1]
2007–2008
Spanish
72.1
French
14.1
German
4.4
Latin
2.3
Japanese
0.8
[1]
Higher education
Year
Languages
1
2
3
4
5
1960
French
Spanish
German
Russian
Italian
[3]
1968
French
Spanish
German
Russian
Latin
1980
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Latin
1990
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
1995
Spanish
French
German
Japanese
Italian
1998
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
2002
Spanish
French
German
Italian
American Sign
2006
Spanish
French
German
American Sign
Italian
2009
Spanish
French
German
American Sign
Italian
2013
Spanish
French
American Sign
German
Italian
2016
Spanish
French
American Sign
German
Japanese
2021
Spanish
French
American Sign
Japanese
German
See also
References
^ a b c "Foreign Language Enrollments in K–12 Public Schools" (PDF) . American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). February 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2015 .
^ "Others" includes (in order of quantity) Native American languages, Korean, Filipino, Arabic, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Hebrew, Polish, Turkish, Swahili and Hindi.
^ a b Looney, Dennis; Lusin, Natalia (February 2018). "Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016 Preliminary Report" (PDF) . Modern Language Association. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
4. Lusin, Natalia, Peterson, Terri, Sulewski, Christine, Zafer, Rizwana (2023) https://www.mla.org/content/download/191324/file/Enrollments-in-Languages-Other-Than-English-in-US-Institutions-of-Higher-Education-Fall-2021.pdf . Modern Language Association. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
External links
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