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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

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K-12

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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 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

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Below are the top foreign languages studied in American institutions of higher education (i.e., colleges and universities), based on the Modern Language Association's census of fall 2021 enrollments.[3]: 49 

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
Less Commonly Taught Languages 31,302
Total 1,182,562

List of top five most commonly learned languages by year

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Grades K-12

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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

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Year Languages
1 2 3 4 5
1960 French Spanish German Russian Italian [4]
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

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References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Others" includes (in order of quantity) Native American languages, Korean, Filipino, Arabic, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Hebrew, Polish, Turkish, Swahili and Hindi.
  3. ^ Modern Language Association (2023). "Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in US Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2021" (PDF). Modern Language Association. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  4. ^ 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.
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