The tables below provide a list of foreign 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. (Here, a
foreign language means any language other than
English, and includes
American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...
.)
Lists
Below are the top foreign 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.
K-12
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.
List of top five most commonly learned languages by year
Grades K-12
Higher education
See also
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Language education in the United States
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Less Commonly Taught Languages
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French language in the United States
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German language in the United States
Over 50 million Americans claim German ancestry, which makes them the largest single claimed ancestry group in the United States. Around 1.06 million people in the United States speak the German language at home. It is the second most spoken ...
*
Italian language in the United States
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Spanish language in the United States
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of ...
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World language
References
External links
Enrollments in languages other than English Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...
2004–05 Language Enrollment Totals by State Forbes
{{Language education
Language education in the United States
United States