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
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 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. (Here, a
foreign language
A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...
means any language other than
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, and includes
American Sign Language.)
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
*
Language education in the United States
Language education in the United States has historically involved teaching American English to immigrants; and Spanish, French, Latin, Italian or German to native English speakers. Bilingual education was sponsored in some districts, often conte ...
*
Less Commonly Taught Languages Less Commonly Taught Languages (or LCTLs) is a designation used in the United States for languages ''other than'' the most commonly taught foreign languages in US public schools. The term covers a wide array of world languages (other than English) ...
*
French language in the United States
The French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. Roughly 2.1 million Americans over the age of five reported speaking the language at home in a federal 2010 estimate, making French the fourth most-spoken language in the ...
*
German language in the United States
*
Italian language in the United States
An important part of Italian American identity, the Italian language has been widely spoken in the United States of America for more than one hundred years, due to large-scale immigration beginning in the late 19th century. Since the 1980s, howe ...
*
Spanish language in the United States
*
World language
In sociolinguistics, a world language (sometimes global language, rarely international language) is a language that is geographically widespread and makes it possible for members of different language communities to communicate. The term may also b ...
References
External links
Enrollments in languages other than English Modern Language Association
2004–05 Language Enrollment Totals by State Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
{{Language education
Language education in the United States
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 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...