Other than English, what language do people in your country choose to study?
April 4, 2026
I guess German or French for the size of their countries and economies.
36 comments
From what I see, it’s usually the language of their heritage if that makes sense?
For example, I have met so many people who are Pakistani by heritage, but don’t know a word of Urdu and are pretty much as British as British gets. So they try to learn it.
Spanish, German, Greek, French, Latin are the common ones.
Depends on the person and the school they go to
In schools its mostly French, German and Spanish but very few also learn Mandarin, Welsh, Irish, Latin and Ancient Greek.
We study some regional dialects. I mean, when you already speak Spanish and English the base is covered. We could try Chinese but man, have you ever tried to learn Chinese!?
Here in Portugal, French is usually a fairly studied language. It has been replaced by English in the 80/90’s as the main secondary language on the national education system, but is still taught in many schools. That is also useful, since there is a big Portuguese diaspora living in France.
Spanish is also becoming more common to find at schools, followed by German (although we struggle a lot with that).
Outside of the traditional educational system, Asian languages are gaining traction and, considering our big immigrant comunity native from former colonies, Portuguese Creole is also to be found (but mainly in the biggest cities)
In school children in 4th grade can choose to take Italian or German classes (some schools have both, some have just one, but either way it’s optional whether they want to take that class or not). However, in many high schools second foreign language is obligatory (again, most often German or Italian). Outside of school, I think these two languages are also very popular, alongside French and maybe Spanish.
Scotland has about 1.5% Scots Gaelic speakers.
Ireland has similar numbers. Irish Gaelic is a mandatory subject in school until age 18. But most people don’t speak it fluently.
Everyone gets to pick between French, German or Spanish. Sometimes schools offer other choices like Japanese, Chinese, Persian or Portuguese. Usually because they also offer home languages for students with other native languages. Then they have hired a teacher to do that, but since that might not be that many students they can also offer to teach classes for other students too.
Here in Bulgaria it used to be German, French and Spanish, but there seem to be more and more people who also speak Dutch having gone to uni there. Of course, there is also a chunk of the population who learn Turkish at home.
Flanders (Belgium). English is mandatory, as well as French. In some school German and Spanish are teached as well. Sometimes Italian.
French, German and Spanish are the most common, and I think schools has to offer at least two of them. Some schools add other languages too, like Italian or Japanese. We also have native language education which is for students who speak another language at home than Swedish.
Choose? We have to.
Dutch, English, German, French and for the advanced kids Latin and/or Spanish.
Hardly any of it sticks with most though.
The other type of Norwegian first of all. Nynorsk or bokmål depending on where you live. After that German and French is most prevalent in school. Italian, Spanish and other languages is also taught many places, but that’s not as common.
German, because they’re our neighbors, french and spanish, because a lot of people speak those languages.
In Germany it is mostly French, Spanish and Latin. The highest level of secondary education (Abitur) requires students to study a second foreign language from year 6-10. Ofc, schools can also offer other languages such as Italian and Greek etc. I had a teacher who had Russian listed as her subject but she never offered any classes at my school.
Additionally, there are regional minority languages that have their own subject in local school. Low German, Danish and Sorbian is what comes to my mind right now, not sure if there is anything else in the south.
Swedish is mandatory in the curriculum. In addition to that, Spanish, German and French are probably the top three.
Though it is my impression that very few young people choose to study additional languages at school today.
Besides the obvious answer of German, I think French and Latin are still the most commonly taught languages in schools after English.
Spanish and Italian are also semi-popular. Some people study Japanese and (to a lesser extent, I feel) Chinese and Korean, but mostly outside of school.
And of course there are (grand-)children of immigrants learning the languages of wherever their families are from – Turkish, Italian,…
In high school usually German or France. There are also options for Spanish, Frisian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Chinese, Latin, Arabic, Turkish and Russian. But it depends on the school if it’s offered or not.
Edit: At the beginning of high school I had 6 languages: Dutch, English, German, France, Latin and Ancient Greek. I dropped as much as I could (because I’m not very good and languages) and did exams in Dutch, English and Latin.
French was always the ‘main’ foreign language taught in British schools, maybe German too.
Often you don’t get a choice which one you study. There were 8 tutor groups in my year at school. Half of us did German and the other half did French.
We start secondary school at 11 so you get maybe 3 years of learning a language before it becomes an optional course. IIRC we had the first languages trip to Germany in 20 years at my school, because all the others were to France! So there’s little chance to actually practice your language skills, either.
There are also the other native languages in the UK. I was taught Welsh between the ages of 7 and 14, but I live in a mainly English-speaking area of Wales. So again, there was little chance to actually practice things outside of school.
Welsh has also been a compulsory language here in Wales until the age of 16 since we had devolution in 1999.
Here in Ireland, we all have to learn Irish in school from ages 5-18. Although, it’s not taught very well and as a result only a small percentage can speak it fluently.
Most people also take a “modern foreign language”, e.g. Spanish, French or German, in secondary school.
The second language after English is definitely German, we are bordering Germany and Austria and there are strong business connections. The third tier is shared among Russian, French and Spanish, I’m not sure which one is the most popular right now.
For Iceland: The usual choice is French or German (we don’t get a choice for Danish, that’s compulsory like English).
Spanish is also popular.
At the school I went to, Latin and Ancient Greek were also options. Alas, I only took Latin.
French, Latin, Spanish and in border regions sometimes the language of the bordering nation.
So Polish, Czech, Italian, Dutch and Danish.
Yes I know we have Luxembourg as well, but tbh, I don’t know anyone who speaks Luxembourgish. Same for Flemish and Romansh. Sorry.
French most of the time, sometimes German. (And of course, the cooficial languages in the respective regions, e.g., Catalonia, Basque Country, Valencian Community and Galicia.)
My middle school in Bulgaria offered Russian, French, German and English (British English, not American). I chose Russian but don’t remember pretty much anything from it.
I went to high school in the US and it offered alot more variety – Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese..We even had ASL (American Sign Language) classes. I took Japanese all four years of high school.
English and Irish are mandatory. My school mandated Latin for a year – I’m not sure about other schools.
French or Spanish are quite common, and German is on the decline.
In Germany english is always the first foreign language at school. If you do a second you usually have a choice of at least 2 depending on your school. Most common would be latin and french but some schools offer spanish and old greek, sometimes italian.
German is very popular in Hungary because since the UK left the EU Germany and Austria are the primary targets for people leaving the country.
English is usually not something you choose to study. It’s basically mandatory for everyone, usually from the age of 7. Then comes the mandatory Swedish from the age of 12.
Nowadays it’s quite rare to choose an optional foreign language but the most common ones are German, Spanish and French. Russian has declined significantly.
In Wales Welsh is mandatory until you leave school, but for the optional ones it is French, Mandarin, German, Spanish, Latin, and I don’t know any others.
Students, during middle school, are asked to pick between Spanish and German, they usually keep that choice until the end of high school (they can change but the overwhelming majority chooses to not)
Most pick Spanish
When I was at school, we mainly learnt English; in much of the south-west, we learnt Spanish; in the south-east, Italian; and in the north-east, German. Now, as far as I know, German is losing ground. The two main languages studied are English and Spanish.
According to [statistics](https://nyak.oh.gov.hu/doc/stat/stat_disp.asp?strID=D0) 85% of the certified language exams taken in 2025 in Hungary were some level of English. German had a 12% share and everything else was below 1% (including the Hungarian language exams – mostly done by foreigners living here).
Swedish as it’s mandatory. From unmandated German and Spanish pretty much. Spanish is seen as cool for travelling, whereas German is useful in work-life
French is less common, but still a thing. Italian as well, but even rarer
english and irish are mandatory, then 1 other language is too. most schools would offer either french or german and let the student pick which one they wanted, but there are other languages that could fulfill the requirement. in my school german was the overwhelmingly more popular choice, but the teacher we had owned awards for it so that might’ve been a factor lol. i think a majority of people found german easier than french also though
In general German and Spanish, with the latter having become way more fashionable to learn over time (and easier for a Pole at that).
In my high school, apart from English, there was German, Spanish, French and Russian to choose from. At university there was the same set plus Italian, but it was rare that someone chose it, there was only one Italian group. French would generally have the third place.
36 comments
From what I see, it’s usually the language of their heritage if that makes sense?
For example, I have met so many people who are Pakistani by heritage, but don’t know a word of Urdu and are pretty much as British as British gets. So they try to learn it.
Spanish, German, Greek, French, Latin are the common ones.
Depends on the person and the school they go to
In schools its mostly French, German and Spanish but very few also learn Mandarin, Welsh, Irish, Latin and Ancient Greek.
We study some regional dialects. I mean, when you already speak Spanish and English the base is covered. We could try Chinese but man, have you ever tried to learn Chinese!?
Here in Portugal, French is usually a fairly studied language. It has been replaced by English in the 80/90’s as the main secondary language on the national education system, but is still taught in many schools. That is also useful, since there is a big Portuguese diaspora living in France.
Spanish is also becoming more common to find at schools, followed by German (although we struggle a lot with that).
Outside of the traditional educational system, Asian languages are gaining traction and, considering our big immigrant comunity native from former colonies, Portuguese Creole is also to be found (but mainly in the biggest cities)
In school children in 4th grade can choose to take Italian or German classes (some schools have both, some have just one, but either way it’s optional whether they want to take that class or not). However, in many high schools second foreign language is obligatory (again, most often German or Italian). Outside of school, I think these two languages are also very popular, alongside French and maybe Spanish.
Scotland has about 1.5% Scots Gaelic speakers.
Ireland has similar numbers. Irish Gaelic is a mandatory subject in school until age 18. But most people don’t speak it fluently.
Everyone gets to pick between French, German or Spanish. Sometimes schools offer other choices like Japanese, Chinese, Persian or Portuguese. Usually because they also offer home languages for students with other native languages. Then they have hired a teacher to do that, but since that might not be that many students they can also offer to teach classes for other students too.
Here in Bulgaria it used to be German, French and Spanish, but there seem to be more and more people who also speak Dutch having gone to uni there. Of course, there is also a chunk of the population who learn Turkish at home.
Flanders (Belgium). English is mandatory, as well as French. In some school German and Spanish are teached as well. Sometimes Italian.
French, German and Spanish are the most common, and I think schools has to offer at least two of them. Some schools add other languages too, like Italian or Japanese. We also have native language education which is for students who speak another language at home than Swedish.
Choose? We have to.
Dutch, English, German, French and for the advanced kids Latin and/or Spanish.
Hardly any of it sticks with most though.
The other type of Norwegian first of all. Nynorsk or bokmål depending on where you live. After that German and French is most prevalent in school. Italian, Spanish and other languages is also taught many places, but that’s not as common.
German, because they’re our neighbors, french and spanish, because a lot of people speak those languages.
In Germany it is mostly French, Spanish and Latin. The highest level of secondary education (Abitur) requires students to study a second foreign language from year 6-10. Ofc, schools can also offer other languages such as Italian and Greek etc. I had a teacher who had Russian listed as her subject but she never offered any classes at my school.
Additionally, there are regional minority languages that have their own subject in local school. Low German, Danish and Sorbian is what comes to my mind right now, not sure if there is anything else in the south.
Swedish is mandatory in the curriculum. In addition to that, Spanish, German and French are probably the top three.
Though it is my impression that very few young people choose to study additional languages at school today.
Besides the obvious answer of German, I think French and Latin are still the most commonly taught languages in schools after English.
Spanish and Italian are also semi-popular. Some people study Japanese and (to a lesser extent, I feel) Chinese and Korean, but mostly outside of school.
And of course there are (grand-)children of immigrants learning the languages of wherever their families are from – Turkish, Italian,…
In high school usually German or France. There are also options for Spanish, Frisian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Chinese, Latin, Arabic, Turkish and Russian. But it depends on the school if it’s offered or not.
Edit: At the beginning of high school I had 6 languages: Dutch, English, German, France, Latin and Ancient Greek. I dropped as much as I could (because I’m not very good and languages) and did exams in Dutch, English and Latin.
French was always the ‘main’ foreign language taught in British schools, maybe German too.
Often you don’t get a choice which one you study. There were 8 tutor groups in my year at school. Half of us did German and the other half did French.
We start secondary school at 11 so you get maybe 3 years of learning a language before it becomes an optional course. IIRC we had the first languages trip to Germany in 20 years at my school, because all the others were to France! So there’s little chance to actually practice your language skills, either.
There are also the other native languages in the UK. I was taught Welsh between the ages of 7 and 14, but I live in a mainly English-speaking area of Wales. So again, there was little chance to actually practice things outside of school.
Welsh has also been a compulsory language here in Wales until the age of 16 since we had devolution in 1999.
Here in Ireland, we all have to learn Irish in school from ages 5-18. Although, it’s not taught very well and as a result only a small percentage can speak it fluently.
Most people also take a “modern foreign language”, e.g. Spanish, French or German, in secondary school.
The second language after English is definitely German, we are bordering Germany and Austria and there are strong business connections. The third tier is shared among Russian, French and Spanish, I’m not sure which one is the most popular right now.
For Iceland: The usual choice is French or German (we don’t get a choice for Danish, that’s compulsory like English).
Spanish is also popular.
At the school I went to, Latin and Ancient Greek were also options. Alas, I only took Latin.
French, Latin, Spanish and in border regions sometimes the language of the bordering nation.
So Polish, Czech, Italian, Dutch and Danish.
Yes I know we have Luxembourg as well, but tbh, I don’t know anyone who speaks Luxembourgish. Same for Flemish and Romansh. Sorry.
French most of the time, sometimes German. (And of course, the cooficial languages in the respective regions, e.g., Catalonia, Basque Country, Valencian Community and Galicia.)
My middle school in Bulgaria offered Russian, French, German and English (British English, not American). I chose Russian but don’t remember pretty much anything from it.
I went to high school in the US and it offered alot more variety – Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese..We even had ASL (American Sign Language) classes. I took Japanese all four years of high school.
English and Irish are mandatory. My school mandated Latin for a year – I’m not sure about other schools.
French or Spanish are quite common, and German is on the decline.
In Germany english is always the first foreign language at school. If you do a second you usually have a choice of at least 2 depending on your school. Most common would be latin and french but some schools offer spanish and old greek, sometimes italian.
German is very popular in Hungary because since the UK left the EU Germany and Austria are the primary targets for people leaving the country.
English is usually not something you choose to study. It’s basically mandatory for everyone, usually from the age of 7. Then comes the mandatory Swedish from the age of 12.
Nowadays it’s quite rare to choose an optional foreign language but the most common ones are German, Spanish and French. Russian has declined significantly.
In Wales Welsh is mandatory until you leave school, but for the optional ones it is French, Mandarin, German, Spanish, Latin, and I don’t know any others.
Students, during middle school, are asked to pick between Spanish and German, they usually keep that choice until the end of high school (they can change but the overwhelming majority chooses to not)
Most pick Spanish
When I was at school, we mainly learnt English; in much of the south-west, we learnt Spanish; in the south-east, Italian; and in the north-east, German. Now, as far as I know, German is losing ground. The two main languages studied are English and Spanish.
According to [statistics](https://nyak.oh.gov.hu/doc/stat/stat_disp.asp?strID=D0) 85% of the certified language exams taken in 2025 in Hungary were some level of English. German had a 12% share and everything else was below 1% (including the Hungarian language exams – mostly done by foreigners living here).
Swedish as it’s mandatory. From unmandated German and Spanish pretty much. Spanish is seen as cool for travelling, whereas German is useful in work-life
French is less common, but still a thing. Italian as well, but even rarer
english and irish are mandatory, then 1 other language is too. most schools would offer either french or german and let the student pick which one they wanted, but there are other languages that could fulfill the requirement. in my school german was the overwhelmingly more popular choice, but the teacher we had owned awards for it so that might’ve been a factor lol. i think a majority of people found german easier than french also though
In general German and Spanish, with the latter having become way more fashionable to learn over time (and easier for a Pole at that).
In my high school, apart from English, there was German, Spanish, French and Russian to choose from. At university there was the same set plus Italian, but it was rare that someone chose it, there was only one Italian group. French would generally have the third place.