When do children in your country start learning English at school?
June 8, 2025
I don't mean some special English kindergartens or some bilingual programs in school. Also – when typically do you start learning your third language in school?
32 comments
Depends on the canton, some already start in 3rd grade. I started pretty late however, i think it was 6th or 7th. We did had French classes prior to that
In Denmark it’s during the first grade (7 years old) and third language is usually during 4th or 5th grade, depending on the school.
In Poland either in the first grade of primary school(7, sometimes 6 years olds) or in kindergarten (though there it is still voluntary).
When it comes to learning a third language, someone who graduated from an 8 years long primary school would be more qualified to answer, how it is right now.
I started learning German in Gimnazjum (our former, 3 years long equivalent of middle school after a 6 years long primary school).
I’m in Sweden. Schools has to start with English in grade 3 (when we’re 9 years old) but lots of schools start earlier with easy stuff like numbers and colors.
English lessons start on the first year of primary school, and the second foreign language starts being taught on the first year of secondary school.
In the autonomous communities with an official language besides Spanish, that other language starts being taught on the first year of primary education.
For clarity: Spain’s education system consists of 6 years of primary education, 4 years of mandatory secondary education, and then 2 years of higher secondary education (bachillerato).
At like 7-8 years old I think a little bit and third language around 12 years old google says but I think I started like at 10 years old so they might have changed that or I remember wrongly.
Netherlands. It depends on the school but my 4 year old already has English lessons. She can count a bit, name colours and shapes and presumably some animals since she told me this week that a hommel is a bumblebee.
For Germany it’s not that simple, because every state has its own rules and laws regarding school.
In general you can say that most pupils start with English in 3rd grade, some in first grade.
If you are a good student and go to Gymnasium (school for better students ending with Abitur, which you need to go to university) normally start a second foreign language at grade 7, and schools offer a third foreign language at grade 11. At least in my state.
There are school which offer another language than English in 5th grade, you only get taught more English from grade 7.
When I was in primary school we started in the fourth grade however a few years ago the law changed so now all children start learning English in the first grade (5-6 year old)
So obviously we didn’t learn English lol, but most people here in NI don’t start “learning” another language until 1st of secondary school, so when we’re 12. You also only have to do 3 years of a language usually, my school did 5 years when I was there, but they’ve since dropped to 3 years mandatory.
So I did Irish and French for 5 years each and could honestly speak more Spanish from the duo lingo I did than Irish or French. Learning languages here never has much importance placed on it sadly.
There are more Gaelscoils here now, so more children do their whole primary education in Irish, but they’re still rare tbh.
In Germany, there are some differences between the states, but the first foreign language usually starts in year 3. it’s mostly English, but some schools offer other languages, for example French. A lot of students start another foreign language in year 7.
I did from the 6th year of primary school, tho fiest year of secondary was more common. Not dhure if it’s changed.
My kids went to a Welsh medium school and started English lessons at 7, but all of them could speak English before so it was more formal lessons.
French or Spanish was from 11
I think it is different in every primary school, but for my kids it started in the 3rd grade (6-7 years old). But I know some schools already start in the 1st and/or 2nd grade (that’s basically our kindergarden).
A third, fourth, or even a fifth language they learn in secondary school (12+). Languages like German, French and Spanish.
I think now it is in first grade. However, i think it changed with when i entered primary school (in 2010) bc i know gen z kids born in between 2000 and 2003 who say they started it on 3rd or 4th grade…Idk
The 2nd year of secondary school, age 12-13.
English is the third language. Second language is French starting in the 5th year of primary school, age 9-10 (although some schools already do some preparation in the years before). I got German as a fourth language starting in the 4th year of secondary school and Spanish in the 6th (final) year, but not everyone gets those.
Previously it was either 3rd grade (9 yrs) of 7th grade (13 yrs) depending what you chose as you A-language. But they start all languages a bit younger now.
I think English often starts already at 1st grade (7 yrs) but it’s mostly just simple stuff without text books. After all, kids that age are still practising reading and writing.
Slovakia: Officially it’s 3rd grade for first foreign language and 7th grade for second foreign language. One of them has to be English, but you can for example start with German in 3rd grade and then take English as your “third language” in 7th grade.
Lots of schools start with English earlier though…
In France: one foreign or regional language is compulsory in primary schools but not especially English. Usually 1 hour a week.
English is compulsory when pupils start secondary school at 11 years old. 4 hours a week. Then, 3 hours a week.
A second foreign language has to be studied from 11 or 12. (2.5 hours a week)
A regional language can be an option from 12 yeras old, as well as Latin or Ancient Greek
Austria: Some schools start it from the very beginning in primary school about once per week, others don’t. After the first four years of school it becomes scheduled.
Ireland is mostly monolingual English speakers who could probably survive a conversation in French, German, or Spanish they learned at school.
But I’ll talk about this from a Connacht Gaeltacht (regions where Irish is the first language of the majority or a high percentage of the population) point of view where English is often the second language. (Can’t really speak anecdotally about Munster, Leinster, or Uladh Gaeltachtaí)
Children in the Gaeltacht make up the majority of monolingual Irish speakers in Ireland as to survive economically in Ireland. You need to know English, which is unfortunate that a man can’t speak his native tongue in other parts of his own country, but it is what it is, I guess.
It can depend entirely on the parents. I myself learned Irish and English at the same time. My parents spoke English to me, and my grandfather spoke Irish to me. This is generally how it works for most children. It can be one parent who speaks Irish, and one speaks English to the child or maybe other relatives, but you get the point.
There’s a young lad I know from South West Conamara. He’d be around 20 now. He didn’t start learning English until he was about 8. Between 5 and 8 generally tend to be when the children of deep Conamara like Carna, Oileáin Árann, Ceantar na nOileán, Ros a’Mhíl and Cheathrú Rua learn English But this is entirely dependent on the parents.
In parts of wider Conamara like Chois Fharraige and Dúiche Sheoighe, there are higher populations of English speakers, so the children are generally brought up like myself English and Irish at the same time. Irish tends to be more of a home language in these Gaeltachtaí rather than a social one.
In the Gaeltachtaí of Eachreidh na Gaillimhe in Galway and Oileán Acla agus Corrán in Mayo, kids are brought up through English nowadays. They’re probably the most endangered Gaeltachtaí in the whole country.
And finally, the North Mayo Gaeltacht in the region of Iorras. In areas like Ceathrú Thaidhg and the wider townlands/villages, some kids remain monolingual for a few years like deep Conamara and then learn English at a later age, or they learn English alongside Irish at a young age. Very dependent on the parents. The other areas of Iorras like Ros Domhnach, Béal Deirg, Dumha Thuama, Eachléim, Fál Mór, Fód Dubh, Cartún, and some other small townlands, kids tend to be brought up with English alongside Irish ad there’s far higher percentages of monolingual English speakers in these areas unlike Ceathrú Thaidhg.
Third languages are picked up in secondary school but once people leave the deterioration begins. Feck all people remember their third language from school unless there’s a big amount of tourists who speak said language frequently in their home regions. This goes for all of Ireland. But people tend to remember more of 6 years of French, German or Spanish from school than they do of almost 12 years of being “taught” Irish which is unfortunate.
Bold of you to assume English is a subject. But tbh In Denmark it’s like 3rd grade. I don’t know if it has changed or not, I only know at my school I began having English in 2nd grade, and that was moved to 3rd grade for the future students.
In Finland it can vary a bit. In my city most Finnish speaking children start English in first grade (age 7), although some schools offer the option of instead starting Swedish. The third language starts in grade 4 (age 10).
The Swedish speaking kids start English in third grade (age 9), and that’s their third language, as they start Finnish on grade 1.
I , 27, got it in grade 7 age 10, but my niece, now 12, got it in grade 1, age 4, was the same school just later. I think most start early now. Although it isn’t mandate before grade 7.
Italian standard classification of languages is: Italian L1 (obv), English L2 which is taught from the first year of primary school until you finish school (even tho it’s taugh in Unis as well).
L3 is taught only in lower secondary. L3 can be French, German or Spanish and must be choosen by the student.*
*However in the Autonomous province of Bolzano and the Autonomous province of Trento, Italian is L1, German or Ladin L2, English L3. Sometimes German/Ladin is L1 and Italian L2 while English still remains L3. All are taught from the first year of primary school. They have no additiona language in lower secondary school.
Similarly in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia (not in the whole region, just those bordering Slovenia), Italian is L1, Slovenian L2, English L3. However unlike Bolzano and Trento, in lower secondary school you have to do also L4, usually German.
Also both in Bolzano and Friuli classes are taught in different languages, this means that Math can be done in L1 language, while Geography can be done in the L2 language, etc…
Just as info, Italian schools are primary (5 years), lower secondary (3), higher secondary (2+3+1)/(2+3)/(3).
Obv if you choose a lingustical high school, you’d also have to do Italian L1, English L2, L3 (French, German or Spanish), L4 (French, German, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese or Arabic) and “L5 Latin” (this last isn’t considered to be a language, but still it is so I call it L5 xD).
4th grade, so around 10-11 years old.
Our Primary schools run 1st year Faroese (native language), 3rd year Danish (2nd Official Language), 4th year English, 5th-6th a bit of Norwegian and Swedish), 7th year German and 8th-10th year free choice (most often French, Spanish)
Usually in first grade (age 6-7), except for the ~5% who learn a different language (usually German or sometimes Italian) as their first foreign language. They only start learning English in fourth or fifth grade (I think).
In Bulgaria it really depends on the school and class you go to. For some it’s 1st grade and for others 5th or 8th
Niche example: In Welsh-language schools in Wales, English lessons start in Year 3 (7/8 years old). Although most will be quite competent in English already.
English-language schools start teaching Welsh when they’re 4 I think. Then both language streams do a foreign language at age 11 (usually French or Spanish, formerly German).
Sweden. The earliest I recall having English lessons is in 3rd grade (9-10 years old) but most kids already knew some English by then. We start learning our third language in 6th grade (12-13 years old) and the most commonly offered languages are German, Spanish and French but schools can offer other languages as well.
In the Netherlands when I was a kid I think around year six (9 years old).
Third language was from the first school year. I grew up with West Frisian and Low German which are regional languages in the Netherlands. When I started going to school Dutch was added to the mix.
In high school I had classes on Dutch, West Frisian, German, English, French, Latin and ancient Greek. I wouldn’t say I’m proficient in all of these, but it has definitely been beneficial.
When I went to university (in the Netherlands) I think Dutch was the third most important language. My guess usage would be 40%, 35%, 25% for English, West Frisian and Dutch respectively.
We don’t live in the Netherlands anymore and my daughter speaks English, Bulgarian and West Frisian. She’ll have to learn Dutch later in life.
Used to be 5th grade or 11 years old now it’s first grade. Third language only if your highschool doesn’t reach same languages as your primary school so 14 years old. I started Spanish in second grade though ..Romania
32 comments
Depends on the canton, some already start in 3rd grade. I started pretty late however, i think it was 6th or 7th. We did had French classes prior to that
In Denmark it’s during the first grade (7 years old) and third language is usually during 4th or 5th grade, depending on the school.
In Poland either in the first grade of primary school(7, sometimes 6 years olds) or in kindergarten (though there it is still voluntary).
When it comes to learning a third language, someone who graduated from an 8 years long primary school would be more qualified to answer, how it is right now.
I started learning German in Gimnazjum (our former, 3 years long equivalent of middle school after a 6 years long primary school).
I’m in Sweden. Schools has to start with English in grade 3 (when we’re 9 years old) but lots of schools start earlier with easy stuff like numbers and colors.
English lessons start on the first year of primary school, and the second foreign language starts being taught on the first year of secondary school.
In the autonomous communities with an official language besides Spanish, that other language starts being taught on the first year of primary education.
For clarity: Spain’s education system consists of 6 years of primary education, 4 years of mandatory secondary education, and then 2 years of higher secondary education (bachillerato).
At like 7-8 years old I think a little bit and third language around 12 years old google says but I think I started like at 10 years old so they might have changed that or I remember wrongly.
Netherlands. It depends on the school but my 4 year old already has English lessons. She can count a bit, name colours and shapes and presumably some animals since she told me this week that a hommel is a bumblebee.
For Germany it’s not that simple, because every state has its own rules and laws regarding school.
In general you can say that most pupils start with English in 3rd grade, some in first grade.
If you are a good student and go to Gymnasium (school for better students ending with Abitur, which you need to go to university) normally start a second foreign language at grade 7, and schools offer a third foreign language at grade 11. At least in my state.
There are school which offer another language than English in 5th grade, you only get taught more English from grade 7.
When I was in primary school we started in the fourth grade however a few years ago the law changed so now all children start learning English in the first grade (5-6 year old)
So obviously we didn’t learn English lol, but most people here in NI don’t start “learning” another language until 1st of secondary school, so when we’re 12. You also only have to do 3 years of a language usually, my school did 5 years when I was there, but they’ve since dropped to 3 years mandatory.
So I did Irish and French for 5 years each and could honestly speak more Spanish from the duo lingo I did than Irish or French. Learning languages here never has much importance placed on it sadly.
There are more Gaelscoils here now, so more children do their whole primary education in Irish, but they’re still rare tbh.
In Germany, there are some differences between the states, but the first foreign language usually starts in year 3. it’s mostly English, but some schools offer other languages, for example French. A lot of students start another foreign language in year 7.
I did from the 6th year of primary school, tho fiest year of secondary was more common. Not dhure if it’s changed.
My kids went to a Welsh medium school and started English lessons at 7, but all of them could speak English before so it was more formal lessons.
French or Spanish was from 11
I think it is different in every primary school, but for my kids it started in the 3rd grade (6-7 years old). But I know some schools already start in the 1st and/or 2nd grade (that’s basically our kindergarden).
A third, fourth, or even a fifth language they learn in secondary school (12+). Languages like German, French and Spanish.
I think now it is in first grade. However, i think it changed with when i entered primary school (in 2010) bc i know gen z kids born in between 2000 and 2003 who say they started it on 3rd or 4th grade…Idk
The 2nd year of secondary school, age 12-13.
English is the third language. Second language is French starting in the 5th year of primary school, age 9-10 (although some schools already do some preparation in the years before). I got German as a fourth language starting in the 4th year of secondary school and Spanish in the 6th (final) year, but not everyone gets those.
Previously it was either 3rd grade (9 yrs) of 7th grade (13 yrs) depending what you chose as you A-language. But they start all languages a bit younger now.
I think English often starts already at 1st grade (7 yrs) but it’s mostly just simple stuff without text books. After all, kids that age are still practising reading and writing.
Slovakia: Officially it’s 3rd grade for first foreign language and 7th grade for second foreign language. One of them has to be English, but you can for example start with German in 3rd grade and then take English as your “third language” in 7th grade.
Lots of schools start with English earlier though…
In France: one foreign or regional language is compulsory in primary schools but not especially English. Usually 1 hour a week.
English is compulsory when pupils start secondary school at 11 years old. 4 hours a week. Then, 3 hours a week.
A second foreign language has to be studied from 11 or 12. (2.5 hours a week)
A regional language can be an option from 12 yeras old, as well as Latin or Ancient Greek
Austria: Some schools start it from the very beginning in primary school about once per week, others don’t. After the first four years of school it becomes scheduled.
Ireland is mostly monolingual English speakers who could probably survive a conversation in French, German, or Spanish they learned at school.
But I’ll talk about this from a Connacht Gaeltacht (regions where Irish is the first language of the majority or a high percentage of the population) point of view where English is often the second language. (Can’t really speak anecdotally about Munster, Leinster, or Uladh Gaeltachtaí)
Children in the Gaeltacht make up the majority of monolingual Irish speakers in Ireland as to survive economically in Ireland. You need to know English, which is unfortunate that a man can’t speak his native tongue in other parts of his own country, but it is what it is, I guess.
It can depend entirely on the parents. I myself learned Irish and English at the same time. My parents spoke English to me, and my grandfather spoke Irish to me. This is generally how it works for most children. It can be one parent who speaks Irish, and one speaks English to the child or maybe other relatives, but you get the point.
There’s a young lad I know from South West Conamara. He’d be around 20 now. He didn’t start learning English until he was about 8. Between 5 and 8 generally tend to be when the children of deep Conamara like Carna, Oileáin Árann, Ceantar na nOileán, Ros a’Mhíl and Cheathrú Rua learn English But this is entirely dependent on the parents.
In parts of wider Conamara like Chois Fharraige and Dúiche Sheoighe, there are higher populations of English speakers, so the children are generally brought up like myself English and Irish at the same time. Irish tends to be more of a home language in these Gaeltachtaí rather than a social one.
In the Gaeltachtaí of Eachreidh na Gaillimhe in Galway and Oileán Acla agus Corrán in Mayo, kids are brought up through English nowadays. They’re probably the most endangered Gaeltachtaí in the whole country.
And finally, the North Mayo Gaeltacht in the region of Iorras. In areas like Ceathrú Thaidhg and the wider townlands/villages, some kids remain monolingual for a few years like deep Conamara and then learn English at a later age, or they learn English alongside Irish at a young age. Very dependent on the parents. The other areas of Iorras like Ros Domhnach, Béal Deirg, Dumha Thuama, Eachléim, Fál Mór, Fód Dubh, Cartún, and some other small townlands, kids tend to be brought up with English alongside Irish ad there’s far higher percentages of monolingual English speakers in these areas unlike Ceathrú Thaidhg.
Third languages are picked up in secondary school but once people leave the deterioration begins. Feck all people remember their third language from school unless there’s a big amount of tourists who speak said language frequently in their home regions. This goes for all of Ireland. But people tend to remember more of 6 years of French, German or Spanish from school than they do of almost 12 years of being “taught” Irish which is unfortunate.
Bold of you to assume English is a subject. But tbh In Denmark it’s like 3rd grade. I don’t know if it has changed or not, I only know at my school I began having English in 2nd grade, and that was moved to 3rd grade for the future students.
In Finland it can vary a bit. In my city most Finnish speaking children start English in first grade (age 7), although some schools offer the option of instead starting Swedish. The third language starts in grade 4 (age 10).
The Swedish speaking kids start English in third grade (age 9), and that’s their third language, as they start Finnish on grade 1.
I , 27, got it in grade 7 age 10, but my niece, now 12, got it in grade 1, age 4, was the same school just later. I think most start early now. Although it isn’t mandate before grade 7.
Italian standard classification of languages is: Italian L1 (obv), English L2 which is taught from the first year of primary school until you finish school (even tho it’s taugh in Unis as well).
L3 is taught only in lower secondary. L3 can be French, German or Spanish and must be choosen by the student.*
*However in the Autonomous province of Bolzano and the Autonomous province of Trento, Italian is L1, German or Ladin L2, English L3. Sometimes German/Ladin is L1 and Italian L2 while English still remains L3. All are taught from the first year of primary school. They have no additiona language in lower secondary school.
Similarly in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia (not in the whole region, just those bordering Slovenia), Italian is L1, Slovenian L2, English L3. However unlike Bolzano and Trento, in lower secondary school you have to do also L4, usually German.
Also both in Bolzano and Friuli classes are taught in different languages, this means that Math can be done in L1 language, while Geography can be done in the L2 language, etc…
Just as info, Italian schools are primary (5 years), lower secondary (3), higher secondary (2+3+1)/(2+3)/(3).
Obv if you choose a lingustical high school, you’d also have to do Italian L1, English L2, L3 (French, German or Spanish), L4 (French, German, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese or Arabic) and “L5 Latin” (this last isn’t considered to be a language, but still it is so I call it L5 xD).
4th grade, so around 10-11 years old.
Our Primary schools run 1st year Faroese (native language), 3rd year Danish (2nd Official Language), 4th year English, 5th-6th a bit of Norwegian and Swedish), 7th year German and 8th-10th year free choice (most often French, Spanish)
Usually in first grade (age 6-7), except for the ~5% who learn a different language (usually German or sometimes Italian) as their first foreign language. They only start learning English in fourth or fifth grade (I think).
In Bulgaria it really depends on the school and class you go to. For some it’s 1st grade and for others 5th or 8th
Niche example: In Welsh-language schools in Wales, English lessons start in Year 3 (7/8 years old). Although most will be quite competent in English already.
English-language schools start teaching Welsh when they’re 4 I think. Then both language streams do a foreign language at age 11 (usually French or Spanish, formerly German).
Sweden. The earliest I recall having English lessons is in 3rd grade (9-10 years old) but most kids already knew some English by then. We start learning our third language in 6th grade (12-13 years old) and the most commonly offered languages are German, Spanish and French but schools can offer other languages as well.
In the Netherlands when I was a kid I think around year six (9 years old).
Third language was from the first school year. I grew up with West Frisian and Low German which are regional languages in the Netherlands. When I started going to school Dutch was added to the mix.
In high school I had classes on Dutch, West Frisian, German, English, French, Latin and ancient Greek. I wouldn’t say I’m proficient in all of these, but it has definitely been beneficial.
When I went to university (in the Netherlands) I think Dutch was the third most important language. My guess usage would be 40%, 35%, 25% for English, West Frisian and Dutch respectively.
We don’t live in the Netherlands anymore and my daughter speaks English, Bulgarian and West Frisian. She’ll have to learn Dutch later in life.
Used to be 5th grade or 11 years old now it’s first grade. Third language only if your highschool doesn’t reach same languages as your primary school so 14 years old. I started Spanish in second grade though ..Romania