In today’s globalized world, learning more languages can be extremely useful. Learning how to communicate, read and understand another language can introduce someone into an entire new world. Roughly 7,000 languages are spoken in the world, and 350 to 430 languages are spoken in the United States alone.
However, 78% of Americans spoke only English in 2023, and, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and only 20% of Americans could speak two or more languages. Of the Americans who are fluent in more than one language, only 16.3% of those learned a second language in school, while the vast majority, at 75.5%, learned from growing up in a home that spoke the language.
In contrast, other countries are far more understanding of the benefits of being bilingual. 95.8% of the Swedish population, 87.8% of the German, 77.4% of the French, and 56.2% of the Spanish populations could speak more than one language according to the European Union. As a whole, 74.6% of European Union residents between the ages of 25-64 spoke at least one foreign language.
It might seem surprising that in a country like the United States, where so many languages are spoken, that so few people would be multilingual. However, English remains the world’s most spoken language, at almost a billion and a half people. American companies also control large percentages of global markets, making the English language necessary to learn globally. It comes as no surprise, then, that 142 countries in the world have English as a mandatory subject in school. English is also by far the dominant language of the internet, with 60% of all websites being in English, despite only 16% of the world speaking the language.
Even though English is widely spoken, learning other languages is also important.
Learning a language can open doors to new experiences, outlooks, and can help improve key skills. Learning a new language can help not only with personal enrichment, connection with family, and cross-cultural understanding, but is also shown to help improve concentration, memory, and enhance creativity as well as performance in other subjects such as mathematics and science. As such, learning a foreign language can be a core part of one’s education. Learning a foreign language can also have job and career benefits.
When learning a new language, which language one learns is very important. In 2021, Spanish was by far the most enrolled foreign language by university students. Some other popular languages included French, American Sign Language, Japanese, German, Chinese, Italian, Arabic, Latin, and Korean. Each language has its own unique aspects.
Spanish is not only the most spoken language in the US after English, but it is also the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Hindi, with 21 countries designating it the official language. Spanish is also the second most spoken language in most states including Alabama. This makes Spanish a useful language to learn for travel and for business abroad.
Other Romance languages are also widely spoken. French is the sixth most spoken language in the world, and one of the most spoken languages in Europe. It is an official language in 25 countries, including France, Canada, Belgium, as well as much of Africa. French has historically been an international language, and remains one of the more important Romance languages today.
Mandarin Chinese is the second most spoken language in the world, and China is also the second largest economy. With growing Chinese markets, Mandarin, the most-spoken language in China, is a language of growing use, and despite its difficulty, it has relatively easy grammar.
Any language will expand one’s own viewpoint, as well as exercise the brain. Learning a new language takes time, effort, and consistency, but can be just as rewarding.
