These are the languages the world is trying to learn
If you own a smartphone and are trying to learn a language, you probably have Duolingo. Image: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
If you own a smartphone and are trying to learn a language, you probably have Duolingo. At this very moment the app—which tries to turn language learning into a rewarding game—may be not-so-subtly suggesting that you are overdue for some Spanish vocabulary practice.
How many other people are learning Spanish, and where do they live?
Duolingo recently answered such questions by running the numbers on their 120 million users, spanning every country on the planet. The company identified the most popular language for each country, among the 19 it offers.
English is far and away the most dominant, with a caveat: For some learners, English is the only language Duolingo offers with translation into their native tongue. English is the only course available to Thai speakers, for example. That doesn’t change the fact of universal interest in English, though, which Duolingo notes is studied by 53% of its users.
Things get more interesting when you look at the second-most popular language by country. There French takes the lead, followed by Spanish, German, and Portuguese.
There are some other oddities in the data. Notice that on the map the most popular language in Sweden is…Swedish. This is related to immigration, Bozena Pajak, Duolingo’s head of research, suggests in her write-up. “One in six Swedish residents in 2015 was born outside of Sweden,” she writes. Other high-immigration countries have a large proportion of people studying their official languages, she adds, like the United States and Norway.
Now time get back to the Spanish vocabulary lessons.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
Emerging Technologies
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Education and SkillsSee all
Agustina Callegari and Adeline Hulin
October 31, 2024