What foreign languages are taught in American high schools?

Across the map, Romance languages are taught most often in U.S. high schools, with 46 percent of all foreign language classes focusing on Spanish and another 21 percent on French.

What language is most common in teaching in U.S. classrooms?

Spanish
Spanish remains the language most frequently spoken by English-learners in U.S. schools by a wide margin, with roughly 76 percent of the nation’s 5 million English-learners speaking Spanish, but the numbers for several other languages are surging.

What is the most commonly taught foreign language?

English – Most popular language of study in 116 out of 194 countries. French – 35/194. Spanish – 32/194. German – 9/194. Swedish, Italian, Turkish – (Three-way tie) – 1/194 each.

Why do Americans refuse to learn languages?

Call it the consequence of geographic isolation, a history of economic and cultural hegemony, or a culture of rugged independence, but for better or for worse, America has a foreign language education deficit. As of 2001, 26 percent of American adults were capable of holding a conversation in another language.

Is Spanish taught in American schools?

Not surprisingly, Spanish is also the foreign/world language most often taught in public and private schools in the U.S. Although the selection of languages to be taught in schools sometimes appears to be politically motivated – schools change the languages they offer according to major world events and sociopolitical …

What is the most learned language in the US?

Most Studied Foreign Languages in the U.S.

Language	Fall 2016 Enrollments	% Change from 2013
1. Spanish	712,240	-9.8
2. French	175,667	-11.1
3. American Sign Language	107,060	-2.3
4. German	80,594	-7.1

Is it better to learn Spanish or French?

Spanish is simpler to pronounce and most English speakers will find it easier to learn speaking fluently Spanish than to learn speakinf fluently in French. In terms of vocabulary, French and English are very close due to their shared history.

What language is closest to English?

Frisian
The closest language to English is one called Frisian, which is a Germanic language spoken by a small population of about 480,000 people. There are three separate dialects of the language, and it’s only spoken at the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany.

Is it possible to learn a new language after 60?

Well, the good news is that experts say you are never too old. Studies show that anyone at any age can learn a new language. In fact, it is even easier to start speaking in a foreign language now with all the advanced technology available on the market.

What percentage of Americans are fluent in a second language?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 20 percent of Americans can converse in two or more languages, compared with 56 percent of Europeans. Experts estimate about half of the human race is bilingual, at least. I have two children fluent in Spanish, learned in private schools and through study in Latin America.

Do Americans learn French at school?

Around 13% of students in the US select French as their study language. While there are comparatively few enclaves of French residents across the US as a whole, Paris remains one of the top dream destinations for Americans looking to travel abroad.

Do schools still teach French?

In 2017, French ranked as the 10th most spoken language in the world with 229 million people total. Out of those 229, 76 million have French as their first language. That ranks as the 17th most spoken first language.

What second language should an American learn?

Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese First of all, there’s no denying that Spanish is one of the best languages for Americans to learn. Not only is it widely spoken throughout the world, it’s also widely spoken in the United States.

What languages are taught in American schools?

There are also hundreds of language immersion and dual-language schools across the United States that teach in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Hawaiian, Chomorro, French, and Mandarin Chinese (for example, the Mandarin Immersion Magnet School in Texas). However, English is a mandatory class in all these schools.

What are the top two languages studied in the US?

While Spanish and French continue to be the top two languages studied in the U.S,they decreased by an average of 10.5% between 2013and 2016. Total enrollment declined by just over 9%.

What percentage of schools teach foreign languages in the US?

The percentage of elementary and middle schools offering foreign language instruction dropped significantly from 1997 to 2008 from 31% to 25% in elementary schools, and from 75% to 58% in middle schools. The drop occurred primarily in public schools.

Where can I find information about languages spoken in the US?

Data from the MLA’s 2016 census of enrollments in languages other than English indicate where these languages are taught in colleges and universities. The Language Map Data Center provides information about over three hundred languages spoken in the United States, using data from the 2006–10 ACS, ACS 2005, and the 2000 US Census.