Most Studied Foreign Languages in the U.S.
It can be difficult to determine how often a particular subject is studied nationwide. The Modern Language Association, an important U.S. cultural institution, tracks enrollment in college-level language courses as a way to gauge how often people study different languages.
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%. Among the top ten languages, only Japanese showed any growth in enrollment figures. The only other individual language to show substantial growth was Korean.
| Language | Fall 2016 Enrollments | % Change from 2013 | Fall 2013 enrollments | % Change from 2009 | Fall 2009 enrollments | % Change from 2006 | Fall 2006 enrollments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Spanish | 712,240 | -9.8 | 790,756 | -8.2 | 864,986 | 5.1 | 822,985 |
| 2. French | 175,667 | -11.1 | 197,757 | -8.1 | 216,419 | 4.8 | 206,426 |
| 3. American Sign Language | 107,060 | -2.3 | 109,577 | 19.0 | 96,349 | 2.2 | 94,264 |
| 4. German | 80,594 | -7.1 | 86,700 | -9.3 | 91,763 | 16.4 | 78,829 |
| 5. Italian | 56,743 | -20.1 | 71,285 | -11.3 | 80,752 | 3.0 | 78,368 |
| 6. Japanese | 68,810 | 3.1 | 66,740 | -7.8 | 73,434 | 10.3 | 66,605 |
| 7. Chinese | 53,069 | -13.1 | 61,055 | 2.0 | 60,976 | 18.2 | 51,582 |
| 8. Arabic | 31,554 | -5.9 | 32,286 | -7.5 | 35,083 | 46.3 | 23,974 |
| 9. Latin | 24,866 | -8.6 | 27,192 | -16.2 | 32,606 | 1.3 | 32,191 |
| 10. Russian | 20,353 | -7.4 | 21,962 | -17.9 | 26,883 | 8.2 | 24,845 |
Source: The Modern Language Association of America.
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