 | Most Studied Foreign Languages
in the U.S.Spanish is the most commonly studied foreign language in the U.S., determined by the number of students enrolled in foreign language classes in colleges and universities. In 2009, over 864,000 students were taking Spanish courses, 5.1% more than in 2006. Arabic moved from the tenth most popular foreign language spot to number 8, with an increase in enrollment of 46.3% in just three years. | Language | Fall 2006
enrollments | % change
from 2002 | Fall 2009
enrollments | % change
from 2006 |
|---|
| 1. Spanish | 822,985 | 10.3% | 864,986 | 5.1% | | 2. French | 206,426 | 2.2 | 216,419 | 4.8 | | 3. German | 94,264 | 3.5 | 96,349 | 2.2 | | 4. American Sign Language | 78,829 | 29.7 | 91,763 | 16.4 | | 5. Italian | 78,368 | 22.6 | 80,752 | 3.0 | | 6. Japanese | 66,605 | 27.5 | 73,434 | 10.3 | | 7. Chinese | 51,582 | 51.0 | 60,976 | 18.2 | | 8. Arabic | 23,974 | 126.5 | 35,083 | 46.3 | | 9. Latin | 32,191 | 7.9 | 32,606 | 1.3 | | 10. Russian | 24,845 | 3.9 | 26,883 | 8.2 |
Source: Association of Departments of Foreign Languages at the Modern Language Association,Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2010.
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