Academic Resources

Foreign Languages

Why is it important to study foreign languages?

1. Helps develop cognitive skills - In short, learning languages helps you do better in your other classes. Learning languages helps increase listening ability, memory, creativity and critical thinking - all of which are thinking processes that increase learning in general.
2. Exposure to a global perspective - Learning languages exposes people to other ways of looking at the world and the many people and cultures within it.
3. Enhance your career potential -There are many job opportunities available for people that can speak foreign languages. These include corporate jobs, mechanics, social workers, medical professionals, teachers, etc.

Fact: Becoming fluent in foreign language takes years. Children tend to absorb foreign languages more easily than older students and adults.

Rank, language	Countries	Population (in millions)
1. Chinese, Mandarin	Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, S. Africa, Taiwan, Thailand	1120
2. English	Australia, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Guyana, India, Ireland, Israel, Lesotho, Liberia, Malaysia, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, S. Africa, Suriname, Swaziland, Tonga, U.K., U.S., Vanuatu, Zimbabwe, many Caribbean states	480
3. Spanish	Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, El Salvador, Eq. Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.	332
4. Arabic	Egypt, Sudan, ALgeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Lybia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, UAE, Oman, Iraq, Lebanon	235
5. Bengali	Bangladesh, India, Singapore	189
6. Hindi	India, Nepal, Singapore, S. Africa, Uganda	182
7. Russian	Belarus, China, Estonia, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, U.S., Uzbekistan	180
8. Portuguese	Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, France, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe	170
9. Japanese	Japan, Singapore, Taiwan	125
10. German	Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Czech Rep., Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland	98
11. Chinese, Wu	China	77.2
12. Javanese	Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore	75.5
13. Korean	China, Japan, N. Korea, S. Korea, Singapore, Thailand	75
14. French	Algeria, Andorra, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Vietnam	72
15. Turkish	Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Uzbekistan	69
16. Vietnamese	China, Vietnam	67.7
17. Telugu	India, Singapore	66.4
18. Chinese, Yue(Cantonese)	Brunei, China, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam	66
19. Marathi	India	64.8
20. Tamil	India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, S. Africa, Sri Lanka	63.1
21. Italian	Croatia, Eritrea, France, Italy, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland	59
22. Urdu	Afghanistan, India, Mauritius, Pakistan, S. Africa, Thailand	58
23. Chinese, Min Nan	Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand	49
24. Chinese, Jinyu	China	45
25. Gujarati	India, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, S. Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe	44
26. Polish	Czech Rep., Germany, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia	44
27. Ukrainian	Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine	41
28. Persian	Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, U A Emirates	37.3
29. Chinese, Xiang	China	36
30. Malayalam	India, Singapore	34
31. Chinese, Hakka	Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama, Singapore, Suriname, Taiwan, Thailand	34
32. Kannada	India	33.7
33. Oriya	India	31
34. Panjabi, Western	India, Pakistan	30
35. Sunda	Indonesia	27
35. Panjabi, Eastern	India, Kenya, Singapore	26
36. Romanian	Hungary, Israel, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine	26
37. Bhojpuri	India, Mauritius, Nepal	25
38. Azerbaijani, South	Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey	24.4
40. Maithili	India, Nepal	24.3
41. Hausa	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Togo	24.2
43. Burmese	Bangladesh, Myanmar	22
44. Serbo-Croatian4	Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia	21
45. Chinese, Gan	China	20.6
46. Awadhi	India, Nepal	20.5
47. Thai	Singapore, Thailand	20
48. Dutch	Belgium, France, Netherlands, Suriname	20
49. Yoruba	Benin, Nigeria	20
50. Sindhi	Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Singapore	19.7

Source: Ethnologue, 13th Edition, Barbara F. Grimes, Editor. © 1996, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. Includes corrections made by: Copyright © 2000 - 2005 Photius Coutsoukis (All rights reserved).

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