A foreign language is a language that is not spoken in the country of the speaker. Studies show that adult students are better at foreign language learning than younger students. Early exposure to a second language increases divergent thinking strategies, and also helps in areas such as math. Learning a language is useful to secure language jobs and to pay visits to the country of interest. But it takes a lot of persistence, effort, and time. Here we have curated a list of the top foreign languages to learn.
1. French
There are over 30 French-speaking countries in the world. Native speakers are 76.8 million worldwide. It is the official language of 29 countries. French is taught in almost all the Universities in the world. It is one of the influential languages due to its wide use in journalism, education, diplomacy, etc. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
2. Spanish
Spanish is a global Language with nearly 500 million native speakers. It is the official language in 20 countries. Spanish is a descendant of Latin and has very little difference from it. Its vocabulary is influenced by Arabic. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is also used as an official language by European Union. It is better represented in the humanities and social sciences and does not feature prominently in scientific writing and technology.
3. Japanese
Japanese is the East Asian language spoken by 128 million people, mostly in Japan. It has three writing patterns which are Kanji, katakana, and Hiragana. Kanji is derived from Chinese alphabets and Katakana was developed using Foreign words. It is the official language in two countries. It has a complex system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and the persons mentioned.
4. Italian
Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European family of languages. Italian is the official language in Italy, Switzerland, Vatican City, and Marino. There are around 67 million native speakers of the language in the European Union. It is a recognized minority language in Croatia and Slovenia. Italian is one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe.
5. Mandarin
Mandarin is a group of Sinitic (Chinese) languages spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. There are around 920 million native speakers of the language. It is spoken by 70% of all Chinese speakers from Yunnan in the Southwest, Xinjiang in the North West, and Heilongjiang in the northeast. It is one of the challenging languages to learn. Standard Chinese is the official language of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
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6. Portuguese
Portuguese is a Romance Language that originated in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Total native speakers are around 274 million. It is an official language in 9 countries. It is a recognized minority language in Uruguay. It is the sixth-most spoken language and the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers. It is the official language of the European Union, Mercosur. It is the second most spoken language after Spanish and one of the ten Languages in Africa.
7. Arabic
Arabic is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th centuries CE. It is the native language in countries of the Arab league, minorities in neighboring countries, and some parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The native speakers are around 310 million and 270 million speakers are Arab. It is the official language in 29 states. It is a recognized minority language in Brunei, Ceuta, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Cyprus, Israel, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Melilla, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
8. Korean
Korean is an East Asian language spoken by 77 million people. It is the official and National Language of both North Korea and South Korea. It is the official language in 3 countries. It is a recognized minority language in Russia and China (Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous County of Jilin province). It is known as Hangul and it was developed by King Sejong in 15 the century. It is regulated by the National Institute of the Korean Language (Republic of Korea).
9. German
German is a west germanic language mostly spoken in Central Europe. It is widely spoken and is the official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is the official language in Luxembourg, parts of southern Poland and Belgium. Native speakers are around 95 million. It is a recognized minority language in 12 countries. The German Language is necessary if you want to live or study in Germany.
10. Russian
Russian is an East Slavic Language native to Russians in Eastern Europe. Native speakers are around 150 million. It is the official language in 11 states and it is recognized as a minority language in Romania, Armenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Ukraine, Mongolia, and Moldova. It is regulated by the Russian Language Institute at the Russian Academy of Science.
