So in French schools you have to take at least 2 foreign languages, English and another one. As far as I know the only possibilities for the second mandatory language are German, Spanish and Italian, with (in my experience), German and Spanish being available every where. (By my personal experience, obviously, but I didn't know you could take Italian as second language until high school, when I moved to a bigger city than before)
If I'm not mistaken it's also possible to take Dutch in quite a lot of schools in the north (around Dunkerque and Lille), and also some schools in the biggest cities can offer Chinese.
Latin is still heavily pushed by many Flemish parents, which is an anomaly compared to most other non-Romance places. Many students are forced to study it and put way more effort into it than into French or German.
In my (Dutch speaking) high school, you could actually choose between German and Spanish if you chose to study languages. I was one of the very few students that chose German. I picked it because it's an official language of Belgium and I later studied English and Dutch (both also Germanic languages) at university. Spanish was considered much cooler.
In Wallonia appart from Dutch and English, I think the most learned languages are German and Spanish. I think most of the time you have to choose primary foreign language English or Dutch, then the other is the secondary foreign language, and you can choose a third one.
When I was in school French was compulsory from age 9-14, German was also optional from age 13 onwards and Spanish from 14, we were the first year that it wasn't compulsory to take a language for GCSEs (age 14-16)
English isn’t a compulsory subject though many people don’t have any other options for the one compulsory foreign language. We have two native languages so many people have enough work with just learning two new languages but it’s possible to study several languages if you want.
During a time it was German, because oh with german you will have great oportunities in Germany or France but now its falling out of grace and being supplented by other language, so mostly italian and spanish.
Definitely depends on the region, there's only one middle school offering Italian in my area in the North West while all middle schools still offer both Spanish and German. I'd assume Italian is more common in the South.
Germany is still the most populous EU country with the biggest economy, and that’s not counting the opportunities learning German opens up in Austria and Switzerland. Any idea why it’s falling out of favor?
That depends on the area, in north/east France I’ve never seen Italian being taught in school (I actually took Italian as an LV4 and had to go through the CNED because it wasn’t taught physically in any school in the area).
Here we have both Spanish and Basque as primary languages (depends on your school the percentage of subjects taught in either of them) then English as a third language. In high school you may have french as an option... and those studying arts may take Latin also.
I've been to Euskadi a lot, but never really thought about this. Are there schools that teach entirely in either Euskara or Spanish? And what's higher education like in that aspect?
In Switzerland, we have four national languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh). So we have to learn a second national language first, then English second. Depending on the path to higher education you choose, you can grab Latin and Ancient Greek as well.
German. Obvious due to Austria being the closest western country and German companies having such an impact on Hungarian economy. Also there is a quite high number of German minorities
When I visited Hungary and Slovakia on holiday a few years ago, I found that it was much easier to deal with taxi drivers, waiters etc in my schoolboy German than in English.
German and French are the most common, though some elementary schools are making a point of offering non european languages and they are proving very popular, Japanese and Mandarin mostly.
In school we read Swedish and English and around the age of 13 we get to pick a third language, the most common is Spanish, German or French. Though some schools might have more options, it differs from school to school. Then in high-school you can keep taking language-courses and they offer more, Italian for example. Nothing is really "pushed", you don't Have to read a third language but it's a good merit, you can choose to take extra classes in English or Swedish instead. Spanish is perhaps the most popular since lots of people go on vacation there and it seems kind of easy to learn, and then German is somewhat similar to Swedish but with, for us, fucked up grammatical rules.
I worked as a waiter for a few summers through uni and the first time some swedish tourists (their children, actually) spoke to me in spanish I flipped out.
Where I went to school the dominating reasons for Spanish were that it was perceived as "exotic" and opening more doors for travel (and not for Mallorca; more dreams of Latin American adventures), or because people encountered more Spanish in media. No one chose it as an easy option, that was unequivocally perceived to be the German.
Students in schools in Poland have learn two foreign languages, and since English is the most common, German definitely comes second. I know it depends on the region, because in western Poland German happens to be the first foreign language and English the second foreign language, but still the most common combo is English + German.
Many Poles do speak impressive German though. I taught first semesters as a teaching assistant some years ago in TU Berlin, and I must say, of all the foreign students, Poles were consistently the ones who spoke well versed German with nearly perfect grammar.
Typically French and Latin. In Gymnasium (like high school) you are mandatory to learn both of them, one for 6 years and one for 4. Some schools offer other languages too, like spanish, italian, chinese or russian. Some also old greek.
The days of French and Latin being mandatory are long gone - These days it‘s often a choice between French, Italian and Spanish while Latin is also offered but a lot of people don’t opt for it, because you‘re way more likely to use some Spanish or Italian while on holidays compared to Latin. If you really wanted to pursue a degree where the „small Latinum“ is mandatory you can just learn it while already enrolled.
Adding to this: Austria has 7 (iirc) recognized minority languages and in areas where those are spoken there is sometimes an actual push to learn them, meaning political measures are taken to preserve those languages.
When i think of “classic combo” i think of latin and greek, at least, in italian high schools it’s or “latin and greek”(liceo classico) or “latin” (others licei).
I think how soon schools start with German vs French depends a bit. I had German from the start of secondary school and we started French halfway through the first year iirc. But schools starting French earlier isn't that surprising since it's more difficult than German for most Dutch speakers.
So croatian and english are mandatory from the first grade. And then there is a divide for the second foreign language. Coastal parts mostly learn italian while the inlsnd parts learn german.
German and french are most common. At the higher levels of high school one of those is mandatory, along with English and Dutch, you can of course choose to do both. From my experience on my own high school French was the more populair one, no idea why, we lived a stones throw away from the German border.
Spanish has been taking over French for quite a while now. As for your own experience, it makes sense, because if you lived so close to the border, most kids would naturally get some experience with German, and so they'd feel that they don't really need the school course too.
Until relatively modern times French was very much the main choice. Germany and increasingly Spanish are available and there are other languages possible, if you can find someone to teach the courses. We also only start learning continental languages at age 12 - far too late in my opinion.
It's probably either German or French since my country borders the 3 that speak it, aside from Slovenia, plus in South Tyrol, lot of people speak German there
In Denmark there usually isn't much option for your 3rd language choice, since many schools only have teachers for German, some will offer French too, but it's mostly German. You can elect to have German or French as a 3rd foreign language on top of the 2 mandatory, but those are added as extra hours, also you can choose 1 year elective for the last mandatory year in primary school (9th grade) choices are common immigrant languages (these would be turkish, arabic, somali etc.) Or spanish, you might need to attend 3rd foreign language classes at a different school though.
I assume there are regional differences? I've been to Sibiu once, and communicating in german was sometimes easier than english (I haven't tried my rudimentary french though), historical and work-related factors probably have something to do with this.
I wouldn't call it "pushing", it's what's being offered. Learning two foreign languages is mandatory if you want to go to university, and my school offered us a choice of either French or Latin as the second foreign language. It was about ⅓ Latin, ⅔ French. That was in Bavaria.
Wanted to say exactly that, I chuckled when they assumed that English is a pushed language in all of Europe LOL. You're better off speaking German or French in this country over English for sure.
It varies from one region to another however in the north and north east German is by far the most popular. In primary school it’s part of the non compulsory subject scheme together with Spanish and French. Than in high schools especially in Gymnasiums, German is a compulsory subject and it is given 3 periods per week(the same as English). Some schools also offer Spanish, Italian, French, Russian and Latin the later of which is compulsory on Classical Gymnasiums
In the German speaking part of Switzerland it's definitely French, but it's often taught in a horrible way. I do agree with the Language being taught at school as it's our second most spoken national language, but compared to English, which got introduced into the primary school system around the millenium, it's really not popular among students. And I'd say it's mostly due to the teaching of it.
Most common as a second (mandatory) foreign language are German, French and Spanish (I think in that order). Russian is probably still in the top 5, but falling out of favor in the past 20-30 years.
English is the only mandatory foreign language afaik, it starts at either kindergarten or first grade. I think some local schools don't even have foreign language teachers (apart from English), but in most schools you can choose German, French and Spanish, these are the big three.
Most schools do French and Spanish (as well as Welsh of course). German has been declining in popularity for a while but is still relatively common. I haven't heard of any other foreign languages being taught in Wales, but I'm sure some schools offer more.
German, French, or Russian depending on the school. Spanish and Italian are also officially recognized third languages but less frequently taught than the first three.
Spanish in my area (it’s not a majority language but we study the language from the ages of 6-7 at school, and we live a 10-minute drive away from Spanish-speaking areas).
In eastern Poland (Podlaskie, Lubelskie) Russian. In my town I had for 9 years (3 schools) Russian as necessary, in secondary school of 8 classes 7 had Russian as second foreign language (include profile classes, as mathematic, humanistic, biological), only 1 had German. Of 240 people in 8 classes during final exam only 50% took English, another 50% took Russian, German was taken by none (!).
In my adult education years, I've mistaken 3 women I know for Russians for several months because they spoke Russian among themselves. Others were calling them the Russian mafia as a joke and they never corrected anyone and were in on the jokes. The joke was really on us Danes; the women are from Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine.
In Spain we have regions where people there speaks another regional language besides than Spanish. For example Catalonian, Basque, Galician, and some of this languages and Spanish have their dialects I would say the second most spoken and learned language of Spain can be Catalonian but I don't have official data. And as second foreign language I feel that a lot of Spaniards know a little bit of German or French after English.
My sons didn't have a choice. It was English and German. (2006-2020). My husband didn't have a choice either, it was English and German (1974-1983). We began our English and German lessons a few years later than our sons generation. () < roughly the years we attended public school.
When I was at school (80s and 90s) there was French and German; some private schools did Latin and less often, Greek, and I knew people at other state schools who had Spanish as an option. My own kids- Mandarin seems to be fashionable but rarely studied to GSCE, French, German and Spanish remain the main ones.
German or French. I started with French, then had a year or two of German on top of that and then ended up picking French. Not the best choice maybe, i don't speak it at all but would have had a better shot at German since it's so similar.
French. Usually the options are between French, Spanish and sometimes German but French always seems to be the most popular with the people in charge. Students usually prefer Spanish tho
Nothing is really pushed officially. I suppose German would be a close second after English although in most highschools when kids have to pick a second foreign language they can for the most part freely choose from Italian, French, Spanish, German and possibly a variety of other languages, most likely Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian.
French, because well they are neighbors, I never learned it unfortunately, I was in a school where they only taught english. As an adult I never had the time to learn.
Some tipes of schools don't actually offer a second foreign language so i only ever had English(still angry about that). But judging off of what my brother had i think its french and latin
Aside from English, we were given two options: German or Russian, with Russian being the one most people would be incentivized to study due to the large Russian minority in Latvia. Things are changing since the start of the war though, and iirc Russian will no longer be strongly pushed in schools anymore.
First one is French. The second one is Latin. I like this about us that we collectively agree that the people who had something worthwhile to say in places like Greece or Italy died ages ago and that people like the Spaniards never had anything worthwhile to say at all. But it is cool to learn dead languages I guess....
Danish. Every school kid from ages 11 (if I remember correctly) and throughout secondary education is taught Icelandic, English, and Danish. Then we can choose between German, French and in some cases Spanish in our secondary education
French is traditionally the language taught, but Spanish has been rapidly growing in popularity and probably is the most popular. My school did Italian as well but both students who took it and my school were in the minority. It’s not unheard of for Mandarin and German as well.
Nothing is really pushed if your mother tongue is the native language. First foreign language is English second is usually a choice between Russian, German and Finnish. But if your native language is not Estonian then Estonian is pushed the most and that sometimes becomes pretty heated debate here between estonian speakers and russian speakers.
Swedish, which is an official language alongside Finnish in Finland. Children have to learn it from 6th grade to graduating Upper secondary school or vocational college. Same goes for Swedish speaking Finns, who have to study Finnish. Except the Åland islanders (who have autonomy) who straight up discriminate the Finnish language.
Depends a lot on which bit of the country you're in. In the south French is absolutely dominant, in the east German is dominant, and in the big cities Spanish is also added to the mix.
When I was in high school we had French from the very first year of high school (with English already being taught in the last two years of elementary school). German followed in the second year. You could choose to drop them later, they weren't mandatory like English. We have three "levels" of high school here, with the highest lasting the longest, 6 years. It's here that you can choose to study another language like Spanish, Mandarin or Latin. The other two levels don't offer that option.
I would say in public schools, or at least outside of the big Lisbon ones you get English (mandatory) and then another one optional being the only options Spanish or French
German / French / Spanish is probably the top 3 in Denmark currently. We also had a requirement of a 1 time language lesson lasting 1 school hour (45m) of Swedish and Norwegian at our school. Basically 1 time in like 9th grade they replaced our regular Danish lessons with Swedish/Norwegian.
Used to be Russian but now the government is talking about taking it out of the program by 2026 (if I remember correctly). My boyfriend's mom is a Russian teacher and she said that a lot more parents chose German and especially French in the beginning of this school year do to the war.
You get to choose between French, German and Spanish. I feel like Spanish was the most popular choice when I grew up, though I wouldn't say it was pushed more than German or French.
The state language. In fact, by law, I have the "right" to use my mother tongue, but the "obligation" to learn the state language someone decided centuries ago after winning a succession war.
Danish and English from the 1st grade, then German or French from 4th grade. Most people study German as opposed to French, which makes sense given that Germany is our only land neighbour (if you exclude Øresund and Hans Island). However, in Danish we’re also taught some Swedish and Norwegian. Norwegian Bokmål is especially easy to read, it’s like 95% (number I pulled out of my ass, but you get the gist) identical to written Danish.
It used to be German since it was the most useful language to know after English for academic and business purpose, with French as a less popular option.
It depends on the school. In my primary/middle school everyone started English in 3rd grade, and then in 5th grade 2 generations would have French, 1 would take Italian. In other schools in my town people would learn Spanish, in some German starting from 5th grade.
No push for anything in norway. You hardly find public figures who speaks anything others than english. So why should the society then push for anything. Eventhough most people going to school has learned french or german or maybe spanish at some time.. (kind of mandatory) no one is able to do a conversation.
In Ireland it's compulsory to take English and Irish. Then most universitys have a 3rd language as an entry requirement to their bachelor programs, making it not mandatory but kind of the done thing. The most common are French and German
When I started high school the first year French was compulsory. Then for the second year you chose 2 languages out of French Spanish Latin and German and took those for 2 years. The next 2 years you dropped a language and concentrated on just one.
Italy here. In the past learning French was more important then English. Now it’s, besides English, German and Russian due to the tourists. Also French, but not that important.
In my experience (but it can be different depending on the area of the Country where you live) it's Spanish or French but Spanish is definitely more popular.
Spanish and French. Apparently German is also an option that's required but my school said it's a shitty private school and don't have to do what the education agency says but idk
There is no "push" towards a particular language, but you do have to take a second foreign language at school, and you can obviously only pick what's on offer, which can vary from state to state and school to school. I think you probably find French everyhwere, but smaller languages can be on offer too, usually from countries that are directly adjacent to your state.
In Slovakia, English is compulsory and so is a 2nd foreign language. There is usually German, Russian and French available. In some (usually private) schools, they also teach Spanish or Italian. I don’t think any of them are pushed more than the others. People don’t really care what 2nd foreign language kids choose, English is considered the most important anyway.
Unless I'm misremembering (entirely possible) or wasn't told about other options, French and Spanish were the choices at my secondary school; and "choices" is a bit misleading because French was mandatory the first 2-3 years, and after that you were only given the option of swapping to Spanish if your French grade was good enough.
So in Portugal you usually take two foreign languages. English is the more comon one. French, German, Spanish, Italian and Latin, is also offered, but French is the one that is offered everywhere.
In Hungary english and german. In primary school you choose one of them. In high school if you chose german as first you have to choose english for your second language. If you chose english, you can choose something else. I could choose german, french or latin (religiose school). I picked french
So in French schools you have to take at least 2 foreign languages, English and another one. As far as I know the only possibilities for the second mandatory language are German, Spanish and Italian, with (in my experience), German and Spanish being available every where. (By my personal experience, obviously, but I didn't know you could take Italian as second language until high school, when I moved to a bigger city than before)
If I'm not mistaken it's also possible to take Dutch in quite a lot of schools in the north (around Dunkerque and Lille), and also some schools in the biggest cities can offer Chinese.
We all get french from the age of 10 in the dutch speaking part.
Latin is still heavily pushed by many Flemish parents, which is an anomaly compared to most other non-Romance places. Many students are forced to study it and put way more effort into it than into French or German.
Quite a lot of students get German, even if they don't do languages. My brother does science & maths and still gets 1 hour a week.
In my (Dutch speaking) high school, you could actually choose between German and Spanish if you chose to study languages. I was one of the very few students that chose German. I picked it because it's an official language of Belgium and I later studied English and Dutch (both also Germanic languages) at university. Spanish was considered much cooler.
English and Dutch are also both Germanic languages and are relatively similar compares to dutch and french.
In Wallonia appart from Dutch and English, I think the most learned languages are German and Spanish. I think most of the time you have to choose primary foreign language English or Dutch, then the other is the secondary foreign language, and you can choose a third one.
When I was in school French was compulsory from age 9-14, German was also optional from age 13 onwards and Spanish from 14, we were the first year that it wasn't compulsory to take a language for GCSEs (age 14-16)
I must say that brits have gotten soooo much better at spanish lately
English isn’t a compulsory subject though many people don’t have any other options for the one compulsory foreign language. We have two native languages so many people have enough work with just learning two new languages but it’s possible to study several languages if you want.
I finished school a decade ago, but I took English (2nd-), German(4th-), Swedish(7th-) and Spanish (10th-).
I thought you'd have Swedish/Danish as one of the foreign ones?
During a time it was German, because oh with german you will have great oportunities in Germany or France but now its falling out of grace and being supplented by other language, so mostly italian and spanish.
Spanish 72% German 20% italian 6% other language 2%
Definitely depends on the region, there's only one middle school offering Italian in my area in the North West while all middle schools still offer both Spanish and German. I'd assume Italian is more common in the South.
Germany is still the most populous EU country with the biggest economy, and that’s not counting the opportunities learning German opens up in Austria and Switzerland. Any idea why it’s falling out of favor?
That depends on the area, in north/east France I’ve never seen Italian being taught in school (I actually took Italian as an LV4 and had to go through the CNED because it wasn’t taught physically in any school in the area).
Here we have both Spanish and Basque as primary languages (depends on your school the percentage of subjects taught in either of them) then English as a third language. In high school you may have french as an option... and those studying arts may take Latin also.
I've been to Euskadi a lot, but never really thought about this. Are there schools that teach entirely in either Euskara or Spanish? And what's higher education like in that aspect?
In Switzerland, we have four national languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh). So we have to learn a second national language first, then English second. Depending on the path to higher education you choose, you can grab Latin and Ancient Greek as well.
German. Obvious due to Austria being the closest western country and German companies having such an impact on Hungarian economy. Also there is a quite high number of German minorities
When I visited Hungary and Slovakia on holiday a few years ago, I found that it was much easier to deal with taxi drivers, waiters etc in my schoolboy German than in English.
German and French are the most common, though some elementary schools are making a point of offering non european languages and they are proving very popular, Japanese and Mandarin mostly.
I’d say spanish is pretty close to german but french is definitely ahead of both
In school we read Swedish and English and around the age of 13 we get to pick a third language, the most common is Spanish, German or French. Though some schools might have more options, it differs from school to school. Then in high-school you can keep taking language-courses and they offer more, Italian for example. Nothing is really "pushed", you don't Have to read a third language but it's a good merit, you can choose to take extra classes in English or Swedish instead. Spanish is perhaps the most popular since lots of people go on vacation there and it seems kind of easy to learn, and then German is somewhat similar to Swedish but with, for us, fucked up grammatical rules.
I worked as a waiter for a few summers through uni and the first time some swedish tourists (their children, actually) spoke to me in spanish I flipped out.
About 60% of students choose Spanish, the rest are roughly evenly split between French and German, slightly more choose German.
Where I went to school the dominating reasons for Spanish were that it was perceived as "exotic" and opening more doors for travel (and not for Mallorca; more dreams of Latin American adventures), or because people encountered more Spanish in media. No one chose it as an easy option, that was unequivocally perceived to be the German.
A lot of people here wish they could replace learning Swedish with either extra Finnish or English lessons lol
Swedish person: "So you're italian, do you speak spanish?"
Students in schools in Poland have learn two foreign languages, and since English is the most common, German definitely comes second. I know it depends on the region, because in western Poland German happens to be the first foreign language and English the second foreign language, but still the most common combo is English + German.
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Many Poles do speak impressive German though. I taught first semesters as a teaching assistant some years ago in TU Berlin, and I must say, of all the foreign students, Poles were consistently the ones who spoke well versed German with nearly perfect grammar.
In the past in Ukraine we learned Russian with English and Ukrainian in school. But it was excluded from school program.
How different/similar are Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian?
Typically French and Latin. In Gymnasium (like high school) you are mandatory to learn both of them, one for 6 years and one for 4. Some schools offer other languages too, like spanish, italian, chinese or russian. Some also old greek.
The days of French and Latin being mandatory are long gone - These days it‘s often a choice between French, Italian and Spanish while Latin is also offered but a lot of people don’t opt for it, because you‘re way more likely to use some Spanish or Italian while on holidays compared to Latin. If you really wanted to pursue a degree where the „small Latinum“ is mandatory you can just learn it while already enrolled.
Adding to this: Austria has 7 (iirc) recognized minority languages and in areas where those are spoken there is sometimes an actual push to learn them, meaning political measures are taken to preserve those languages.
When i think of “classic combo” i think of latin and greek, at least, in italian high schools it’s or “latin and greek”(liceo classico) or “latin” (others licei).
As both Dutch and English are mandatory exam languages in the Netherlands, about 160,000 students a year sit exams for those.
I think how soon schools start with German vs French depends a bit. I had German from the start of secondary school and we started French halfway through the first year iirc. But schools starting French earlier isn't that surprising since it's more difficult than German for most Dutch speakers.
🇨🇭 switzerland
sad Italian hand gestures
So croatian and english are mandatory from the first grade. And then there is a divide for the second foreign language. Coastal parts mostly learn italian while the inlsnd parts learn german.
And there's latin in better high-schools (gimnazija) as well as ancient greek for those who opt for classical education
German and french are most common. At the higher levels of high school one of those is mandatory, along with English and Dutch, you can of course choose to do both. From my experience on my own high school French was the more populair one, no idea why, we lived a stones throw away from the German border.
Also it's not uncommon to see French replaced by Spanish nowadays.
I think most students think German is close enough to Dutch so "they don't need it". But it's far from mutually intelligble.
You can also choose to take Latin or ancient Greek classes instead of a modern language if you go to a gymnasium.
Huh, everyone I know dropped French as fast as they could and kept German. Also close to the German border
Spanish has been taking over French for quite a while now. As for your own experience, it makes sense, because if you lived so close to the border, most kids would naturally get some experience with German, and so they'd feel that they don't really need the school course too.
I’ve also seen schools who replaced german with spanish
Until relatively modern times French was very much the main choice. Germany and increasingly Spanish are available and there are other languages possible, if you can find someone to teach the courses. We also only start learning continental languages at age 12 - far too late in my opinion.
Not Irish?
It's probably either German or French since my country borders the 3 that speak it, aside from Slovenia, plus in South Tyrol, lot of people speak German there
In elementary school people usually study Italian and English
From what I know, German, Spanish, French and Russian are most studied 3rd languages here in Czech Republic.
In Denmark there usually isn't much option for your 3rd language choice, since many schools only have teachers for German, some will offer French too, but it's mostly German. You can elect to have German or French as a 3rd foreign language on top of the 2 mandatory, but those are added as extra hours, also you can choose 1 year elective for the last mandatory year in primary school (9th grade) choices are common immigrant languages (these would be turkish, arabic, somali etc.) Or spanish, you might need to attend 3rd foreign language classes at a different school though.
English is the first foreign language we learn, and the second one is French. In some high school programs, kids might also learn German or Spanish.
And people tend to forget French as soon as they get out of school, veeery few kids are actually invested in it.
I assume there are regional differences? I've been to Sibiu once, and communicating in german was sometimes easier than english (I haven't tried my rudimentary french though), historical and work-related factors probably have something to do with this.
I wouldn't call it "pushing", it's what's being offered. Learning two foreign languages is mandatory if you want to go to university, and my school offered us a choice of either French or Latin as the second foreign language. It was about ⅓ Latin, ⅔ French. That was in Bavaria.
In Luxembourg German and French are taught long before English, in fact in elementary school, while we only start learning English in high school.
Wanted to say exactly that, I chuckled when they assumed that English is a pushed language in all of Europe LOL. You're better off speaking German or French in this country over English for sure.
It varies from one region to another however in the north and north east German is by far the most popular. In primary school it’s part of the non compulsory subject scheme together with Spanish and French. Than in high schools especially in Gymnasiums, German is a compulsory subject and it is given 3 periods per week(the same as English). Some schools also offer Spanish, Italian, French, Russian and Latin the later of which is compulsory on Classical Gymnasiums
In the German speaking part of Switzerland it's definitely French, but it's often taught in a horrible way. I do agree with the Language being taught at school as it's our second most spoken national language, but compared to English, which got introduced into the primary school system around the millenium, it's really not popular among students. And I'd say it's mostly due to the teaching of it.
English was only introduced around the millennium? So Swiss people older than say 40 never had any English lessons at school?
Most common as a second (mandatory) foreign language are German, French and Spanish (I think in that order). Russian is probably still in the top 5, but falling out of favor in the past 20-30 years.
They are not pushed, you have options, but people prefer French, German, Spanish, Italian, so these are more common.
English is the only mandatory foreign language afaik, it starts at either kindergarten or first grade. I think some local schools don't even have foreign language teachers (apart from English), but in most schools you can choose German, French and Spanish, these are the big three.
Most schools do French and Spanish (as well as Welsh of course). German has been declining in popularity for a while but is still relatively common. I haven't heard of any other foreign languages being taught in Wales, but I'm sure some schools offer more.
French and German in elementary schools and Spanish in high school.
German, French, or Russian depending on the school. Spanish and Italian are also officially recognized third languages but less frequently taught than the first three.
Dutch or sometimes German if you live close to Ostbelgien/Luxembourg/Germany, note that both are national languages.
Spanish in my area (it’s not a majority language but we study the language from the ages of 6-7 at school, and we live a 10-minute drive away from Spanish-speaking areas).
Went to school in the eastern part of Germany (2000s) ... Russian was and maybe still is one of the top choices as a second/third language
In eastern Poland (Podlaskie, Lubelskie) Russian. In my town I had for 9 years (3 schools) Russian as necessary, in secondary school of 8 classes 7 had Russian as second foreign language (include profile classes, as mathematic, humanistic, biological), only 1 had German. Of 240 people in 8 classes during final exam only 50% took English, another 50% took Russian, German was taken by none (!).
In my adult education years, I've mistaken 3 women I know for Russians for several months because they spoke Russian among themselves. Others were calling them the Russian mafia as a joke and they never corrected anyone and were in on the jokes. The joke was really on us Danes; the women are from Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine.
In Spain we have regions where people there speaks another regional language besides than Spanish. For example Catalonian, Basque, Galician, and some of this languages and Spanish have their dialects I would say the second most spoken and learned language of Spain can be Catalonian but I don't have official data. And as second foreign language I feel that a lot of Spaniards know a little bit of German or French after English.
My sons didn't have a choice. It was English and German. (2006-2020). My husband didn't have a choice either, it was English and German (1974-1983). We began our English and German lessons a few years later than our sons generation. () < roughly the years we attended public school.
When I was at school (80s and 90s) there was French and German; some private schools did Latin and less often, Greek, and I knew people at other state schools who had Spanish as an option. My own kids- Mandarin seems to be fashionable but rarely studied to GSCE, French, German and Spanish remain the main ones.
Croatians are encouraging in schools as well in kindergartens to be multilingual
German or French. I started with French, then had a year or two of German on top of that and then ended up picking French. Not the best choice maybe, i don't speak it at all but would have had a better shot at German since it's so similar.
French. Usually the options are between French, Spanish and sometimes German but French always seems to be the most popular with the people in charge. Students usually prefer Spanish tho
German, which is also mandatory, although few ever learn it anywhere close to the same degree as English
German or Spanish. Good students pick German, lazy students (like me) chose Spanish.
In most schools, the options for a 2nd foreign language are French and German.
In the 90s the UK education seemed to teach English and then English only louder and slower for when speaking to foreigners....
Nothing is really pushed officially. I suppose German would be a close second after English although in most highschools when kids have to pick a second foreign language they can for the most part freely choose from Italian, French, Spanish, German and possibly a variety of other languages, most likely Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian.
French, because well they are neighbors, I never learned it unfortunately, I was in a school where they only taught english. As an adult I never had the time to learn.
Some tipes of schools don't actually offer a second foreign language so i only ever had English(still angry about that). But judging off of what my brother had i think its french and latin
Aside from English, we were given two options: German or Russian, with Russian being the one most people would be incentivized to study due to the large Russian minority in Latvia. Things are changing since the start of the war though, and iirc Russian will no longer be strongly pushed in schools anymore.
Here in Northern Slovenia we get German as an optional subject in 3rd grade / 8 years old until 9th grade / 14 years old.
First one is French. The second one is Latin. I like this about us that we collectively agree that the people who had something worthwhile to say in places like Greece or Italy died ages ago and that people like the Spaniards never had anything worthwhile to say at all. But it is cool to learn dead languages I guess....
Spanish is getting more and more popular though, especially with people doing Abitur.
Danish. Every school kid from ages 11 (if I remember correctly) and throughout secondary education is taught Icelandic, English, and Danish. Then we can choose between German, French and in some cases Spanish in our secondary education
French is traditionally the language taught, but Spanish has been rapidly growing in popularity and probably is the most popular. My school did Italian as well but both students who took it and my school were in the minority. It’s not unheard of for Mandarin and German as well.
Nothing is really pushed if your mother tongue is the native language. First foreign language is English second is usually a choice between Russian, German and Finnish. But if your native language is not Estonian then Estonian is pushed the most and that sometimes becomes pretty heated debate here between estonian speakers and russian speakers.
Swedish, which is an official language alongside Finnish in Finland. Children have to learn it from 6th grade to graduating Upper secondary school or vocational college. Same goes for Swedish speaking Finns, who have to study Finnish. Except the Åland islanders (who have autonomy) who straight up discriminate the Finnish language.
Depends a lot on which bit of the country you're in. In the south French is absolutely dominant, in the east German is dominant, and in the big cities Spanish is also added to the mix.
When I was in high school we had French from the very first year of high school (with English already being taught in the last two years of elementary school). German followed in the second year. You could choose to drop them later, they weren't mandatory like English. We have three "levels" of high school here, with the highest lasting the longest, 6 years. It's here that you can choose to study another language like Spanish, Mandarin or Latin. The other two levels don't offer that option.
Here it's still Latin. In my home town there are three Gymnasien, and two of them start with mandatory Latin ahead of English.
I would say in public schools, or at least outside of the big Lisbon ones you get English (mandatory) and then another one optional being the only options Spanish or French
German / French / Spanish is probably the top 3 in Denmark currently. We also had a requirement of a 1 time language lesson lasting 1 school hour (45m) of Swedish and Norwegian at our school. Basically 1 time in like 9th grade they replaced our regular Danish lessons with Swedish/Norwegian.
I'd say German is the most popular.
When you reach the 6th grade most schools offer 3 languages to choose from for your third language.
Probably German and French, I took 3 years of German and 6 years of French. However, I've rarely used my French and use German about once a week.
Used to be Russian but now the government is talking about taking it out of the program by 2026 (if I remember correctly). My boyfriend's mom is a Russian teacher and she said that a lot more parents chose German and especially French in the beginning of this school year do to the war.
The other native language ;)
You get to choose between French, German and Spanish. I feel like Spanish was the most popular choice when I grew up, though I wouldn't say it was pushed more than German or French.
German, definitely German... But there are also Spanish, French and sometimes Russian in our schools.
The state language. In fact, by law, I have the "right" to use my mother tongue, but the "obligation" to learn the state language someone decided centuries ago after winning a succession war.
Danish and English from the 1st grade, then German or French from 4th grade. Most people study German as opposed to French, which makes sense given that Germany is our only land neighbour (if you exclude Øresund and Hans Island). However, in Danish we’re also taught some Swedish and Norwegian. Norwegian Bokmål is especially easy to read, it’s like 95% (number I pulled out of my ass, but you get the gist) identical to written Danish.
There isen't any there is pushed, but you typically german. Because you find most german school teachers.
It used to be German since it was the most useful language to know after English for academic and business purpose, with French as a less popular option.
It depends on the school. In my primary/middle school everyone started English in 3rd grade, and then in 5th grade 2 generations would have French, 1 would take Italian. In other schools in my town people would learn Spanish, in some German starting from 5th grade.
No push for anything in norway. You hardly find public figures who speaks anything others than english. So why should the society then push for anything. Eventhough most people going to school has learned french or german or maybe spanish at some time.. (kind of mandatory) no one is able to do a conversation.
German or Italian depending on which part of the country you live.
I live in Romania
None really, many people learn Spanish, Italian or German, but none is pushed hard really
First school had an English/German division. If only I'd be able to choose German, ffs... I would have mastered a third language!
In Ireland it's compulsory to take English and Irish. Then most universitys have a 3rd language as an entry requirement to their bachelor programs, making it not mandatory but kind of the done thing. The most common are French and German
Sweden here. French, Spanish or German. Some school offer more languages to choose from, some offer less.
Spanish is more common on the mainland whilst French on the Azorean islands, don't know about Madeira.
When I started high school the first year French was compulsory. Then for the second year you chose 2 languages out of French Spanish Latin and German and took those for 2 years. The next 2 years you dropped a language and concentrated on just one.
French for the most part. A handful of schools teach German. And Portuguese and Chinese are not unheard either but much much rarer.
Italy here. In the past learning French was more important then English. Now it’s, besides English, German and Russian due to the tourists. Also French, but not that important.
I'd say German, but there is a lot of Spanish too. Russian used to be top, however it's slowly dying
In my experience (but it can be different depending on the area of the Country where you live) it's Spanish or French but Spanish is definitely more popular.
Spanish and French. Apparently German is also an option that's required but my school said it's a shitty private school and don't have to do what the education agency says but idk
In Germany, it’s mostly English, I live in Madrid right now and from what I’ve experienced, Portuguese or English.
There is no "push" towards a particular language, but you do have to take a second foreign language at school, and you can obviously only pick what's on offer, which can vary from state to state and school to school. I think you probably find French everyhwere, but smaller languages can be on offer too, usually from countries that are directly adjacent to your state.
In Slovakia, English is compulsory and so is a 2nd foreign language. There is usually German, Russian and French available. In some (usually private) schools, they also teach Spanish or Italian. I don’t think any of them are pushed more than the others. People don’t really care what 2nd foreign language kids choose, English is considered the most important anyway.
Polish, French, German sometimes Italian and Spanish
Unless I'm misremembering (entirely possible) or wasn't told about other options, French and Spanish were the choices at my secondary school; and "choices" is a bit misleading because French was mandatory the first 2-3 years, and after that you were only given the option of swapping to Spanish if your French grade was good enough.
In Junior Cycle we have a choice of 4 languages and we must choose one. The options are French, German, Spanish and Italian.
I'm studying Economics in Italy, we have the option of taking an additional exam in Spanish, French or German.
So in Portugal you usually take two foreign languages. English is the more comon one. French, German, Spanish, Italian and Latin, is also offered, but French is the one that is offered everywhere.
In Hungary english and german. In primary school you choose one of them. In high school if you chose german as first you have to choose english for your second language. If you chose english, you can choose something else. I could choose german, french or latin (religiose school). I picked french
German, often. However most people stick with English only.