According to a study made public in August 2005 by Berlitz – one of the largest global language schools, with 450 centres in 50 countries – Spanish is the third most demanded language worldwide. The study makes these points about Spanish:
- The country with the highest demand for Spanish classes is the United States
- The other top-10 are Germany, Mexico, Spain, France, Brazil, Japan, Belgium, Canada and Argentina
- In Japan, Spanish is third after English and French
- In Asia and Australasia, Spanish is fourth after English, French and a third European language (usually German, Italian or Portuguese)
- Spanish is one of the very few languages with growing enrolments
- In the period 1989-2004 the global demand for Spanish increased 9.57 %
- In the same period, demand for French and Italian diminished 17% and German 42 %
- English increased by 43 % and Mandarin by 454 %
- Only English and French enjoy a higher global demand
- Spanish share of global learning demand is 5.9 % – compared with 6.8 % of French and 69.43 % of English
Enrollments in Spanish in the United States
In the United States and Europe students’ demand of Spanish is growing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down. The tables below show enrolments in North American universities in the period 1960 – 2009.
Enrolments in Spanish compare with those of all other languages in the USA (1960-2009)
Enrolments in Spanish compare with those of all other languages (1960-2009) Footnote 1
Enrollments in the twelve leading languages in the USA (1960-2009)
Enrollments in the twelve leading languages (1960-2009) Footnote 2
Percentage of total language course enrollments in the USA (1968-2009)
Percentage of total language course enrollments in the USA (1968-2009) Footnote 3