"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.", said Nelson Mandela once. Knowing a new language can make you a global citizen. You can find various options to study, retain scholarships to study aboard. Moreover, an umpteenth number of career choices become available for a new language learner. But choosing the correct language is tricky. It requires thorough research and considerable brainstorming. You can heave a sigh of relief as I have looked into all aspects and brought you a list of the best languages to learn in 2023. Let's explore the list together!
Best Foreign Languages to Learn as Second Language in 2023
1. Mandarin-Chinese The foreign language that should be on the top of your list to learn is Mandarin-Chinese. Mandarin-Chinese is a global language otherwise known as Northern Chinese. The language forms the basis of the Modern Chinese language. It is the second most-spoken language in the world, the first being English. Almost 199 million people speak the language as a second language.
Reasons to Learn Mandarin-Chinese
There are various reasons to top the language on your list. China is growing on an industrial scale day by day. The booming economy and its hugely population-driven market make the country an appropriate destination to land a business.
Additionally, a growing economy and industry mean more job opportunities, and China is open to offering vacancies to foreign learners. Learning Mandarin-Chinese will open the door to such job opportunities for you.
Leaving all these statistics behind, you can choose the language for fun too. It is easy to learn and helps learn another Sino-Tibetan language like Burmese. That is no doubt wonderful.
2. Spanish Spanish as a global language has grown steadily over many years. At present, 548.3 million people speak the language, whereas 73.6 million are only second-language speakers. This ranks the language as the third most spoken global language. It is the official language of the UN.
Reasons to Learn Spanish
If you are a college student, you should learn Spanish for the single fact that it is one of the most widely spoken, yet less read languages in the world. Therefore, it can broaden the horizon of studies.
Besides, learning Spanish can get college credit. It makes SAT easier. The grammar system of the language can boost the English grammatical system.
By mastering Spanish you can land the job of a Spanish teacher and trainer in any corner of the world.
3. French The third language that I suggest learning as a foreign language in 2023 is French. French belongs to the Indo-European language family and came from Vulgar Latin. French is spoken in 53 countries. It is an official, co-official, or de facto national language of 29 countries. According to an official estimation, 194.2 million speak the language as a second language, and 79.9 million use it as their mother tongue.
Reasons to Learn French
It is spoken on five continents in the world. By learning French, one can easily become a global citizen occupying facilities of studies and work in a foreign land.
With that, France is the epicenter of cinema and literature. One can unravel the bounty of art and culture by mastering the language.
One can choose job opportunities in the foreign embassy. Some fly to France to pursue work opportunities in the culinary business and film and fashion industry.
4. Arabic Arabic is a beautiful language. It has a rich historical and cultural background. Arabic has many variants depending on the areas where it is spoken. It is hard to learn initially for English speakers. But one should not consider that to be a setback and give up!
Reasons to Learn Arabic
Arabic dates back to the pre-written historical era. You can unveil many manuscripts and art forms once you learn Arabic. And once you can do so, you can become a historian or an archaic language reader.
Arabic is considered a sophisticated language. You can become a member of a sophisticated linguistic circle by learning it.
5. Russian Like other most demanded languages such as English, Spanish and French, Russian is also highly demanded. Almost 250 million people speak the language and 110 million are second-language speakers. The obvious reason for learning the language is its popularity.
Reasons to Learn Russia
Russian language has come from the East Slavic language branch. Learning the language makes learning other mysterious Slavic languages easy.
Russia is a hub of well-known universities for diverse stream of education. Many scholars prefer Russia for higher degrees such as Post Doctorate. Learning the language can expand your chances to study aboard in Russia.
6. Portuguese The official language of Portugal and Brazil is Portuguese. There are 24 million L2 (second language) speakers of the language. Portuguese is the sixth-most spoken language and the third-most spoken European native language. The language is spreading steadily around the globe for the enormous opportunities one can bag for learning the language.
Reasons to Learn Portuguese
Studying Portuguese is a great academic idea; though it is widely spoken, only some study it. Thus, mastering the language will help you to pick some high-ranked occupation.
It is the official language of many international organizations, such as the European Union and the Organization of America.
Do you know Portuguese is the national language of Brazil? So, knowing Portuguese can make your trip to Brazil possible any day.
7. Japanese If you unfold your potential and challenge yourself as a learner, you should learn Japanese. Even though Japanese is spoken chiefly in Japan, you should learn the language for many outstanding fun factors.
Reasons to Learn Japanese
Japan has seen soaring progress in the automobile industry. It can cater for educational and professional opportunities in this field.
As an animator or film enthusiast, Japan can be the first choice for many.
As Japanese is widely spoken in Japan, traveling becomes easy, and one can make a hearty connection to the country's people by talking in their native language. You can learn Japanese history as well during your learning process.
8. Italian Italian is an easy pick for English speakers. The official language of Italy, Italian is the second most widely spoken native language of Europe. There are some astonishing advantages of learning the Romance language.
Reasons to Learn Italian
Learning the language can make all forms of art, history, and music easy to understand. If you can understand art in its original form you can become a great translator any day.
'Made in Italy' is the third business brand in the world. Therefore, understanding the language can pave the path to a successful business and a good job opportunity.
One who knows Italian can quickly learn another Romanian language like French or Spanish.
9. German The official and co-official language of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. German is a masculine language. It is not so easy to learn for English speakers yet they may find the language more familiar than other foreign languages.
Reasons to Learn German
Most of us know feminine languages like English. But learning German will add one masculine language to our profile.
One can launch a global career quickly by learning German. Besides, Germany is a great country for foreign study with many facilities to provide to the students.
10. Korean The Korean language is getting day by day popular globally.
Reasons to Learn Korean
The reason behind the popularity of the language is its political and cultural influence over the globe.
The bloom of cinema industry is another reason to learn the language. If anyone learns the language high ranked job opportunities of the foreign embassy will become available for them.
And with BTS, Korean has become the most wanted language among Gen z. By learning Korean understanding, K-pop music and K-drama will become a cakewalk.
FAQs Which foreign language is in most demand? Of many languages, Mandarin-Chinese is the most demanded foreign language in 2023 for its enormous benefits. Which foreign language is the best for a career? Learning a foreign language always boosts your work profile. Among many foreign languages, Japanese, Spanish, German, and Russian are best for a career. What is the easiest foreign language to learn? Frisian, Dutch, and Italian are the easiest to learn as the linguistic systems of these languages are similar. Additionally, these languages are easiest to learn for English speakers. What is the hardest foreign language to learn? Learning a new language is always an arduous task. According to many resources, learning Arabic, Vietnamese, and Finnish is challenging.
