How Languages Shift in Popularity Over the years

Languages change in importance over time—it wasn’t all that long ago that the global lingua franca was, well, French. As this first decade of the new millennium draws to a close, Spanish is on its way to becoming a native language to the United States, and Chinese and Arabic have found themselves near the top of the international relevance scale.

The change in importance of various languages in our modern society is being reflected in educational trends around the world. Record numbers of students are showing interest in Arabic and Chinese, while only a few choose to pursue Russian.

The number of students enrolled in introductory French, German, and Japanese is consistent with the numbers from previous years, but Chinese is growing in popularity as Mandarin Chinese becomes ever more important in the global economy.

Arabic is another burgeoning language. Many students are motivated to learn the language out of a desire to understand first-hand the culture of the Middle East. The Middle East is an area of conflict and Arabic is a useful tool to people interested in resolving cultural issues.

Russian in the eighties was in about the same situation as Arabic is now, experiencing increasing popularity. After the end of the Cold War, however, many Russian programs began shutting down. Some in the West akin this to being a statement of victory. 'We won the war, so we don’t need to bother with that language'. This may not be entirely accurate with bodies such as the CIA and NSA still keen to recruit Russian speaking individuals. Russian apparently has not lost its relevance to the political sphere.

Languages like Chinese and Arabic might potentially fade from American curriculums, but Spanish is no longer a foreign language for many in the US. Spanish, unlike Chinese, Arabic and Russian, is offered in most high schools. Many students are choosing Spanish because of its pervasiveness at home. It is a practical language.

While an increasing number of students are drawn to languages with perceived growing relevance in the world, a steady number of students still gravitate towards languages not used in “practical transactions.” There is still a steady rate of students studying Latin and Greek despite their lack of obvious uses in the modern world.