Languages of the world - Most studied foreign languages in the USA
| Language | Fall 2002 enrollments |
% change from 1998 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Spanish | 746,267 | 13.7% |
| 2. French | 201,979 | 1.5 |
| 3. German | 91,100 | 2.3 |
| 4. Italian | 63,899 | 29.6 |
| 5. American Sign Language | 60,781 | 432.22 |
| 6. Japanese | 52,238 | 21.1 |
| 7. Chinese | 34,153 | 20.0 |
| 8. Latin | 29,841 | 14.1 |
| 9. Russian | 23,921 | 0.5 |
| 10. Ancient Greek3 | 20,376 | 24.2 |
1. By number of foreign language enrollments in U.S. institutions of higher education.
2. This is larger than the actual growth rate; it reflects past underreporting.
3. If combined, Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew claim 10th place, with 22,802 enrolled and a 44% change.
Source: Association of Departments of Foreign Languages at the Modern Language Association, Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2002