Overwhelming majority of young Romanians aim to learn a foreign language

The overwhelming majority of young Romanians aspire to learn a foreign language, according to a Eurostat survey that ranked Romania second in Europe in this regard. Some of them, however, do not have access to the languages they want to learn.

Looking to better pinpoint the desire to learn new languages, the website dedicated to parents ClubulCopiilor.ro analyzed data provided by Google to determine the most searched foreign languages in Romania over the last 12 months. English is by far the most searched, with four times more searches than German, which ranks second, and eight times more searches than French.

Despite Romania being an important member of La Francophonie, the interest shown by Romanians in learning the French language is not significant, as it ranks only fifth as an option among searches, according to the ClubulCopiilor.ro study.

German, by comparison, ranks second in the preferences of Romanians. Germany is Romania's main economic partner, and knowledge of the German language represents a real advantage in finding well-paid employment even in Romania. Additionally, many Romanians have emigrated and continue to emigrate to German-speaking countries, which is reflected in the number of searches for German language courses.

English is not only the most sought-after foreign language in Romania but is also the language taught in almost all schools in the country. According to a report from the National Institute of Statistics, 87% of children in Romania study English as their first foreign language. After English, French is the foreign language most commonly studied in Romania, with 1.5 million students taking French courses in the public education system.

Spanish leads the preferences among Romance languages, followed by Italian and French. The large Romanian communities in Spain and Italy, as well as the significant number of companies from these countries, present in the Romanian market, support the increased interest in these two languages.

Unfortunately, very few students who want to learn German, Italian, or Spanish have the opportunity to do so in a public school. Only 2% of Romanian students study German as their first foreign language, while an additional 9% study it as their second foreign language. Italian and Spanish are studied by only 1% of children. One of the main reasons is the limited number of teachers: there are only 982 German language teachers in Romania compared to 6,030 French language teachers, according to data provided by the Ministry of Education in June 2023, quoted by ClubulCopiilor.ro.

The Japanese language is one of the most sought-after foreign languages in Romania. Unfortunately, outside of a few major cities, learning Japanese in a physical setting is practically impossible. Online courses serve as a way around that for now.