What third languages ​​do you study in your country?

14 comments

1. English & French is almost the norm here.

   Some classes learn German instead of French tho (especially in Transylvania).

2. English is usually the main language in Ireland. You start learning Irish at 5 as well, but most schools are taught in English. That being said, a Gaelscoil (pronounced “gale-skull) is a school that operates in Irish, except for English lessons, but there aren’t as many as we want or need.

   When you go to secondary/high school, most people would choose either Spanish, French, Italian, or German for at least 3 years.

3. This is for The Netherlands.

   Depending on your level, but in the first year of Secondary school you start with **French** (~age 12), and the year after you will start German. Before year 4 you have to choose your subjects in which you want to graduate, and for VWO (highest level of eductation) you have to choose 1 foreign language extra (apart from English), this can be French, German, Spanish, Greek or Latin. And I guess in some schools you will have some others. And you have to learn this language for another 2 or 3 years, depending on your level.

   But like 90% of the people will do either German or French (Spanish is not even optional in most schools).

   So for my case: I had 3 years of French and 5 of German, because I chose German before year 4.

4. In Poland it depends on the school what they offer. Bigger schools will have more languages. The most common are German (because our neighbor and economic relations), French (because historically relevant) and Russian (because our enemy). Sometimes you’ll also find Spanish or Italian.

5. It depends on what each school has to offer, but the standard for a third language (starting in the 8th grade) is a choice between German, Spanish and French.

   Historically, German has been the most common to choose, but Spanish has recently become a bit more popular. French used to be the number two behind German (before Spanish became available most places), but it has plummeted quite a bit in the last decade, and is definitely the least popular option nowadays.

   In the bigger cities, some schools also offer more “exotic” languages, like Mandarin, Japanese, Russian etc. but that’s not the norm for most schools across the country.

6. Swedish is mandatory for Finnish speakers and Finnish is mandatory for Swedish speakers. But excluding the official languages and English, in my experience people mostly studied German, French, Russian, and Spanish.

7. Spanish, German, French are the main ones. German used to be the most common, but it has been overtaken by Spanish in the last two decades. Probably because people find it more useful for traveling on holidays to the Mediterranean or South America…

8. In Republika Srpska, we learn Serbian, English and German. I think in other parts of the country or maybe even in other schools you can chose a language other than German but where i go to school the three are fixed and cant be changed

9. Within some year there may be the situation that they don’t have teachers to teach 3rd language in norway. The case with german is quite known. Always known for its old teachers. German was quite popular some decades ago.. probably at it’s peak before english conqured norway. This norwegian [article](https://www.aftenposten.no/oslo/i/a2a6Pa/tysklaererne-er-i-ferd-med-aa-doe-ut-interessen-for-faget-minimalt) (2018) told that 43% of german teacher in the school is over 60 years old.. 63% over 50… Few take education in the language.. and there are probably many techers out there without the formal education..

   Many think it’s a shame and states germanys importance in europe.. Though it’s hard to think of any norwegian german-speakers.. Not among public figures you normally see on tv or read about in the news.. So may wonder how important it really is… Most people gets quite easily around with their english however..

   Are german-teachers those “old creatures” in your countries also ?

10. Grew up in Germany. We had English as a first (foreign!) language and could choose between French and Latin for the second.

    Third language was not compulsory, it was part of something called WPU (wahl-pflicht-unterricht [elective classes]) where you could choose between a lot of different subjects. For languages you could either choose Spanish or the language that you didn’t choose as your second (French if you took Latin, and Latin if you took French!)

    Very few people took a third language.

11. French-speaking schools

    Brussels : Dutch is the 2nd language (mandatory), English is the 3rd language (mandatory). A fourth language is possible but not that common.

    Wallonia : you have to chose between Dutch, English or German as second language. English is now the most popular choice, followed by Dutch and then German. The third language depends on your 2nd. Those who picked Dutch/German usually pick English as 3rd language (sometimes made it mandatory by the school itself). Those who picked English as 2nd language often take Dutch as 3rd language but Italian, Spanish or even German are fairly popular too.

    In Wallonia, it’s up to the schools to decide what they want to offer. In municipalities with language facilities, the facility language is mandatory.

12. English is the mandatory LV2 ( LV : alive language ) while in highschool you have usually the choice between German and Spanish for the LV3. Sometimes other language like Italian, Arabic or a regional language is available but that’s more rare imho, might depends of the geographical location, though in Britanny I had Spanish or German but not Italian unfortunately. You only have access to exotic language like Chinese, Japanese, Russian etc once in university

13. German and Spanish are offered as a 2nd foreign language in most middle schools, more rarely (or probably depending on the region of France we’re talking about) you can find Italian or Chinese. I think regional languages can also be offered depending on the location. Later on in high school you can pick a 3rd foreign language as an option and those will be more varied (mine offered Arabic and Russian but another high school nearby offered Modern Greek, Portuguese and Swedish).

14. Russian is most common third languages to teach. But it is not liked by students.

    It’s more like social workplace for old Russian teachers so that they have some pay. Studying Russian is unpopular, not just due to recent events, but because of our common history and also because it is very hard. So Estonian kids mostly just waste their time in the classes and learn minimum what is needed for the grade. After school is over, nobody has really intention to use Russian. If any workplace requires Russian, then you can’t anyway compete with those who speak Russian from home. Also not many workplaces require Russian, as local Russians speak Estonian and Russian Federation is insignificant as export partner (When to look at the export- import partners of Estonia then all other neighbors – Finland, Sweden, Latvia – have bigger share than Russia).

    Few schools have French or German as third language.

    PS. There are some Russian-speaking schools in Estonia for kids from Russian speaking families. In those schools Estonian is second language and English is third language.