To think Spanish is now more popular than French

[Dappy777]

Would you say Spanish is now a more popular second language than French? I mean in the U.K. I went to a rubbish comprehensive in the late 1980s and French was the only option. They didn’t even teach German (that I remember). Back then, if someone could speak another language it generally seemed to be French.

Today, French seems less popular. My friend’s daughter, for example, is doing an A-level in Spanish. When I asked her why not French she said “oh Spanish is much more useful. You can travel all over central and South America with Spanish. All my friends want to study either Spanish or Italian.” My cousin’s son also dropped French to study Spanish.

I think it has been more popular for quite a while.

Yes, because it is more widely spoken as a first language, and therefore more useful for travel, business etc
Saying that I'm currently doing French on Duolingo - but just because I did O level in the 80's and thought I'd find it easiest. I just want to be reasonable at a language other than English.

Yes, it is more popular than French now. The figures support this. (Will see if I can find a link.)

I tutor all three languages at secondary level (all to GCSE; French and German to A level). When I first started, about 25 years ago, it was fairly evenly split between French and German, with French a bit more popular. Now almost no one does German (except a small number of private school pupils) and Spanish is considerably more popular than French.

I think Spanish was initially seen as easier (and it is easier for native speakers of English to pronounce than French, although the verbs are just as fiendish). German has always been viewed as difficult with it being a case language so that has massively fallen by the wayside.

Spanish and Italian are more useful I think. I feel this ‘brain-rot’ language kids under 12 are speaking ‘tralalero tralala’ which sounds Italian should be real Italian then a whole generation will be on track to be bilingual - joking but it does sound funny!

Do you mean generally or among the young? I just wondered if it’s now a more popular option.

I think it has been the first choice in schools for a while.

https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/gcse-results-day-2025-spanish-surpasses-french-in-popularity-among-students-in-historic-first-for-language-studies/

I only know that my son preferred and chose Spanish rather than French - but that was because it is spelled phonetically and he had been told it’s easier for people with dyslexia, which he has.

My daughter goes to a different school and she chose German over French, which she could never get to grips with - and she got in 9 in German so seems like it was a good choice for her. Unfortunately her school doesn’t offer German A Level. They’ve now switched to offered French or Spanish rather than French or German.

Edit - both their Dad and I learned French so we are no use - their Dad is bilingual but that wasn’t an inducement to either of them! I also have a bit of Italian so I can sometimes guess the answers in Spanish 😄

Yes, I remember being told we would need french more in the future but I’ve not visited France so never needed it. I wish we did learn Spanish as I like visiting Spanish speaking countries.

Even my German (ex) boyfriend always says you don't live long enough to learn German

Hahaha, so true! Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache, as the Germans say.

I’m curious to hear what languages your kids chose at GCSE or Sixth Form.

Also, what languages are now offered at A-level? I always regretted not doing an A-level in Latin. If my Sixth Form had offered A-level Russian (back in the late 90s), I’d definitely have chosen that.

We only have French and German as options at DS's school. As someone who works in technology, I would say that French and German are more useful simply because they are bigger economies, and while English is fine when working with big companies, in a lot of SMEs and regional companies you will find a lot of people do not speak English. It basically comes down to whether a country dubs English language TV and film (as France and Germany do) or subtitles them (as the Nordics and Netherlands do).

It has been advancing on French for years but only actually outdid it for the first time this year in terms of number of students, I think. I teach all three - French, German and Spanish - but I am self taught in Spanish and only teach it at KS3 level.

In the early beginner stages, I'd rank them Spanish, German, French in terms of easiness. Once the grammar ramps up, it evens out a bit, but French pronunciation continues to cause problems and lack of confidence. German adjective endings are absurdly annoying, but you can get a decent grade at GCSE without really knowing them! I found Spanish super easy to learn, but obviously the fact that I was already fluent in French helped massively.

It is more popular within the context of languages being v unpopular. Numbers at A level are v v low.

Actually, when you think about it, it makes sense that Spanish has replaced French. If you can read Spanish, you have access to the literature of central and South America. You can read Borges and Marquez and so on.

My dc both did Spanish. Their school now only does Spanish (it's becoming increasingly common for schools to offer only MFL). My (girls' grammar) school offers French, Spanish and German A Levels but we have pretty small numbers except in Spanish.

Think I sent results this year said Spanish had overtook French For pupils taking Spanish. Both are still the most popular subjects. Germans had a massive decline and Mandarin has flopped as no specialist teachers in the UK

I teach French, Spanish and German. My degree is in French and Spanish, I have A level German. When I started teaching in 1992, it was usually only Catholic schools that taught Spanish, with most schools teaching French. There are now more exam entries in Spanish since 2023. Spanish is not easier than French, but it’s phonetic so pronunciation and spelling is more straightforward. German is becoming less popular.

That's not why most people do languages though tbh!

Taught way too late in the UK. My sons junior school was pro sports and they thought by putting a few labels in French around the school was them introducing a language. Wouldn't entertain a French or Spanish club but had football, cricket, archery, rugby and tennis!

Why would Catholic schools want Spanish only?

Our school (bog standard comp) offers French and German GCSE and will schedule exams (but not teach) in Spanish, Russian, Cantonese/Mandarin, and Polish. Unfortunately there is no Ukrainian GCSE so they have to substitute Russian.

The college (we don't have sixth forms) offers A-levels in French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Latin.

Spanish is not easier than French, but it’s phonetic so pronunciation and spelling is more straightforward.

But that means it is easier than French! The grammar is pretty much the same in terms of difficulty imo.

Yes, they've become very niche at A level. I can't say I really blame students for choosing other subjects: they are difficult enough as it is but with the added complication of native and heritage speakers taking them at A level and the view that they are pointless as everything can be done using machine translation/AI anyway, there really is zero incentive for a lot of students.