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Learning a new language can be a fantastically rewarding experience. Not only do you get a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, but you learn the ability to communicate with new people around the world and make yourself far more employable in the process. In some countries, such as those in Scandinavia, it is standard to speak a second language in order to get on in the world.

Experts have grouped the world's languages into families that are believed to have common ancestors. Some of the major families are the Sino-Tibetan languages,the Afro-Asiatic languages, the Austronesian languages, and the Indo-European languages.The most popular languages for learners around the world are the quintet of major European languages: French, Spanish, Italian, German and English, although Mandarin has become increasingly popular since China's leaders opened up the nation to international trade. Interestingly, more people speak Mandarin as a first language than any other on Earth. Second is Hindi.

English

English is taught in more schools around the world than any other language. Unsurprisingly, many people who are not taught English at school choose to take an English course later in life, often for business purposes. A number of the world's largest, wealthiest and most politically influential nations speak English as a first language: Australia, the United States, Canada and Great Britain the most notable among them.

Around 380 million people speak English as their first language and up to a billion are estimated to have it as a second or third language. With figures like this, it is really no surprise so many people want to learn English. Also, because a working knowledge of English is required in a wide variety of fields and occupations, education ministries around the world make the teaching of basic English compulsory.

Italian

Italian is spoken by around 80 million people around the world, the majority of whom live in Italy. It is a romance language and is very popular among learners around the world, although for different reasons to English. While people learn English out of necessity, many choose to learn Italian for the pleasure of speaking such a beautiful language.

An Italian course is a romantic notion for many learners, although a knowledge of Italian can be fantastically rewarding. You will only really get an idea of the warmth of the Italian people when you are able to communicate in Italian.

French

French was once the international language of diplomacy and is spoken in whole swathes of Africa (and 29 countries in total). Around 65 million people speak French as a mother tongue, while another 50 million people speak it as a second language. Less English schoolchildren take a French course now than at any time in the Twentieth Century.

Romance language enthusiasts may learn French as it is the third most spoken of all romance languages behind Spanish and Portuguese. Other popular reasons to learn French are necessity and business. After all, the French economy is one of the largest in Europe.

German

Many people learn German for business purposes. The German economy is the largest in Europe and was the third largest in the world at the turn of the Twenty-First Century. Not everyone who takes a German course does so for business purposes: some consider the language beautiful while many simply enjoy being able to travel and communicate with people around the world.

German is spoken by more than 120 million people in 38 countries of the world and, like English, is spoken as a first language in a number of countries, like Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

Spanish

Spanish is spoken as an official first language by 360 million people in, by almost 32 million as first language where it is an unofficial language (including 28 million in the USA) and by over 100 million people around the world as a second or third language. People choose to learn Spanish for a number of reasons: many because of the number of speakers around the world, and many because Spanish is a beautiful and logical language.

Anyone taking a Spanish course is likely to meet people from all walks of life, learning for any number of reasons!