What is the most studied language in the world?

English. It was the most-studied language on Duolingo in 2024, ranking first in 135 countries, and it is also the most-spoken language overall with roughly 1.5 billion total speakers, most of them second-language speakers.

How long does it take to learn a language?

For an English speaker, the US Foreign Service Institute estimates about 600 to 750 hours for an easier language like Spanish and roughly 2,200 for a hard one like Japanese, to reach professional proficiency. Conversational B1 comes sooner, around 350 to 400 guided hours by Cambridge's estimate.

Do most people watch with subtitles?

Increasingly, yes. Netflix reports that nearly half of its US viewing hours use subtitles or captions, and surveys put the share of Americans who watch with subtitles most of the time around 50%, and much higher among younger viewers.

Data roundup, updated for 2026

Language Learning Statistics 2026

The numbers on who is learning a language, which ones, how long it takes, and how much of it now happens in front of a screen, each traced to a real source.

By Lachlan McRitchie, Founder, LingoBinge

Updated July 30, 2026

This is a sourced roundup of the language learning statistics worth knowing in 2026, gathered in one place so you can cite them without chasing them down. Every figure links to its primary source, from Duolingo's filings and the US Census to the Foreign Service Institute and Netflix's own viewing data. Just as usefully, we flag the numbers that get repeated everywhere but have no real source, so you do not pass them on by mistake.

Free to cite and reuse

This roundup is free to quote and share under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Every figure links to its own primary source, so credit that source for the number, and link here if you use the collection.

LingoBinge (2026). Language Learning Statistics 2026. https://lingobinge.com/statistics

How many people are learning a language

There is no reliable worldwide count of language learners, so the honest anchors are the reported user numbers of the biggest platforms.

116.7M#
Duolingo reported 116.7 million monthly active users at the end of 2024, up 32% year on year.
Source: Duolingo Q4 2024 shareholder letter (SEC) (2024)
Company-reported but drawn from an SEC filing. Monthly active users is the audited metric, not soft download or registration counts.
40.5M#
Duolingo averaged 40.5 million daily active users at the end of 2024, up 51% year on year.
Source: Duolingo Q4 2024 shareholder letter (SEC) (2024)
9.5M#
Duolingo had 9.5 million paid subscribers at the end of 2024, roughly 8% of its monthly users.
Source: Duolingo Q4 2024 shareholder letter (SEC) (2024)
The 8% paid share is our arithmetic from the two reported figures.
25M+#
Babbel has sold more than 25 million subscriptions across 15 languages.
Source: Babbel (2024)
Cumulative subscriptions sold over the company's lifetime, not current active users.
120M+#
Busuu reports more than 120 million registered users across 13 languages.
Source: Busuu (2025)
Cumulative registrations, not active users.
100k#
Preply runs a tutoring marketplace of about 100,000 tutors teaching 90 or more languages across 180 countries.
Source: Preply (2026)

The most studied and most spoken languages

Two different questions get confused constantly. The most STUDIED languages are what learners pick; the most SPOKEN are what the world already uses. English leads both, but for different reasons.

Top 10#
The most-studied languages on Duolingo in 2024 were English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, and Hindi.
Source: Duolingo Language Report (2024)
Reflects one app's learners, skewed by its user base, not global proficiency.
135 countries#
English was the most-studied language on Duolingo in 2024, ranking first in 135 countries, more than ever before.
Source: Duolingo Language Report (2024)
~1.5B#
English is the most-spoken language in the world with roughly 1.5 billion total speakers, most of them second-language speakers.
Source: Ethnologue, 29th edition (via Wikipedia) (2026)
Ethnologue's own pages are access-restricted to automated checks, so the figure was verified via the Wikipedia table that cites Ethnologue 2026. Counts are revised yearly, so treat as approximate.
~1.18B#
Mandarin Chinese is second by total speakers at about 1.18 billion, and leads the world on native speakers.
Source: Ethnologue, 29th edition (via Wikipedia) (2026)
~7,000#
There are about 7,000 living languages in the world, with Ethnologue counting 7,170 in its 2026 edition.
Source: Ethnologue, 29th edition (2026)
An estimate, not a hard fact: catalogues count differently and the total shifts each year.
67.8M#
About 67.8 million US residents, roughly one in five, speak a language other than English at home, up from one in ten in 1980.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey (2019)
Measures home-language use, not bilingual proficiency. Spanish is 41.8 million of the total.
59%#
59% of Europeans can hold a conversation in at least one foreign language, rising to 79% of 15 to 24-year-olds.
Source: Eurobarometer, European Commission (2024)

How long it takes to learn a language

The two authoritative anchors are the US Foreign Service Institute, which has timed its diplomats for decades, and the Cambridge and Council of Europe guided-hour bands for the CEFR levels.

600 to 750 hrs#
For an English speaker, an easier language like Spanish or French takes about 24 to 30 weeks, roughly 600 to 750 class hours, to reach professional working proficiency.
Source: US State Department, Foreign Service Institute (2026)
The FSI headlines weeks; hours are derived at about 23 class hours a week plus daily self-study, so they describe an intensive bar, not casual learning.
2,200 hrs#
The hardest languages for English speakers, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, take about 88 weeks, roughly 2,200 class hours.
Source: US State Department, Foreign Service Institute (2026)
350 to 400 hrs#
Cambridge English estimates roughly 350 to 400 guided hours to reach CEFR B1, the level where you can handle most everyday situations.
Source: Cambridge English (2026)
A guideline only. The CEFR itself deliberately sets no fixed hours and defines levels by what you can do.
1,000 to 1,200 hrs#
Reaching CEFR C2, the top of the framework, takes roughly 1,000 to 1,200 guided hours by Cambridge's rule of thumb of about 200 hours per level.
Source: Cambridge English (2026)

Learning from television and subtitles

Watching is now one of the largest time commitments in modern life, and a growing share of it happens with subtitles on. The research on whether that helps you learn is stronger than most people assume.

~50%#
Nearly half of all US viewing hours on Netflix happen with subtitles or captions turned on.
Source: Netflix (2025)
Netflix's own platform behaviour, not a survey, which makes it the strongest single subtitle statistic available.
30%#
Non-English titles generated 30% of all viewing on Netflix in the first half of 2023.
Source: Netflix engagement report (2023)
51%#
About 51% of Americans say they watch with subtitles most of the time, and nearly all of Gen Z use them at least some of the time.
Source: Preply survey (2023)
An opt-in online panel run by a language-learning company, so directional rather than a probability sample. A more rigorous YouGov poll put the share who prefer subtitles on at 38%.
53%#
53% of Europeans, and 65% of young people, prefer subtitled over dubbed content, which the EU links to picking up languages from original-language media.
Source: Eurobarometer, European Commission (2024)
large effect#
A meta-analysis of 18 studies found that same-language captions produce a large positive effect on both listening comprehension and vocabulary learning.
Source: Montero Perez et al., System (2013)
3,000 words#
Knowing about 3,000 word families covers roughly 95% of the words on television, and 7,000 covers about 98%.
Source: Webb and Rodgers, Language Learning (2009)

The language learning market

Market-size numbers in this space diverge wildly by scope and source, so the honest way to cite them is as a range, always with the firm and the year.

$22 to 28B#
The online language-learning market was worth somewhere between about $22 billion and $28 billion in 2023 to 2024, depending on the analyst and what they count.
Source: Grand View Research; Global Industry Analysts (2024)
Estimates diverge because reports differ on online-only versus total, and apps-only versus tutoring-inclusive. Cite the firm, year, and scope.
$55 to 92B#
Analysts project the online market to reach roughly $55 billion to $92 billion by 2030, a spread that shows how differently these reports define the category.
Source: Grand View Research; Global Industry Analysts (2024)
$748M#
Duolingo, the category's public bellwether, reported $748 million in revenue for 2024, up about 41% on the year.
Source: Duolingo FY2024 (SEC) (2024)
A concrete, filed number is a better anchor for scale than the divergent whole-market estimates.

Numbers to retire: myths and misattributions

Some of the most-quoted figures in this space have no real source. Here are the ones to stop repeating, and what the evidence actually says.

Not supported
Ted Sarandos said 80% of Netflix members use subtitles.
This is misattributed. No primary Netflix document or Sarandos statement can be found for the 80% figure, and Netflix's own current number is different: nearly half of US viewing hours use subtitles. Do not attribute the 80% to Sarandos, and do not drop the original once-a-month qualifier.
Not supported
1.2 billion, or 1.5 billion, people are learning a language worldwide.
No rigorous source supports a global learner count. The figure traces to statistics-aggregator sites citing unverifiable aggregated data, and the 1.5 billion version is often a confused restatement of how many people speak English. Use a concrete platform metric like Duolingo's monthly users instead.
Not supported
Fewer than 5% of app users finish a course, and 65% quit within three months.
These completion and dropout numbers circulate everywhere with no traceable primary source. Authoritative completion data is genuinely scarce, so we do not repeat these as fact.
Not supported
It takes 10,000 hours to master a language.
The 10,000-hour rule is a popularisation that the researcher whose work it draws on, Anders Ericsson, publicly rejected. It was never a threshold, never a rule, and never about language. For language, use the FSI and CEFR hour bands above.
Not supported
Being bilingual makes you smarter or raises your IQ.
The general cognitive advantage from bilingualism has largely failed to replicate. The largest meta-analysis, covering 152 studies, found no reliable executive-function advantage after correcting for publication bias. The solid benefits are demographic and economic, not a brain boost.
Not supported
The language-learning market is worth exactly one headline number.
Published market sizes for overlapping years range from about $22 billion to over $115 billion depending on scope and source. Any single figure quoted in isolation, without the firm, year, and definition, is unreliable.

One number runs through all of this: we already spend hundreds of hours a year watching, most of it now with subtitles on. LingoBinge turns that time into language practice.

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Frequently asked questions

How many people are learning a language?: There is no reliable worldwide count, but the largest app, Duolingo, reported 116.7 million monthly and 40.5 million daily active users at the end of 2024, with Busuu and Babbel reporting tens of millions more. Be wary of the widely repeated 1.2 billion learners figure, which has no verifiable source.
What is the most studied language in the world?: English. It was the most-studied language on Duolingo in 2024, ranking first in 135 countries, and it is also the most-spoken language overall with roughly 1.5 billion total speakers, most of them second-language speakers.
How long does it take to learn a language?: For an English speaker, the US Foreign Service Institute estimates about 600 to 750 hours for an easier language like Spanish and roughly 2,200 for a hard one like Japanese, to reach professional proficiency. Conversational B1 comes sooner, around 350 to 400 guided hours by Cambridge's estimate.
Do most people watch with subtitles?: Increasingly, yes. Netflix reports that nearly half of its US viewing hours use subtitles or captions, and surveys put the share of Americans who watch with subtitles most of the time around 50%, and much higher among younger viewers.