How to choose which language to study

June 3, 2015

Time to read: 11 minutes

There are a lot of languages in the world; “7,159 living languages” according to the Ethnologue website in 2025. Some of them, like Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, are widely spoken and widely taught. Some of them, less so. Naasioi, for instance, is a language of eastern Papua New Guinea and is spoken by a limited number of speakers in a limited geographic area.

But if you’re reading this post, then the question that’s probably on your mind is: “which language should I learn?” And the answer’s not as clear as you might think.

For a lot of people, the obvious answer to this question is always: “choose a language that will help you get a job.” And that’s fine as far as it goes. And yes, maybe there is a link between certain languages and certain career paths in certain parts of the world. But, the thing about learning a language, especially if you learn it to a more advanced level of proficiency, is that the doors it opens and/or the life paths it gently nudges you down are not immediately obvious when you’re first starting out. Not all career paths (or life paths for that matter) are straight lines and sometimes learning a second or additional language can be just the secret sauce you need to uncover what comes next. Not to mention that learning a language can also be super stimulating, challenging, and fun…seriously!

So, where to begin?

(1) Personal Interest Inventory

A good place to start is to take a bit of a personal interest inventory.

For instance, is there a particular language(or languages) that you already feel attracted to? Take a look at your Duolingo app. Come on, you know you’ve downloaded it! Which languages have you already gotten started on? Norwegian? Gaelic? German? Are these languages you’d like to continue with? If so, good to know. Or maybe you’re a K-Pop fan or manga or anime? If so, then maybe Korean or Japanese is more your jam. And then there’s that Mexican TV series you’ve been bingeing? No judgment here, but maybe that’s telling you that Spanish is what comes next for you.

It may not seem like much, but don’t ignore these feelings because they aren’t nothing. They are clues to the language that you are genuinely interested in learning and this genuine interest is genuinely important!

Because learning a language can get tough. Not immediately maybe, because when you first get started you may find that you learn a lot of the basics really quickly. But then at some point things will start to get more challenging, especially when you find yourself wanting to talk about topics that are more complicated than the colour of your shirt or directions to the restaurant. And it’s at this point that you’ll want to remember why you wanted to learn the language in the first place. This is where having those genuine interests can help.

Another genuine reason for learning a language can be personal connection. Perhaps your grandparents are originally from Italy, Russia, or Argentina? How great would it be to be able to speak with them in their first language? Or maybe you are a member of an Indigenous group here in Canada. If so, why not take a look at the revitalization efforts underway in languages like Anishinaabemowin, East Cree, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Inuktut. Revitalization efforts in these (and other) Indigenous languages in Canada and world-wide are experiencing a resurgence in recent years and offer a pathway to connect and/or reconnect with your heritage. In the same way as interests, these personal connections are important because they give you a meaningful reason to keep going when things get hard.

(2) Language Skills Inventory

A second thing to look at are the language skills that you already have. What do you already know?

Did you study French in high school? A lot of Canadians do, and that’s great! And maybe you want to continue studying it at university. Good to know. Or maybe you studied French in high school but, to be honest, you didn’t totally love it. That’s okay too. But remember, a romance language like French shares many similarities with other languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, and having this shared foundation will make learning one of these other languages easier. Also, side note, did you know that 20% of Tagalog of vocabulary is made up of loan words from Spanish?!

Or how about those of you who learned English as your second or even third language? If this is you then, guess what, you may already have a head start! Because, believe it or not, native speakers of many languages, and this is true of English too, don’t know the grammatical structures of their own languages. Sure, they know the right way to use the language and they can tell when something is wrong, but they may not be able to explain exactly why. If you learned English as a second language, then you will already know how to talk about “learning a language” and this will put you in a better position to understand, describe, and explain why things work the way they do.

Last, what about the impact of growing up in a multicultural home? For instance, did you grow up understanding your Mom when she spoke to you in Mandarin, but not being able to speak the language yourself? If so, this puts you in the category of something called a “Heritage speaker.” And being a heritage speaker can be a bit of a challenge when you try to take a university language course because, while your listening comprehension may be strong, your reading and writing proficiency may not. Also, while you may have a sense of what “sounds right”, you won’t necessarily have a grammar foundation to explain why and/or to build on top of. So, where to begin? Well, step one, if you’re hoping to take a university course at our university, you will first need to take a placement test before registering in order to assess (a) where you are proficiency-wise and (b) which course level would be most appropriate. On another unrelated but related note, another thing to consider if you grew up in a Mandarin speaking home is, it’s possible that you already have some passing familiarity with traditional Chinese characters. If so, you may have a head start with the Kanji characters used in Japanese. Something to consider.

(3) What’s happening in the world around you?

While this is not necessarily a reason to choose one language or another, it can also be useful to reflect on what’s happening with language in the world around you. This could mean here in Canada, in other countries, or even within humanity itself.

One, the rise of Generative AI is having a HUGE impact in communities, schools, economies, and professions around the world. And it is definitely having an impact on language learning. This topic is addressed more thoroughly in a related post – Why learn a language when I can just use my phone? – but the thing for you to think about now is motivation. Why do you want to learn a language anyway? Is for transactional purposes only: ordering dinner, booking a plane ticket, asking for directions? If so, then maybe an app is good enough. Watch enough social media and you might think that simultaneous translation is just around the corner. But the questions you need to ask yourself are (a) how genuine can you be when and (b) what language assumptions are baked into the translation software? – While the topic is dealt with more thoroughly in this This topic is dealt with more comprehensively in this

In Europe, the Eurobarometer survey (2024) looked at attitudes toward language learning in EU countries and found that “Three out of five Europeans can have a conversation in a language other than ones’ mother tongue…“. And this number rises to four out of five for people for 15-24 year olds.

In Canada, we are experiencing what Statistics Canada calls “The great Canadian language mash-up” with

In Japan, Korea, and China, English is a required subject in elementary school and, although the jury’s out as to how effective this learning is, pockets of proficiency point to the importance of having an additional language.

Meanwhile in Canada, 55% of the population report being monolingual in English.

https://multilingual-education.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/2191-5059-3-4
Meanwhile, here in Canada, an article on CBC, “The number of Canadians who predominantly speak a language other than English or French hit a record high in 2021.” (Major, 2021) pointed to Here in Canada, StatsCan (2025) points to what it calls a “Non-official, official language mishmash” where three out of ten people can hold a conversation in language other than English or French; with Spanish, Mandarin, and Punjabi topping the list and the number of people speaking a non-official language at home is on the rise. However, this

(4) Which jobs need which languages?

I know I said earlier, that learning a language to get a job may not be the best reason to study a particular language, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a valid one. It just shouldn’t be the ONLY reason.

So if you are thinking about how learning a language might help you get a job, you might want to spend some time researching connections (if any) that exist between certain languages and the careers you’re interested in.

I couldn’t come up with any easy ways to do this, but here are some thoughts to consider.

One, international business and/or international relations programs often include a language requirement. Take a look at their websites. Which languages they’re looking for? How about Global Affairs Canada? Also, take a look at opportunities for youth internship programs offered by the Government of Canada. At the time of writing, they

Two, if emergency response and humanitarian aid projects are something you would like to be involved in as a career, spend some time on the websites of related organizations to see what can learn about their language needs: United Nations (UN), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Red Cross.

Three, if you’re planning to work with immigrant communities in Canada (e.g. in fields like settlement, social work, or healthcare), this CBC article from 2022 highlights some of the trends. Although, there’s quite a bit of variability by province, so you’ll want to crosscheck languages by location.

Four, if you’re a numbers person, you may want to spend some time on the Statistics Canada website. Information on this site points to trends in Canada’s language mosaic over time. Here are a few articles I found relevant:

Four, speaking of statistics, a quick visit to the Statistics Canada website brought me to this infographic

for which language groups are growing fastest.
Also, do a little Googling for search terms like “Languages of the Future.” People are thinking about this topic. Here are just a few articles we found in preparing to write this article:
“The future of language” Noack, R. in The Washington Post (24 September, 2015).
“Languages for the Future”. British Council. (November, 2013).
“What will the English language be like in 100 years?” Moodie, G. in The Conversation (10 November, 2015).
But at the same time, remember that career paths are not always straight lines and future connections between a language and a job may not immediately be clear or even visible to you now.

Also, remember that, just because not many people speak a particular language, does not mean you shouldn’t learn it. Learning a niche language may open up unexpected opportunities in niche careers. The world is a changing place and lesser-taught languages like Haitian Creole, or Kurdish or Kiswahili may take you to lesser-known, but geopolitically important, corners of it. Also, consider the growing revitalization efforts around Canada’s Indigenous languages like Inuktitut, Cree, Halq’eméylem, and Ojibwe. This is a movement that is happening worldwide too with many endangered languages.
(4) Available Courses
If you’re planning to continue studying at university or college, you’ll want to take a look at the language department website at institutions you’re interested in to see which languages they offer. Don’t see the language you’re looking for? It’s a drawback but not a total disaster. There are alternatives: transferable courses from reputable distance education programs, summer immersion programs. Also, ask your counselling office about study abroad options or youth development programs like Canada World Youth. These opportunities exist for you and offer exciting, well-supported, and meaningful immersion opportunities. Take advantage of them while you can!
Additional Thoughts
As you select a language to learn, remember that ultimately the choice is up to you. Some voices may be telling you to choose the language that “makes sense” or that will “help you get a job”. Others may be encouraging you to “follow your heart”. But at the end of the day, the choice is yours, so take an active role the process:
watch foreign language films & travel documentaries
download free learning apps like Duolingo or Memrise
read travelogues…stories about travel, not just guide books
search for, attend, & volunteer for cultural events in your area
And finally, a note about sampling different language classes. For sure it’s okay to take one (or more) introductory language courses, decide you don’t like it, and move on…how else are you supposed to find out what you do like?! But at some point, if you’re serious about developing the kind of proficiency you feel confident putting on your résumé, you will need to choose a language, make it a priority in your learning plan, and stick with it up to advanced levels.
Good luck, buena suerte, and 好運.