Generational approaches to language learning

Does your age influence the language(s) you learn? In this month’s translation industry updates we’ll be taking a closer look at demographic trends in language learning and thinking about how different generations’ life experiences inform how they learn.

Generational attitudes towards language learning is a surprisingly difficult topic to research because there are very few large datasets about language study across different countries. Perhaps the most easily-accessible reporting on the topic, and the one which is quoted the most widely in other articles on the topic, is the Duolingo language report which has been running for at least the last five years and breaks down language learning habits by country, age bracket and other demographics.

But Duolingo’s figures still only tell us about the habits of Duolingo users, which means that the results are probably reflective of a younger and more tech-savvy audience and don’t necessarily tell us so much about people who learn languages through other means.

Another widely-quoted source is the findings published by WordTips based on data from English-speaking US-based users of the Conversation Exchange platform which shows broadly similar trends to those reported by Duolingo, but these results centre around people who already speak English and are based on a smaller sample size from a more geographically limited part of the world.

Lastly, many countries publish statistics around which languages students take official exams in, but this is more reflective of people’s childhood and adolescent experiences, and it is also limited in the sense that it only shows comparative trends between languages that are widely taught in schools.

The last challenge is trying to make generalisations about language learning when language study is such a personal thing, so while it is often possible to identify population-level trends, these won’t necessarily speak to everybody.

With the above limitations in mind, we have tried to think about how people’s life experiences at different ages impact on their language learning.

First of all, it’s worth pointing out some similarities across age ranges and geographies. Globally, English remains the most widely-studied additional language. Duolingo and many other sources indicate that the second most widely-studied additional language is now Spanish, with French coming in third by most calculations. After that, age-based variations become more prominent.

Regional variations in language learning

One of the most striking trends in language learning is the tendency for younger audiences to favour East Asian languages such as Japanese, Korean and Chinese, while older learners are more likely to stick with widely-spoken languages of European origin, such as Italian and Portuguese.

As of the 2023 Duolingo language report, Japanese was the fifth most studied language across the board, but 86% of Japanese learners were under 30. The Conversation Exchange data show similar figures: in the case of both Gen Z and millennials, Japanese and Korean were the third and fourth most commonly studied languages, but Korean dropped to seventh place in the case of Generation X, and ninth place for baby boomers.

Meanwhile, widely-spoken European languages have much more of a footing among older audiences. Portuguese ranks in tenth place among Gen Z per the Conversation Exchange data and is the tenth most studied language overall on Duolingo, but Conversation Exchange shows that it’s the eighth most popular language among Generation X and seventh among baby boomers, meaning that we see an upward trend in Portuguese uptake as people get older. Italian shows a similar generation divide per Conversation Exchange, occupying seventh place for Gen Z and millennials, but third place in the case of both Generation X and baby boomers.

Some of this variation may come about from different motivations for learning a language. US-based learners of Italian overwhelmingly say they study the language for holiday purposes or brain training, whereas younger audiences are more likely to say that they are learning a language for career development reasons or to support their studies. The tendency for younger audiences to be inspired to study other languages based on audiovisual culture is also on the increase.

Language as culture

The last ten to twenty years have seen a significant cultural shift towards consuming culture in other languages. According to GWI, 76% of Gen Z and millennials watch foreign language TV shows or films, compared to 56% for Gen X and baby boomers, so there’s a striking generational difference between older and younger audiences. In terms of music, 30% of American music fans reportedly listen to music originating from outside the US, but millennials and Gen Z were the top generations to report listening to foreign artists, at 36% and 38% respectively, according to Luminat. Spanish is the world’s most-streamed language in music after English and the success of Spanish-speaking artists is one of several factors credited for the massive upsurge in young people studying Spanish as an additional language.

Increased availability of online learning

Over and above this, younger audiences are more likely to use digital tools to support their language learning, which may account for their more adventurous additional language choices. App-based learning facilitates the study of less widely-resourced languages, whereas traditional study resources such as textbooks and print dictionaries are often easier to find for the world’s most commonly-studied languages. Language-learning apps and other forms of platform-based learning also create opportunities for learners to become familiar with other languages without necessarily having the intention of visiting those places, whereas in times gone by people’s additional language choices were arguably more likely to be informed by factors such as choice of holiday destination. This brings us onto our second-to-last trend.

An emphasis on politics and culture

2022 reportedly saw a significant upsurge in people learning Ukrainian as an additional language in a spirit of solidarity. With younger generations often perceived as being more politically engaged, it stands to reason that part of this sentiment could involve an increased interest in languages perceived to be marginalised for geopolitical and other reasons.

A desire to engage with family heritage languages is another, possibly related, trend that can be attributed to younger audiences, particularly in light of the fact that an increasing number of people and particularly younger people now have their family roots outside of the country they grew up in. In Argentina, the most widely-studied language on Duolingo after English is Italian which has been attributed to the fact that around two thirds of that country’s population ultimately trace their roots back to Italy, while Hindi is the tenth most widely studied of all languages on Duolingo despite already being one of the world’s most widely spoken native languages, possibly indicating an interest among members of the South Asian diaspora who now live in other places. In the UK, which has a significant Irish diaspora population, Irish is the second-fastest growing language.

Lastly, the importance of protecting smaller-diffusion languages in their lands of origin is another example of culture and politics mixing. The increased availability of online learning tools for Scottish Gaelic, which now has more Duolingo learners than actual speakers, can be seen as part of a broader effort to protect a language which is currently only spoken by around 2.5% of Scotland’s population. As younger people increasingly emphasise the importance of identity and representation, both of which are intimately linked to language, it seems reasonable to assume that other less widely-spoken languages may become more of a part of people’s learning habits with time.

Older people study for longer

But if young people are more adventurous in their choice of languages and in their reasons for studying them, older people are, interestingly, more likely to commit to studying languages for longer. There is a widely-held perception that learning languages gets harder as we age, but at the same time the cognitive benefits of learning a language are now so well-known that it’s amazing that age is still seen as being a barrier to learning, and today’s older learners are proving that. Age can also bring not only wisdom but humility, reflection, and the diligence to stick at learning a language, while having a wider set of life experiences to draw on and perhaps a better vocabulary in our own or other languages can help us with each additional language that we learn.

Interestingly, many older people say that they regret not keeping up with languages that they studied in school (six out of ten in the UK, according to British Council figures), which also supports the idea that in some ways people prioritise language knowledge more as they get older. After all, as the cliché goes, it’s certainly never too late to learn.

Whatever your age group and your reason(s) for learning a language, we wish you the best in your endeavours. We hope you enjoyed reading this month’s article, and we’ll look forward to seeing you again in November for more translation industry updates.