Home » Study Reveals: These Languages Learners Give up Quickest
January is the month for new year’s resolutions, and an increasingly popular one is learning a new language. But while YouGov stated that a quarter of us didn’t keep any resolutions in 2020, which language learners are likely to give up first?
TheKnowledgeAcademy set out to find the answer. Calculating the average time taken to learn the top 20 languages in the world and surveying 6,250 individuals on when they quit, the easiest and hardest language to learn can be revealed!
In last place, Arabic learners are likely to give up first. The unique alphabets, omitted vowels and unusual writing style can make Arabic incredibly difficult to learn, with TheKnowledgeAcademy finding that learners are likely to give up just 42.3% of the way through their course on average.
In 19th place is Vietnamese, natively spoken in Vietnam. As the most widely spoken Austroasiatic language, surprisingly it is the second hardest to learn in the study – most learners quit in the 26th week, achieving just 50% of the language.
Following Vietnamese is Hindi, an official language of India. Hindi’s complex calligraphy and grammatical structure means those studying it achieve just over half (51.9%) proficiency on average before giving up.
Russian claims 17th place as learners will give up after learning 53.8% of the language on average (28 weeks along).
Mandarin follows behind with 55.8% proficiency and English in 15th with 59.6%. English is the language of business across the world and many countries’ second official language, so it’s surprising to see learners giving up after just 31 weeks.
Those learning Dutch will continue the longest, according to TheKnowledgeAcademy. When asked, most quitters gave up after 26 out of the 29 estimated weeks required – that’s 89.7% of the way through.
In second place is Spanish. Its practicality and wide reach make it one of the easiest to learn – this is reflected in a success rate of 86.2% success rate according to those surveyed.
Other language learners least likely to give up early include:
After asking those surveyed why they gave up learning a language, the majority claim lack of motivation as the main reason (42%). This is followed by difficulty (31%), lack of resources (15%), inability to reach the next milestone in fluency (8%) and 4% claimed other reasons.
Finally of the 6,250 surveyed learners, 67% intend to try learning the language again at some point – 26% don’t and 7% stated they were unsure.
This research has been carried out by www.theknowledgeacademy.com
With many industries prospering within the region, the Middle East stands at the forefront of modern business and remains one of the most powerful and influential corporate landscapes in the world.
Visit our awards hereMEA Markets are proud to present the return of the UAE Business Awards for the seventh consecutive year. With these awards we look to honour the enterprises and individuals that innovate and inspire growth and development within UAE. These businesses and individuals are the ones who have helped establish the Middle East as a global knowledge base and a principal destination for new initiatives.
Visit our awards hereMEA Markets is proud to announce the return of the African Excellence Awards in 2022. Naturally, we will again look to highlight and acknowledge the industry leaders from the wide-ranging sectors and specialisms across the continent.
Visit our awards hereWe have packages to suit everyone. Let us help work out which one would suit your needs!
Ground Floor, Suite B-D,
The Maltsters, Wetmore Road,
Burton-on-trent, Staffordshire,
DE14 1LS
MEA Markets is a quarterly publication dedicated to researching and publicising the major moves and events as they happen across the entire Middle East & Africa region.
Our team of highly trained and committed journalists, contributors, researchers and worldwide industry insiders are on hand to ensure that our global readership enjoys 24/7 access to timely and entertaining content that keeps them up to date with the ins and outs of this fast moving region.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_7GTFNZD3Y9 | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_gtag_UA_63302014_1 | 1 minute | Set by Google to distinguish users. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookietest | session | No description |