Foreign Language Learning in the UK Increasing due to Lockdown

During the lockdown, many people turned to learn a new skill and in the UK a lot of Britons choose to learn a foreign language.

Thanks to modern technology starting to learn a new language can be as easy as downloading an app and according to BBC, the downloads of language learning apps have increased in the UK especially during the pandemic.

Looking at three popular language learning app providers worldwide – Duolingo, Bussu and Babbel – all of them report an increase in British users to learn the language skills.

Duolingo Language Report reflects on trends, patterns, and analyses about language learning around the world. By examining the UK market focused on the data drawn from 13 million downloads in the UK,  there has been an increase of 132% in the number of users in 2020 in the UK. The most popular courses studied in the U.K. are Spanish followed by French, German.

Busuu reports a fourfold rise in UK numbers, giving it a total of 3 million users in the country. Busuu was awarded a prize for Digital innovation in ELTons award (English language teaching innovations) organized by British Council in October 2020 and it is growing in popularity.  

Babbel states UK user registrations increased by 80% in 2020, compared with 50% worldwide. Babbel’s data shows that Britons are actually much better at learning a foreign language than their reputation suggests. Babbel’s chief executive Arne Schepker said that when a lot of Brits say that they were not very good at language learning that is not seen in the companies data.

Overall, many more Brits are learning languages thanks to new technology that offers easy and in some cases free access to language learning. It also shows that Brits are very keen to learn and it might be an opportunity for European language schools to enrol more people from the UK to learn once it is again possible and safe to travel abroad.