The pie charts compare the proportions of students in the UK choosing four foreign languages- French, Spanish, German, and Russian- in 2009 and 2014.
Overall, French remained the most popular language in both years, although its share declined slightly. By contrast, the proportions of students studying Spanish and German increased, while Russian experienced only minor changes.
In 2009, French dominated, accounting for 45% of students. Spanish was the second most common choice, representing 35%, followed by German at 20%. Russian had the smallest share, at approximately 10%.
By 2014, the proportion studying French had fallen to 35%, though it still remained the leading language. Meanwhile, Spanish rose noticeably to 30%, narrowing the gap with French. German also experienced growth, increasing to around 25%, indicating a rising interest among students. In contrast, Russian changed only marginally, remaining the least selected language at roughly 10%.
In summary, although French continued to be the most widely studied foreign language, its dominance weakened over the five-year period as Spanish and German became increasingly popular, while Russian showed little variation.