Band 7+: The table shows a breakdown of the most popular languages taken by native English speakers studying at the UK Centre for Foreign Language Learning in 2020.The table highlights information about the percentage of English native speaking men and women who chose to study one of nine foreign languages at a foreign language school in the UK in the year 2020.

The table illustrates the proportions of males and females native English speakers who learned various languages at the UK Centre for the Foreign Language Learning in 2020.

Overall, Mandarin was by far the most popular language among females, whereas males showed stronger preference for Arabic. In contrast, both Italian and Welsh were accounted for the lowest proportion. Additionally, noticeable gender differences can be seen for several languages, particularly Mandarin, Polish and Arabic.

Mandarin language recorded the highest figures among women , chosen by 27%, which was almost double the figure for men. Spanish ranked the second at 19%, while Polish also attracted a significant proportion at 11%. In comparison, fewer women took Welsh and Italian languages, accounting for just about 3% and 4% respectively.

For male learners, Arabic was considered the most dominant language, covering around 22%. The second most popular language among men was Spanish, chosen by the 19%. This was followed by German and Mandarin languages, which stood at the equal number, at 14%. In contrast, Polish was the least popular language among males at only 3%, while relatively small proportion choose French and Italian, at 5% each.