German revealed as most popular London lockdown language

Travel hungry Britons living in London have been learning to speak German more than any other language over the last 12 months.

That’s according to the linguists at Busuu who have revealed which languages Brits have been learning in lockdown to experience new cultures from the comfort of their home.

German came out as the number one to learn with just over a fifth, 21%, of Londoners learning the popular European language.

Seventeen percent of people living in London learnt Spanish during the lockdowns, with 14% studying English, predominantly those learning it as their second language.

Around 12% turned to the language of love, French, during the pandemic with Italian the chosen language for just nine per cent of Londoners to learn.

The league table of languages was similar across the country’s major cities and the home nations with favoured languages including Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese and English.

Bernhard Niesner, co-founder and CEO of Busuu said: “With travel being the most popular reason for learning among our UK users, it comes as no surprise that Spanish was a top choice over the last year.

“The Spanish language often reminds us of a sunny getaway and I’m sure that the thought of a future holiday has motivated many to improve their skills in the language.

“Interestingly, we’ve also seen the pandemic mark a behavioural shift in the UK – not only are more people learning a language here, they’re learning for longer and making more progress too. The UK still has a long way to go before it can shake off its monolingual reputation though.”