Learning a second language has been proven in studies to improve your cognitive ability over time, which in turn has many benefits for your overall mental health.
People suffering from anxiety and/or depression could see a vast improvement in their mental health after learning another language. Not only that, but they could earn more money too.
But which language to pick?
To discover the most in-demand and highest-paid second languages in the world right now, language learning platform Preply has analysed more than 1.5 million job ads looking for specific language qualifications. The research has revealed that in London, Russian speakers are paid the most whereas French-speakers are the most sought after.
The top 10 highest-paid second languages in London
- Russian is the highest-paid foreign language in London with an average annual salary of £43,501.
- In fact, Russian speakers could earn nearly £10k more than English speakers.
- Other European languages commonly spoken in the capital city help make up the majority of the top 10; German speakers come in second with an average annual salary of £42,617 and French speakers are in third place with a salary of £40,566.
- Punjabi, which is the fourth most common language spoken in England and Wales*, ranks as the 8th highest paid language.
| The highest-paid second language in London | ||
| Rank | Language | Average Salary |
| 1 | Russian | £43,501 |
| 2 | German | £42,617 |
| 3 | French | £40,566 |
| 4 | Arabic | £39,836 |
| 5 | Spanish | £38,574 |
| 6 | Mandarin | £36,562 |
| 7 | Portuguese | £35,535 |
| 8 | Punjabi | £34,837 |
| 9 | Italian | £34,715 |
| 10 | English | £34,655 |
The top 10 most in-demand foreign languages in London
- French is the most sought-after foreign language in London right now with 3,524 jobs requiring this language skill in the job description.
- Russian, which is one of the highest-paid in London, is not very in demand with only 164 jobs seeking this language capability.
| The most in-demand foreign languagesin London | ||
| Rank | Language to Recruit | Number of open roles |
| 1 | French | 3,524 |
| 2 | German | 3,136 |
| 3 | Italian | 1,719 |
| 4 | Spanish | 1,579 |
| 5 | Mandarin | 819 |
| 6 | Japanese | 583 |
| 7 | Arabic | 516 |
| 8 | Portuguese | 356 |
| 9 | Russian | 164 |
| 10 | Hindi | 91 |
The top 10 highest-paid foreign languages in the UK
- We discovered that in the UK, German is the highest-paid foreign language with an average annual salary of £38,516.
- This is interesting considering German isn’t a widely spoken foreign language in the UK and it is not even in the top ten ranking of the most widely spoken languages in the UK*.
- In second place is Arabic (£38,339), which is one of England and Wales’s top ten most-spoken foreign languages.
- Russian, which is the highest-paid in London, ranks 8th nationally.
| The highest-paid foreign languagesin the UK | ||
| Rank | Language | Average Salary |
| 1 | German | £38,516 |
| 2 | Arabic | £38,229 |
| 3 | French | £37,250 |
| 4 | Spanish | £37,134 |
| 5 | Mandarin | £34,489 |
| 6 | Portuguese | £33,963 |
| 7 | Swedish | £33,700 |
| 8 | Russian | £33,041 |
| 9 | Japanese | £32,437 |
| 10 | Hindi | £31,930 |
The top 10 most sought-after foreign languages in the UK
- French is the most in-demand second language in the UK with 9,229 open roles at the moment.
- The discovery is relevant since French is not England and Wales’s most spoken foreign language and has fallen out of the top 10 in 2021*. The most commonly spoken foreign language is Polish, Romanian, Punjabi and Urdu. However, these languages are not currently demanded in job ads at the moment.
| The most sought-after foreign languagesby UK employers | ||
| Rank | Language to Recruit | Number of open roles |
| 1 | French | 9,229 |
| 2 | German | 7,266 |
| 3 | Spanish | 5,032 |
| 4 | Italian | 4,197 |
| 5 | Mandarin | 1,739 |
| 6 | Arabic | 1,514 |
| 7 | Japanese | 1,496 |
| 8 | Portuguese | 756 |
| 9 | Russian | 509 |
| 10 | Swedish | 317 |
Methodology
- Data was sourced from the online job search engine ‘Adzuna’ from which we analysed job ads that demanded a second language.
- Starting with a seed-list of over 100 cities in 16 different countries worldwide, we searched for job ads mentioning different languages (e.g. the words ‘German’ or ‘French’) within the job title or job description, for each location.
- Our study was calculated in GPB.
