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Language Choices at EBS London

Arabic

Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with up to 300 million speakers. It is the dominant language in an area covering the whole of Northern Africa, the Arabian peninsula and much of the Middle East. As the language of Islam, it is also the second language of millions of Muslims around the world. The politics of the Middle East in general and recent political events in particular have heightened the importance of studying Arabic, through which students can gain insights into the cultural, religious, and political dimensions of the region, and most importantly into the business domain of the Arabic countries that often have thriving economies, exemplified by the dynamic development of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Chinese

Chinese is the largest official language in the world. China’s economy has been growing at between 5-15% per year for nearly thirty years. Moreover the joining of the WTO in 2000 has highlighted China as a key growth area for international trade and partnership development, making it the world's biggest exporting nation and the second largest economy from 2010. About one-fifth of the world speaks Chinese as its native language, making it the language with the most native speakers. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

French

French is one of the official languages of the European Union and Canada.  It is also one of the leading languages in Europe and other continents with 113 million Francophones worldwide. In many countries of the Middle East, the Far East and Africa, the French language still enjoys a privileged position in administration, commerce and business due to old cultural ties with France and the existence of a large French-speaking population in these states. On an international level, after English, French is the most commonly taught second language in the world today.

German

With over 100 million speakers, more people speak German as their native language than any other language in Europe. Not only the residents of Germany speak German, it is also an official language of Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein, and it is the native language of a significant portion of the population in northern Italy, eastern Belgium, Denmark, eastern France, parts of Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Romania. In addition to that, around 20 million people are learning German as a foreign language worldwide.

Germany has been  the world’s largest exporting nation from 2003-2007, ahead of the USA, and is the number one trade partner of many economies, including Italy, France and Russia. Germany is innovative: 4 of the world's 10 most innovative companies are located in Germany, and with 12.7% of the world's patent applications, the country ranks third in the world. Two-thirds of the world's leading international trade fairs take place in Germany, so there is no doubt that knowing German creates business opportunities.

Italian

Italian means business, as well as culture. With its roots in Rome and the Latin world, the Italian language and culture offers a unique combination of art, design and technology. According to UNESCO, the United Nation's cultural branch, two thirds of the world's historical artistic heritage is located in Italy; for industrial, furniture and car design, Italian style stands out for its blend of imagination and precision planning; Italian technology companies are world leaders in diverse sectors ranging from weaving machinery to international space station labs. However, Italy is most known worldwide for its food and catering industry as well as fashion and luxury industries, which include segments like fashion, jewellery, watches and eyewear.

Japanese

Japanese is spoken by the approximately 128 million people in Japan, as well as by the Japanese living in North and South America and in Hawaii. Japan is the second largest economy in the world, dominating such fields as electronics, robotics, computing, car production and banking. In addition, interest for not only traditional Japanese culture but also pop culture such as comics and animation is spreading globally. As a result, the number of Japanese learners worldwide is on the increase.

Portuguese

With over 200 million native speakers in the world, is the sixth most spoken language and the third most spoken European language (after English and Spanish) in the world. Furthermore, it is ranked first in South America with more people speaking it (186 m or 53% of the population) than Spanish. It is the official language of 7 countries and a major lingua franca in Africa. Culturally and commercially, the place of Portuguese in the world is undeniably relevant due to Brazil’s growing economic presence. With Brazil’s lead role in the Southern Latin American Common Market and Portugal’s membership in the European Union since 1986, Portuguese is today widely taught both in Europe and South America.

Russian

Russian is beginning to realise its enormous business potential, with the largest oil and gas reserves of any country in the world, and many important multinational companies having important bases there. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia saw an unprecedented development and growth of the market economy, including the development of small businesses and joint venture companies with Russian and foreign partners. The Russian language is understood across Eastern and Central Europe and is widely used in the central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Spanish

Spanish is the world’s second largest international language, with more than 400 million speakers in more than 20 countries (including over 40 million in the US). With sustained growth rates of over 3% annually, Spain has been one of the fastest growing economies in the Eurozone for the last 15 years. Latin America, on the other hand, is currently competing successfully in many industries in the world market. The existence of regional trade agreements such as NAFTA (TLCAN), MERCOSUR, together with the region's optimistic stance towards globalisation evidences the importance of this large trade area. Furthermore, the Hispanic community - with its growing success in many areas of business - is the largest and fastest growing minority in the US, which makes Spanish the second language in United States of America.