Editing Second language (section)

==Foreign language==
{{Unsourced section|date=March 2025}}{{main|Foreign language}}
[[File:Ldl-wortschatz.jpg|thumb|A German student learning French. [[English language|English]] (1.5 billion learners), [[French language|French]] (82 million learners) and [[Chinese language|Chinese]] (30 million learners) are the three most commonly studied foreign languages.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Rick|last1=Noack|first2=Lazaro|last2=Gamio|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts|title=The world's languages, in 7 maps and charts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712122302/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts/ |archive-date=12 July 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=23 April 2015|access-date=9 June 2015}}</ref>]]
[[File:Spanish class.jpg|thumb|Spanish taught as a second language to a class of native [[English language|English]] speakers at an American [[Independent school|private school]] in [[Massachusetts]]]]

In [[pedagogy]] and [[sociolinguistics]], a distinction is made between second language and foreign language, the latter is being learned for use in an area where that language is originally from another country and not spoken in the native country of the speakers. And in other words, foreign language is used from the perspective of countries; the second language is used from the perspective of individuals. <ref>{{cite web |title=Difference Between Second Language and Foreign Language |url=https://www.languageeducatorsassemble.com/difference-between-second-language-and-foreign-language/ |website=Language Educators Assemble |access-date=14 April 2025}}</ref>

For example, [[English language|English]] in countries such as [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Bangladesh]], the [[Philippines]], the [[Nordic countries]] and the [[Netherlands]] is considered a second language by many of its speakers, because they learn it young and use it regularly; indeed in parts of [[South Asia]] it is the [[official language]] of the courts, government and business. The same can be said for [[French language|French]] in [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]] and [[Tunisia]], although French is not an official language in any of them. In practice, French is widely used in a variety of contexts in these countries, and signs are normally printed in both [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and French. A similar phenomenon exists in [[post-Soviet states]] such as [[Ukraine]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[Kazakhstan]], where [[Russian language|Russian]] can be considered a second language, and there are [[Russophone|large Russophone communities]].

However, unlike in [[Hong Kong]], English is considered a foreign language in [[China]] owing to the lack of opportunities for use, such as historical links, media, conversation between people, and common vocabulary. Likewise, French would be considered a foreign language in [[Romania]] and [[Moldova]], even though both French and Romanian are [[Romance languages]], Romania's historical links to France, and all being members of [[la Francophonie]].