Learning and how-to content on YouTube recorded more than 5.5 billion views in the United States in June 2025, according to YouTube. Free video now sits beside apps and classrooms as a route into a new language. This piece covers YouTube’s published learning usage figures, teacher adoption measured by Oxford Economics, and which languages people actually study, using Duolingo’s 2025 Language Report.
Language Learning On YouTube
Source: YouTube Official Blog, April 2026; Oxford Economics for the 2025 U.S. YouTube Impact Report, 2025
How Many People Use YouTube To Learn?
YouTube publishes engagement figures for learning content, not a count of language learners. Each metric below measures something different, so they cannot be added or compared against each other.
The June 2025 view figure covers all learning and how-to content in the United States. It sets a ceiling, not the size of the language segment.
| Metric | What it measures | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning and how-to views, US | Video views | 5.5B+ | June 2025 |
| Player for Education, US students | Hours watched | 40M+ | H1 2025 |
| Ask button | People using the feature | 20M+ | December 2025 |
| Quizzes | Average answers per month | 3.5M | Early 2025 |
Source: YouTube Official Blog, “The global campus”, April 2026
The interactive layer stays small next to passive viewing. Quiz answers averaged 3.5 million a month in early 2025, while a single month of US learning views passed 5.5 billion. Learners comparing free video against paid subscription products can weigh it against app-based language learning data.
Which Languages Do People Study Most?
Duolingo’s 2025 Language Report ranks courses by learner activity on its own platform between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025. It describes Duolingo learners, not the world.
Japanese moved to fourth, passing German. Korean moved to sixth, passing Italian. Duolingo attributes both shifts to opening the two courses to speakers of more than 20 languages for the first time.
| Rank | Language | Rank | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | 6 | Korean |
| 2 | Spanish | 7 | Italian |
| 3 | French | 8 | Chinese |
| 4 | Japanese | 9 | Portuguese |
| 5 | German | 10 | Hindi |
Source: 2025 Duolingo Language Report, learner activity 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025
Spanish attracts the most serious learners of any course, ranking first by average study time, ahead of English and Italian. Welsh and Norwegian take fourth and fifth. For a wider view of study populations, see learner counts by foreign language.
Which Language Leads In The Most Countries?
Source: 2025 Duolingo Language Report, most popular language studied per country, 2025
English was the top studied language in 154 countries, 79% of those Duolingo ranks, and up 14% over 2024. Spanish led in 26, French in 12, German in 2. Rankings exclude countries with fewer than 5,000 Duolingo learners.
Second Choices Are Far More Divided
The second-place picture splits across 14 languages. French leads it in 60 countries, ahead of Spanish at 48 and German at 22.
Source: 2025 Duolingo Language Report, second most popular language studied per country, 2025
English still ranks second in 15 countries. Japanese and Portuguese tie at 13 each. Arabic, Hindi, Irish and Turkish take one country apiece. Speaker totals behind these study patterns appear in the breakdown of the world’s most common languages.
Language Learning On YouTube In The Classroom
Oxford Economics surveyed US teachers who use YouTube for the 2025 U.S. YouTube Impact Report. The figures below come from separate questions put to that group, so they are not shares of one whole.
Source: Oxford Economics research for the 2025 U.S. YouTube Impact Report, 2025
94% report using YouTube content directly in lessons or assignments. 81% say it gives students access to educational content they would not otherwise have. 79% agree it helps students learn.
The 15-point gap between the 94% who use it and the 79% who say it helps students learn is the clearest signal in the set. Classroom use runs ahead of measured confidence in outcomes.
Where English Demand Is Concentrated
Duolingo reports demand for certification alongside demand for study. People from 219 countries and 148 first languages took the Duolingo English Test in 2025, an increase over 2024.
Asia accounted for 55% of all test sessions. Africa’s share rose from 7% to 8.3%, which Duolingo attributes to growth in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana. Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic speakers were the top three non-English first-language groups, together about 31% of sessions.
| Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Countries represented | 219 | 2025 |
| First languages represented | 148 | 2025 |
| Share of test sessions, Asia | 55% | 2025 |
| Share of test sessions, Africa | 8.3% | 2025 |
Source: 2025 Duolingo Language Report, Duolingo English Test sessions, 2025
English also ranks highly in countries where it holds official status or high proficiency, including the United States, Sweden and Tanzania. Fuller detail sits in these English language statistics. Learners pairing free video with exam targets can check the JLPT level and pass rate guide.
Japan took first place among countries with the most learners studying three or more languages, followed by Australia, Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom. Japan also ranked first for average time spent learning, for the second year running.
FAQ
How much learning content do people watch on YouTube?
Learning and how-to content recorded more than 5.5 billion views in the United States in June 2025, per YouTube. That figure covers all learning topics, not language study alone.
What is the most studied language on Duolingo?
English. It was the top studied language in 154 countries in 2025, or 79% of countries Duolingo ranks, up 14% over 2024. Spanish ranked second globally.
Do teachers actually use YouTube in class?
Yes. 94% of US teachers who use YouTube report putting its content directly into lessons or assignments, per Oxford Economics research for 2025. 79% agree it helps students learn.
Does Reddit rank free YouTube language channels reliably?
Reddit threads collect learner opinion, not measured data. No subscriber ranking on Reddit is published by YouTube itself, so treat those lists as recommendations rather than verified figures.
Why do Reddit users say Japanese and Korean got more popular?
Duolingo’s own explanation is course access. Japanese reached fourth and Korean sixth in 2025 after both opened to speakers of more than 20 languages for the first time.
Sources
https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-empowering-learning-tools/
https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/2025-us-youtube-impact-report/
https://blog.duolingo.com/2025-duolingo-language-report/
https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/youtubes-impact/
