Why Hindi is the second most popular language to learn in the UK

“One reason I chose to learn Hindi is so I can try to flirt with my girlfriend in Hindi,” Rishi Dawan says cheekily.

Duolingo, the world’s number one language-learning app has found that Hindi is now the second fastest growing language in the UK, with a 41% increase in Hindi learners over the past year in the UK, making the language now more popular than Japanese, French and Turkish, and only coming in second to Welsh! Globally, there are now 4.82m active learners of Hindi worldwide on Duolingo. 

Colin Watkins, Duolingo U.K. Country Manager said: “We’re pleased to see the continuing uptake of Hindi on the app with so many people choosing to learn the language in the UK. Hindi is one of the most unique languages we offer at Duolingo - many words are written as they are pronounced because each character has a different sound. This makes it one of the easier languages to learn. It also holds many similarities with English, as some Hindi words are read and pronounced as they are in English, but are written in Hindi. With it being the fifth most spoken language in the world, by over 360 million people globally, there’s no better time to learn Hindi.”

For third generation migrant south Asians, and particularly Indians, this similarity with English is extremely appealing. Many like, Srini Srivastav, admit that since their parents, peers and friends all speak only English, knowledge of their mother tongue and/or Hindi is limit to but a few words. “I feel really guilty because I don’t really speak to my grandparents because I don’t know how to communicate with them,” Srini says.

Colin says, "We've seen an increase in people learning for lots of motivations this year. In 2021 family and culture have become increasingly important. I'd suggest this was the reason for an increase in people learning Hindi. Brits here wanting to connect with the language of their relatives or their heritage.”

For Risi, learning Hindi on the app also helped him “reconnect with my roots and enjoy Bollywood movies without using subtitles.” There have been calls for Duolingo to add Gujarati to it’s app because beyond Hindi, Gujarati is one of the most spoken languages in the UK, given the tremendous size of the diaspora from the Indian state of Gujarat and individuals marrying into Gujarati families and therefore wanting to learn the language and connect with their partner’s family.