Deutsch? Ja bitte!
Is studying German nerdy? Is German grammar too complex to grasp? Millions of German language students would surely beg to differ. Take a look at the countries around the world that simply love to learn German.
India
There are 107,000 students learning German here - that's five times more than in 2010. An increasing number of Indians are also taking German classes at the Goethe-Institut - despite the fact the country already has 22 officially recognized languages. Economic progress explains this strong upward trend.
Poland
Poland is the country with the most people learning German worldwide: About 2.3 million. The great majority, 2.1 million people, learn the language in school - that's almost one student in two. These high numbers are due to Poland's close ties with Germany and the two countries' geographical proximity. However, the overall number of people learning German has declined by 8 percent since 2010.
France
After Poland, the United Kingdom and Russia, France has the 4th largest number of people learning German worldwide. Many people learn German on top of English in the hopes of being more successful on the job market. The number of German language students in this country has remained stable in the last few years.
Egypt
Over 229,000 people are learning German here: That's a spectacular increase of 129 percent since 2010. Although this can mainly be attributed to a growing population in North Africa, German is an increasingly popular foreign language with Egyptians. Most of them learn German in school. Around five percent of all schools in Egypt offer German classes.
China
The number of people learning German in China has doubled compared to 2010, with 12,200 students overall. Germany is seen as a close economic partner and an increasing number of Chinese university students come to Europe to study. Germany is the most popular non-English-speaking country among Chinese exchange students.
Indonesia
187,000 people learn German in Indonesia. That's 75 percent more than only five years ago. The biggest contributors to this boom are Indonesian schools: 52,500 more students were enrolled in German classes than in 2010. Like in China, Germany is also very popular among Indonesian exchange students.
Brazil
More and more Brazilians want to learn German. This might not be surprising in a country which holds the world's second-biggest Oktoberfest. The number of German language students has increased by 30 percent compared to 2010, now totaling 135,000. Many young academics want to come to Germany to study or work thereby increasing their job prospects at home.
Cameroon
Cameroon definitely tops the list of African countries with the highest number of German language learners, although it should be noted that there aren't reliable numbers available for many countries on the continent. The number of people learning German in Cameroon has increased by 10 percent in the last five years, now totaling 220,000. A fifth of Cameroon's children do not go to school at all.