Korean has become one of the world's most popular languages to learn thanks to the global craze for K-pop and Korean TV shows and films, CNN reported Tuesday.
"In 2022, Korean was the seventh most-studied language on the learning app Duolingo," CNN said under the heading "[Korea] brought K-pop and K-dramas to the world. The Korean language could be next."
English topped the list with about 500 million Duolingo users, followed by Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Italian.
Though perhaps more useful as the world's second most spoken language, Chinese ranked behind Korean as the West's perception of China worsens, CNN speculated.
Korean is particularly popular in Southeast Asia, where it is the most studied foreign language especially in Brunei and the Philippines, and "not far off the top spot" in Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand.
The broadcaster notes that Korean is an "exceptionally difficult" language to learn.
