The Top 5 Languages Most Nevadans Would Love To Learn

A recent study of internet searches reveals the foreign languages that most Americans would love to learn if they had the time. Spanish is the overwhelming favorite in all 50 states, including here in Nevada. But you may be surprised to learn the other foreign languages in Nevada’s top five.

The Silver State joins 46 other states in making Spanish the most searched foreign language folks would love to learn if they had the time. According to the AI educational platform QuizGecko.com, Americans average an incredible 2 million searches each month.

Surprisingly, it’s not a European language that takes second place here in Nevada. It’s a language from the Far East; Korean. That Asian language takes the runner-up spot in the U.S.A. too.

But wait, there’s more! Asian languages take third and fourth place here in Nevada as well. Per QuizGecko.com, more Silver Staters would also love to learn Japanese (#3) and Chinese (#4) too.

As a matter of fact, a European language doesn’t show up until the fifth spot. Parlez-vous Francais? Yes, French is the fifth most popular foreign language that Nevadans would like to learn.

Personally, I’ve always wanted to learn Italian. That’s where my grandparents on my father’s side came from. My Dad rarely spoke Italian, although I did learn a few choice swear words and phrases from him when he was angry.

As mentioned earlier, Spanish is by far the most popular foreign language Americans would most love to learn if they had time.

Furthermore, QuizGecko.com informs us that Korean is the second most-searched language on the internet, with approximately 429,000 searches per month.

It’s French is third place nationally with an average of close to 379,000 monthly internet searches.

Our friends in “The Land of the Rising Sun” speaking Japanese land in fourth place. QuizGecko reports it had more average monthly searches (about 430,000) than French, but it only made the top five list in 43 states. French made the top five list in 45 states.

Finally, Italian and Arabic round out the top five foreign languages Americans would love to learn. Each of those languages made the top five lists in 20 states.

Which foreign language would you love to learn if you had the time? Learning a new language certainly offers plenty of benefits.

Now, feel free to scroll down for more content which may interest you.

There are a lot of foreign words in the English language that Americans have adopted over the generations. A lot more than we realize, actually.

Some of them have become so common that we've forgotten they're not part of our native language. Others words still feel very foreign to many of us, in spite of the fact that we've had them in our dictionary for centuries.

Those are often the less common words that we are not throwing around in our everyday speech. When words are used sporadically rather than frequently, we don't get as much opportunity to master them.

It's shocking to hear, but foreign words in the English language cover about 80% of the total number of words, according to dictionary.com. In fact, what we know as American English is actually mostly words borrowed from approximately 350 other languages.

The languages most dominant in American English are German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and French. But our dictionary also has plenty of less common languages present. Including Urdu, Yiddish, and Zulu, dictionary.com reports.

Related: Lost In Translation - 7 Common Misused Phrases

With so many words coming from languages that aren't our own, it only makes sense we might struggle with pronunciations. After all, these words often follow different phonetic rules than American English words do.

A group of translation experts at localazy.com recently did a study to find out which foreign words in the English language residents in each state are least comfortable with. Specifically, which words residents are most likely to mispronounce. And they found the top five for us in Nevada.

They did this by flagging common words that were googled every month in conjunction with words like "pronunciation" or "meaning". And identified which words were most often searched for like this in our state.

What they could indicate from this study was which foreign words in the English language were the ones people needed the most help with understanding. Or, more specifically, pronouncing.

The ironic thing about Nevadans mispronouncing anything is the fact that we get so annoyed if someone says the name of our state incorrectly. I wonder if there is a YouTube video of someone pronouncing the word "hypocrisy"?

Look at that. There is. I found this by googling "how to pronounce hypocrisy". If I had been part of this study, localazy.com would have just added a check to "hypocrisy" column.

Side note: this Julien Miguel guy is a fun one to learn pronunciations from. He's not quick about it by any means.

But he reminds me of Esteban Vihaio in Kill Bill 2. So you will see his translations more when we get down to our list.

So, while tourists are butchering the name of our state, some of us are butchering words from other regions. And round and round we go.

For those still confused about how to pronounce Nevada, here you go. Straight from the mouths of the Vegas-born band, The Killers.

It's Nevada. Not Nevahda.

As a Vegas local, I can tell you it's very annoying when someone says the latter. It's actually an inside joke we use when we're talking about out-of-towners.

But, considering how many foreign words we are allegedly guilty of killing ourselves, perhaps we should show a little more understanding.

With that being said, here are the results of the study by localazy.com.

This is one of those words that so many people have said incorrectly, that the wrong pronunciation is becoming acceptable. "Niche" is a French word that we use most often to talk about that specialized corner of the market that's perfect to sell a specific type of product.

The word should be said with a "sh" sound at the end. Not the "ch" sound many Americans are guilty of. But both are becoming equally acceptable, at least in America. Maybe don't say it the American way in France, though.

"Niche" ranked highest on this list. With 1,262 relevant google searches pertaining to the word. And it seems the whole country is just as confused about it. Because the word got 126,383 monthly searches nationwide.

As mentioned in this video, "per diem" means "per day" or "by day". And usually pertains to an amount of money given to an employee each day for work.

It's of Latin origin. Much like "carpe diem". You probably haven't had needed to use this phrase unless you've been an independent contractor or otherwise paid "per day" by an organization.

And apparently not many Nevadans are familiar with this kind of employment. Because "per diem" was second on this list. With 893 average monthly searches.

Well, according to our friend, Julien, everyone I know is saying this word incorrectly. Being Italian, its "i" is supposed to be drawn out to sound like an "e".

In this video, you hear Julien saying the "t" in the word can be said either in the hard or soft way, depending on which country's natives are saying the word. But he doesn't changed the sound of the "i".

So, while the proper pronunciation is that drawn out "d-eee-to" sound, Americans say the "i" short and the "t" soft.

And we're probably not going to change that anytime soon. But people are still googling it to see the pronunciation.

"Ditto" was number three on this list, with 842 average monthly searches.

Julien teaches us, in the video, that this is also a French word. However, he says Americans say it differently than the French. The French stress the first syllable. Whereas Americans stress the second.

Personally, I'm okay if you say it either way. As long as you don't do what Emperor Peter does in "The Great" and say "toosh". Just, no.

However we are pronouncing it, "touché" was the fourth most googled word during the duration of the study. With 809 average monthly searches from Nevada. Nationwide, though, it ranked even higher. It came in second for google searches across the country.

The fifth most mispronounced word by Nevadans, according to localazy.com, is "ennui". Probably because it's easily the most pretentious word of the bunch. Yes, you have plenty of opportunity to use it in everyday chatter. Since it means a feeling of dissatisfaction. But try to make it your word of the day and see if you get away with it around your casual friends. It doesn't usually work without people flagging you as kind of snooty.

But maybe Nevadans are trying to get more sophisticated in their vernacular. "Ennui" had an average monthly searches of 747 in this study.

Larry Martino is the long-time afternoon drive personality on 96.3 KKLZ. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of Larry Martino and not necessarily those of Beasley Media Group, LLC. Follow us: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram