More German language learning numbers in Europe, some good, some bad

Some more numbers from an article here in French today that show both good and bad news for German.

Europeans are learning less and less German in high school, but this may not be the end for the language as more and more young graduates from southern countries strangled by the crisis see Germany as a land of opportunity...More and more young graduates from countries in southern Europe come to look for work in Germany, such as doctors or Greek engineers.

As a result, educational institutions with adult education classes are seeing many new students. In 2011, demand in Goethe-Instituts exploded in the southwest, by 18.20%. In Spain the increase was 25% with a peak of 27.65% in Madrid.

HHowever in schools German is falling back in favour of English. Many young Europeans are able to communicate using this language in Germany, and thus are not very motivated to learn another. -- This according to Ulrich Ammon, professor of Germanic languages at the University af Duisbourg-Essen.

A recent Eurostat poll conducted between 2005 and 2020 among students ages 15 to 20 shows just 44% learning German in the Netherlands compared to 86% five years ago, 35% in Denmark against 50% before, and 52% in Poland compared to the previous 73%.

In France, only 22% of students are learning Germani n 2010. Eurostat did not have 2005 numbers for comparison here.