A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which is the language a speaker uses most or is most comfortable with, is not necessarily the speaker's first language. For example, the Canadian census defines first language for its purposes as "the first language learned in childhood and still spoken", recognizing that for some, the earliest language may be lost, a process known as language attrition. This can happen when young children start school or move to a new language environment.
Blackboard used in class at Harvard shows students' efforts at placing the diaeresis and acute accent diacritics used in Spanish orthography.
A German student learning French. English (1.5 billion learners), French (82 million learners) and Chinese (30 million learners) are the three most commonly studied foreign languages.
Spanish taught as a second language to a class of native English speakers at an American private school in Massachusetts
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Being multilingual is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.
The frontage of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, with text written in eleven of South Africa's twelve official languages
A multilingual sign outside the mayor's office in Novi Sad, Serbia, written in the four official languages of the city: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Pannonian Rusyn
A stenciled danger sign in Singapore written in English, Chinese, Tamil, and Malay (the four official languages of Singapore)
A bilingual "no trespassing" sign at a construction site in Helsinki, Finland (upper text in Finnish, lower text in Swedish)