Education

Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language; in fact, Italian is considered the fourth- or fifth-most frequently taught foreign language in the world.[24] According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students that are learning Italian language; they are distributed in the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture in the world, in the 179 Italian schools abroad and in the 111 Italian sections that are open into foreign schools.[25][clarification needed] In the United States, Italian is the fourth most taught foreign language after Spanish, French and German, in that order (or the fifth if American Sign Language is considered).[26] In anglophone Canada, Italian is the second-most taught language after French, while in the United Kingdom it is the fourth after French, Spanish and German.[27] In central-east Europe Italian is first in Albania and Montenegro, second in Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, and Ukraine after English, and third in Hungary, Romania and Russia after English and German.[25] But throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught foreign language, after English, French, German, and Spanish.[28]