How many people are learning each language?
English 1,128
French 338
Spanish 294
German 251
Japanese 235
. . .
Among 1,128 students who are learning English, 386 students have selected English as his or her “native” language.
I hope it isn’t taking you long to work out these numbers, because if so then you’re wasting valuable LingQing time! 
hehe
It’s strange that the statistics are the way they are.
There are more people who speak Chinese (for example) than total learners of all languages.
Does this mean that there are in fact very few people who actually use LingQ on a regular basis? Perhaps we need to get the message out!
Looking through a few pages of each language, most people don’t have any activity points.
What is it that people don’t understand about the site?
It took me about 20 minutes. I am all right. 
<<What is it that people don’t understand about the site? >>
That’s the sixty four million dollar question…
I still stand by the fact that LingQ needs better interface, needs to be more user-friendly and needs a good intro that actually lets the user know what the heck is going on here and why is it good for them. Otherwise only hardcore language learners will stay.
The page below might be used as a good introduction.
Learning naturally at LingQ (LingQ / Learning naturally at LingQ)
If I were to start Japanese, you’d have one more for your Japanese statistics, but no new member on LingQ. I take it the figures include multiple language learners? I easily became a convert to LingQ from book-based learning, I didn’t mind the confusion I felt when I entered the site. That thing about “paying” for courses on the library pages may be a big turn-off for some. (I just trusted that Free really meant Free use of the site, and I was not disappointed.)
“I take it the figures include multiple language learners?”
I am not completely certain, but I suppose so.
People whose native language is not listed at LingQ will usually choose English as their native language.
Balint, I do not believe our interface is an issue for most people. There are minor incremental issues with navigation that we are looking at. There are issues with getting people going that we are looking at. We still do not have our intro video translated into all languages. It will be small incremental improvements and more traffic that will help us get there. Please spread the word and earn points for doing so.
The main thing is that most people, without considerable encouragement or coercion, tend not to follow through. Many people will commit on impulse and that was our experience before, when we offered a 14 day trial based on first providing credit card information. The majority of our members then just paid us and did nothing despite regular emails from the system.
If that helps, I’m happy to translate and record the Hungarian version of the intro. What do I need to know for that?
I don’t know what’s so difficult with the interface either. I can read English and (probably more important) use my own intuition to solve any problems. Hey, I’d probably get by even if the interface was written in Irish.
How many people are learning each language? The numbers are increasing. . .
Russian 170
Italian 140
Swedish 140
chinese 137
Portuguese 107
French 343
German 255
English 1,128
Spanish 296
Japanese 238
I was reading an article that said that Arabic studied in American universities has had a almost a 150% increase in student numbers from 2002 - 2006(?).
I think that it would get a good number of people along, not to forget the large number of Arabic speakers in the world. As a side-effect It would also set up the site for “right-to-left” languages, which has it’s own challenged.
This is not so much a call to get it implemented but more a suggest that it’s a rather popular language that is becoming even more attention these days.
I can understand
English 1,128
But I can’t understand these figures:
French 343
Spanish 296
German 255
Why French is so popular then Spanish?
Well, in Russia pupils usually learn one of three languages: English, French and German. At my school there were no any German teacher, two English teachers and one for French, so some classes had a choice between English and French, some classes had a choice between English and English (it was a choice also, as we can choose another teacher). At university there was a choice between English, French and German. But it was a technical university in a non-capital town (one my friend studied in Moscow at some tourism service university, and they learned two languages: Spanish and English). Anyway, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works’ partners are mostly from Germany and Austria, that’s why German is the second popular language here in Magnitogorsk. So I suppose for Magnitogorsk the top-3 foreign languages are English, German, French. For Russia top-3 are English, French, German (or also English, German, French). And for the whole world I thought the top-3 is English, Spanish, French/German, but statistics here at LingQ shows another result.
I think that you would have to ask every person on earth to get a correct statistic on the popularly learnt languages.
Even then, half of the world could change their minds tomorrow 
At least here in Asia, France is perceived to be a more glamorous country than Spain, whereas Latin America is just too far away. So there is a lot more interest in things French than Spanish (cosmetics, fashion, wine, etc.) This is also probably a reflection of the fact that French companies have been more aggressive in their marketing in Asia.
The French government has also been far more active in promoting its language and culture overseas. For example, l’Alliance Française has been established in Hong Kong for ages. Right now there is a French Film Festival going on. Every year we also have the month long French May cultural festival.
However, I do see things gradually changing. For example, there are now more Spanish restaurants in Hong Kong than before. The Spanish group Zara has also firmly established its presence here. So over time I think more and more people will be interested in learning Spanish here.