The UK is a fantastic mixing pot of all kinds of cultures and communities, most of whom speak one or more foreign languages as well as English.
If you’re thinking of creating a video or other marketing resource that’s accessible to the many bilingual residents of the UK, there’s no doubt you’ll want to include appropriate subtitling and voiceovers. They’re a fantastic way to ensure as many people as possible can understand the information you’re looking to share.
Let me ask this simple question. Which language should you use in your content? What exactly are the most commonly spoken foreign languages in the UK after English?
Let’s take a closer look:
Welsh & Scottish
It is important to note that there are separately defined languages within the UK that are indigenous to Britain. For example, Scots is spoken by Scottish people and even though some consider it a dialect, some consider it to be a language. More than 1,500,000 (one point five million) people say that they can speak Scots, with over fifty thousand also speaking Gaelic, another indigenous language of the country. The majority of those people, though, tend to only speak Scots or Gaelic at home and nearly all of them say they can speak English better than average, so there’s not really a language barrier of issue there to consider when it comes to subtitling.
The same applies to Welsh, a language spoken by over eight hundred thousand people, of which the majority also speak English fluently as a first or second language.
Polish
One of the most commonly spoken foreign languages spoken by people who have moved to the UK from other countries is Polish. In the UK, there are over eight hundred thousand Polish people from Poland, many of which speak a good level of English. Many, however, who haven’t had access to language services don’t, which is why it is a good candidate for subtitling and voice overs.
Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati
These foreign languages are primarily spoken by migrants who have moved to the UK from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Many people from the Indian subcontinent have been moving to the UK since the 17th century, but a large migration event occurred in the mid 1900’s when many moved to escape civil war, to join families established here, and to help with the shortage of labour workers during this time.
Arabic
2021 data from the UK Census is still being collated which means that much of the data on how many Arabic residents are in the UK is still based on the 2011 Census which told us that over 230,000 Arabs lived in the UK during that year. This number is likely to have risen significantly in the last decade and the 2021 Census may still not be truly representative of how many Arabic speaking people are in the UK.
Dari & Pashto
With the Taliban re-taking control of Afghanistan, many thousands of Afghan refugees should be arriving in the UK over the next few years. For that reason alone, local authorities at least will be boosting their Persian language resources to help refugees settle in and access services they need in the UK.
Chinese
0.7% of the UK population is made up of Chinese residents. Chinese residents are thought to be highly underrepresented in various aspects of UK life, including politics and also language services. This can be because Chinese language is quite complex and nuanced putting businesses off approaching that particular UK demographic. However, with a professional subtitle or voiceover service, you’ll find the Chinese language can be implemented in various marketing mediums with ease.
When selecting another foreign language for your project, seek professional advice
When it comes to choosing a foreign language for your next marketing project, it’s important to seek professional advice. Whether that’s an analyst helping you to better understand which language your key demographics or target audience speak, or simply approaching a reputable subtitling service. The fact remains that when it comes to marketing videos or educational resources, choosing the right language is critical. By using accurate and relevant languages, you’ll find that thousands more people can access and engage with your content – something that can be as invaluable to those people as it is to your business.