Why is learning assembly language valuable to a company?

Size, value and breakdown of language learning market, and the key players.

• I am starting up a company to develop language learning material for self-study online, and need to know basic figures about the market in order to get a bank loan or funds from potential investors. I am targeting specifically the English-speaking market, worldwide (but especially USA/Canada and the UK), but if there is sufficient demand, I will look at developing English language courses for Japanese or Spanish speakers, say. The question is: What is the size of the language learning market in £/$ terms? 1) In it's entirety - i.e. incl. courses at colleges & universities, immersion courses, as well as books aimed at language learners, and self-study courses (CD-ROMs, tapes/CDs, etc.)? 2) Specifically as it relates to self-study material (whether online or via CD-ROMs, books & tapes, etc.)? 3) Who are the major players in the market (such as Linguaphone, BBC, Pimsleur, Linkword, Eurotalk, Routledge, Pearsons, etc.) and what are their respective market shares (and revenues)? 4) Although not essential, it would also help to have some kind of breakdown of the people who buy language courses, and where they are spending their money. By analyzing queries on the search engines, I managed to find that 2000 people a month search for "learn Hebrew", 65000 for "learn Spanish", 60000 for "learn German", 90000 for "learn Japanese", etc. but I don't know who or where they are. I presume that these are English-speaking people, predominantly from the States. More importantly, I'm trying to find out what self-study courses they are buying (and how much is being spent), or whether they attend classes or immersion centres instead. I also hope to target schools and language faculties, to develop complementary material that could be used for self-study or to simplify & speed up the class-based courses. Please provide sources to back up the information, so that I can quote this in the business plan. If the cost is likely to be high then preliminary results will be okay until I get some funding, in which case I will be willing and able to pay for more extensive research. I hope that you'll be able to help - without costing me a fortune :) Many thanks in advance for your efforts. Kind regards, PS If it helps, here is what I've come up with so far in my own Internet searches: In Japan, the market for foreign language learning is worth c.£800m/$500m, source: www.jetro.go.jp/ec/e/market/jmr/045/045.pdf I used overture.com to analyze queries in the search engines. I hope to develop material for English to Hebrew (1) Spanish (20), German(20), French (10), Japanese (30), Italian (5), Chinese (3), Arabic (2), Russian (1), Portuguese (1), Urdu (1) and Greek (1). I used Hebrew as having a popularity of 1 (equivalent to 2000 queries for "learn Hebrew" a month). The number in parentheses refers to the relative popularity, e.g. Spanish and German are both 20 times more popular than Hebrew. (I found this odd as there are many more people speaking Spanish in the world than Germans, and in more countries, so one would expect Spanish to be the most popular language.) I tried to work out a market value from taking all these 12 languages, assuming each person who searches the Internet will probably spend and average of, say $100, on courses, books, material. The total number of searches are 200,000x12 (2.4m) p.a., multiplied by $100, makes the market (for Internet users) worth $240m. This doesn't tally with the value of the market for Japan alone. Either people spend a lot more on languages on average (unlikely), or the Internet users are a relatively small percentage. Howere, the figure for Internet connectivity is 60% in the USA [source:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/n_america.html], 60% in the UK [source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3121950.stm], and 40% in New Zealand [source: http://www.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/SchoolsCorner.nsf/htmldocs/Who+has+access+to+the+Internet]. In trying to work out the languages of choice, I thought that Spanish would be as it is the most widely spoken language after English. In particular, the Spanish-speaking population in the USA is expanding at a phenomenal rate, by 60% between 1990 and 2000 to 22m. USA will soon be the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. This means that English-speaking Americans are increasingly motivated to learn Spanish, for business or personal reasons. Worldwide, there are approximately 300m Spanish-speaking people, living in 23 countries. It makes sense that the most popular language English speakers would wish to learn would be Spanish. I am still researching the travel market to determine the number of English speakers visiting Spanish-speaking countries. However, as an indication, 55m tourists visit Spain every year. The case for developing an English course for Spanish speakers is equally compelling. The market for learning Hebrew is highly defined, approximately 13m Jews worldwide, of which nearly 6m are in the USA, 5m in Israel (of which perhaps a few hundred thousand newcomers need to learn Hebrew), 600,000 in France, 1m in former USSR, and 700,000 in English-speaking countries. [Demographics from the Jewish Databank.] Jews are particularly motivated to learn Hebrew as it is part of their cultural heritage and forms part of their religious upbringing. Nevertheless, except for devout Jews, most Jews living in the Diaspora have a poor command of the language. Jews are also traditionally quite well off and devoted to education and learning. According to recent demographic surveys (e.g. NJPS North American Jewish Databank), fewer than half (45%) of all American Jews could read no Hebrew at all, a third (31%) could sound the words out slowly, and a quarter (24%) could read Hebrew fluently. This implies, by extrapolation, that there are c.1.3m Jewish households with no knowledge of Hebrew at all, a significant proportion of which may have little interest in Hebrew or Jewish affairs. However, the remaining 0.9m households are likely to have a strong desire to improve their linguistic abilities and this will be our prime market for beginner to intermediate stage courses. In Britain, there are only ¼m Jews, the majority of whom are concentrated in London, but these are easily reached via the main newspapers, Jewish.Chronicle and London Jewish News, and via the synagogues (all of whom run Hebrew classes for children and adults) and the Jewish Agency.

• Answer:

  <Size of the global market. There are conflicting figures for the market for learning foreign languages. According to rising wave, the worldwide market for learning foreign languages is currently worth $40 billion. http://www.risingwave.net/busplan.html According to Linguaphone the global market for learning languages is $15 billion. The market for learning English is estimated to be worth $20 billion. http://www.hltcentral.org/page-1068.0.shtml According to this report the language learning market accounts for one-fifth of the educational market. http://www.infj.ulst.ac.uk/~recall/deliver/d5.html#RTFToC4 The English instruction market is worth $50 billion. http://www.arcadiapartners.com/principals.php3?handle=alldetails Japan Market for language learning products is 150 billion Yen. http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/education/japan/profile/overview.shtml According to IDC, the worldwide corporate market for elearning will grow from $6.6 billion in 2002 to $23.7 billion in 2006. http://www.crm2day.com/news/crm/EpuFEFlllpWIMRrZpT.php> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Self study. The UK market for self study The UK market for self study learning materials including books, CD?s, CD-ROMS and videos is worth £16 million. A survey by Eurobarometer found that only 30% of UK adults interviewed believed that the availability of language courses was good in their area. There is a high drop out rate for conventional courses and a high number of people who opt for self study give up after a short time. An informal snapshot of adult education centres found great demand for learning Spanish. A profile is also given of the learners that sign up to elearning classes and the times that they choose to study, reasons for dropping out. http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/filelibrary/pdf/e-languages.pdf The U.S. Market for self study. Despite a large search, there appears no breakdown for the US market available online. However an alternative method for calculating the U.S market is to calculate average spending per person in the UK market and multiply it by the U.S. population. UK population is 58.7 million (2001 census). Per capita spending on self study language products is £0.2725. US population ? 283 million in 2001. The estimated market for self study aids in the U.S. is therefore £77 million or $130 million. The size of the language software market can be estimated from the market share of Topics Entertainment and its revenue (see below). They have a 45% share of the market and anticipate revenue of $40 million for 2002. This gives a rough figure of $88 million for the total market. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Other markets. The corporate market in the U.S. In the U.S. in 1999 $15 million was spent by companies on outside training. 28% is spent on foreign language training. 14% of training is done by computer. The corporate sector for learning languages online in 1999 was therefore worth $0.58 million. http://www.learnativity.com/stats.html China According to Lingo Media, China is the largest market for programs that teach English as a Foreign Language. There are currently 200 million Chinese children and adults studying English. http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:yUkIfRFUThQJ:www.lingomedia.com/pdf/brochure.pdf+%22language+learning+materials%22+billion+market&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 USA According to the Modern Languages Association, 1.4 million people enrolled for foreign language courses last fall. This is a rise of 17.9%. Spanish accounts for 53% of enrolments. Enrolments in German are decreasing. http://www.badgerherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/11/18/3fb9884571058 Detailed figures for enrolments in 1998 for all languages are available on the associations website. http://www.adfl.org/resources/enroll.htm Enrolment figures for Italian, Spanish, French and German. This site details how many high school, college and university enrolments there were for these languages in 2000 and compares the figures to 1994. Italian has seen a 46% increase in popularity. http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:0djNFdFI_zAJ:www.osia.org/public/culture/Italian_Lang_Study_2002.pdf+%22modern+language+association%22+%22enrolled+in%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 The European market. According to the BBC, 1.5 million people in the UK have learnt a new language in the last two years and a further 8 million express a desire to learn a language. http://www.languageadvantage.com/news/specialnovember2000.htm A study by the European Union found that there is a shortage of language learning materials for adult language learners. The shortage is particularly acute for vocational language learners. http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:0edV5SC_WVoJ:europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/downfile/lingua_en.pdf+uk+market+%22+language+learning%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 This report analyses the UK market and identifies the languages where there is a shortage of learning products to meet the demand. (Note several pages are missing from the report and you need to scroll down past these to find this information.) The Nuffield Languages Inquiry Report 2000 found a dramatic increase in the popularity of Spanish and Italian and a decline in French and German. http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/download/uk.pdf There are also reports available for the other countries of the European Union at http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/download/survey_en.html According to a study by the Department of Trade and Industry, 21 percent of British firms had lost business due to lack of linguistic skills. http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:sFb2ycu4A68J:www3.open.ac.uk/events/200212_56070_nr.doc+language+british++lost+%22trade+and+industry+study%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Major players. Comparing the market share for each of the major players is not easy as they tend to each have different definitions of the market that they are competing in. For example Linguaphone claims to be the number one provider of self study language courses in the world. Whereas the BBC claims to be number one in the UK market for adult language learning. International web-based language learning on the internet. This is a survey of what is currently available on the internet for learning European languages. The survey found that truly web-based language courses are rare. Free grammars, dictionaries, audio files and interactive learning games are common. There are few serious providers. This site gives details of the major providers for each language and links to their sites. http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/download/web.pdf Berlitz World?s largest language education company. 6.1 million lessons in 2002. http://www.benesse.co.jp/IR/english/pdf/annual/2003/ar2003e_0704.pdf http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:VEwdFBRXxKAJ:www.benesse.co.jp/IR/english/pdf/annual/2003/ar2003e_0704.pdf+%22berlitz%22+sales+2002+language&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 2002 sales 258,259 million Yen. $2,368 million. http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:lXq7h5mnRlUJ:www.benesse.co.jp/IR/english/pdf/annual/2003/ar2003e.pdf+berlitz+%22annual+report%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 2001 sales http://www.benesse.co.jp/IR/english/pdf/other/fy2000_3.pdf Berlitz home page http://www.berlitz.com/NR/exeres/610A2F5C-B170-4425-9BAC-98E0E1E5598B.htm?ISO=en ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- McGraw-Hill The largest provider of educational materials in the U.S. Company report http://www.compustat.com/www/pages/PressReleases/McGrawHill-2nd-qrt-2003.pdf McGraw-Hill ? annual report 2002. http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/about/annual.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pimsleur ? Division of Simon & Schuster Inc. Over 1 million people use this system each year. Estimated revenue in excess of $30 million. http://www.simonsays.com/about_us.cfm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosetta stone 4 million users in 55 countries. http://www.919marketing.com/sections/about919/subsections/news_articles/accountwins/accountwins_07.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eurotalk Sales - £2 million http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/2291707.stm Home page http://www.eurotalk.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BBC worldwide learning. Sales of learning products over £100 million. http://db.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/commercial/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2002/02_february/childrens_marketing_campaign.shtml Market leader in the adult education sector for foreign language learning in the UK. http://www.bbcworldwide.com/aboutus/corpinfo/annualreps/annualreport2002/product/learningprint.html Annual report http://www.bbcworldwide.com/aboutus/corpinfo/annualreps/annualreport2003/product_learning_02.html Annual report http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/report2003/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguaphone http://www.epic.co.uk/company_news/archive/2000/291100_2.htm Turnover -£20 million http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:Kec9JpMVnUoJ:www.chelverton.com/download/NBradburyCV2003.doc+%22linguaphone+group%22+turnover+2002&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Software companies. The learning company Number one market share in the U.S. in the education sector. 1999 revenues $750 million. http://www.gores.com/archive_13.html Division of Riverdeep. Financial results for second quarter 2003 available at http://www.riverdeep.net/about_us/press_releases.jhtml# 1998 sales $30 million http://www.fool.com/DDouble/1997/DDouble971107.htm http://www.broderbund.com/welcome.asp http://www.peterborough.co.uk/bytes/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transparent Language The leading language software provider in the U.S. with over 45% market share. http://www.transparentlanguage.com/company_info/press_release.cfm?prid=34 Transparent language ? 53% market share in 2001. http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:8__TuLaIyrEJ:usaic.hua.army.mil/112bde/aics/aics%2520web/language%2520stuf/LanguagePro%2520for%2520Enduring%2520Freedom.ppt+%22transparent+language%22+%22market+share%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Ranked number one language education publisher in the U.S. http://www.transparentlanguage.com/company_info/press_release.cfm?prid=26 Seventh largest educational software publisher in the U.S. http://www.transparentlanguage.com/company_info/press_release.cfm?prid=13 About Transparent Language. Developers of language software. http://www.transparentlanguage.com/company_info/info_comp_bg.htm Transparent language has over 400,000 users worldwide including over 10,000 schools and colleges. http://www.premiumchat.com/press_switch.asp?article=transparent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In 2001 Topics Entertainment was the number one maker of language software with 45.5% market share. Transparent Language was number 2 with 23.1% market share. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/41958_topics09.shtml Topics entertainment About. http://www.topics-ent.com/aboutus.asp Topics Entertainment Revenue details from 1998 to 2001. http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2001/10/22/focus8.html Topics Entertainment Revenue details 2001 ($21 million) and 2002 ($40 million). Their language courses sell 50,000 copies a month. http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/109941 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional information. Top selling language software. According to NPD Intelect, the top selling educational language software January 20-26, 2002 are as follows. Learn to Speak Spanish 8.1, The Learning Company $18 Spanish Now 8.0, Transparent Language $27 Instant Immersion Spanish, Topics Entertainment $20 http://www.intelectmt.com/corp/intelectmt/press/press-it/press_020207.htm Demographics of Spanish learners. Around 25% of students are Hispanics who did not learn Spanish when growing up. Most are in their 40?s and 50?s and enrol in beginners and intermediate classes. Spanish courses are popular with medical, educational and social service professionals. http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:baSAdB--CJoJ:www.latinoreporterdigital.org/2003/print/0626lr00701.pdf+%22are+learning+spanish%22+million&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Detailed report about language learning in Europe with details of number of institutions, languages learnt, prices of language learning CD Rom?s http://www.infj.ulst.ac.uk/~recall/deliver/d5.html The elearning markets. http://www.theenglishplace.co.uk/marketing_language.html 31% of elementary schools are offering foreign language instruction. Due to a shorter of teachers and budget cuts schools are increasingly using video-based and distance learning programs. http://www.cal.org/front/news/rhodes-pufahl.html Adult education market comprises 15 million adults. http://www.nowinternational.com/footnotes/laarticle.htm The language advantage survey. http://www.personnelzone.com/WebSite/webwatch.nsf/0/87c0ab7494b4b6a680256b13005717e6?OpenDocument English language learning market. http://www.ellis.com/company/ir/marketinfo.php> <Additional links:> <Instituto Cervantes> <http://www.cervantes.org/index.html?lang=eng> <Foreign languages in non-university education.> <http://www.bm30.es/plan/stat/prs1_uk.html> <Nuffield report on languages.> <http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/filelibrary/pdf/languages_finalreport.pdf> <Modern language association.> <http://www.daily.umn.edu/daily/1999/10/18/news/new5/> <Modern language association.> <http://www.mla.org/homepage> <Language learning in distance education.> <http://assets.cambridge.org/052181541X/sample/052181541XWS.pdf> <The National Centre for Languages> <http://www.cilt.org.uk/publications/bulletins/index.htm> <Search strategy:> I searched for many short phrases including: <"language learning market"> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22language+learning+market%22> <"language learning market" billion> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22language+learning+market%22+billion> <"language learning market" million> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22language+learning+market%22+million> <"language learning" spending> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22language+learning%22+spending> <"leading provider" "language learning materials"> <://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22leading+provider%22+%22language+learning+materials%22> <Hope this helps.>