Practices in language education vary significantly by region. Firstly, the languages being learned differ; in the United States, Spanish is the most popular language to be learned, whereas the most popular languages to be learned in Australia are German, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese. Also, teaching methods tend to differ by region. Language immersion is popular in some European countries, and not used very much in the United States.

In Asia, most children learn an official version of their native language or learn a local major lingua franca (for example Mandarin, Hindustani) in Asia-Pacific countries, and all subjects are taught in that lingua franca language except for foreign language lessons. Singapore, in which English is taught as a first language, is an exception. In India, Hindi and English are both official languages of the Government of India and are both compulsory languages to learn in a number of schools. Some students also study official regional Indian languages along with English. English is the most-studied foreign language in the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), Singapore and Hong Kong. In China, English is a required language starting in third grade, although the quality of instruction varies greatly. In Nepal, all subjects can be taken in a choice of Nepali or English, except the respected language subjects.

Native Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong children commence learning English and maybe also Mandarin from age 3 when they go to kindergarten and continue until they finish their secondary education.^{[citation needed]} The Hong Kong government's language policy is to produce people who are biliterate in English and Written Chinese and trilingual in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. In order to enter university in Hong Kong, students must pass both English and Chinese exams, or in the case of those who did not learn Chinese at school, due to having studied at an international school, another foreign language.^{[citation needed]}

In Pakistan, English has the status of an official language and is widely used within the government, by the civil service and the officer ranks of the military. Pakistan's Constitution and laws are written in English. It is also taught extensively in both public and private schools. Studying of English is compulsory in Pakistan along with Urdu (the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan). Regional languages of Pakistan are open to choice and a student is free to either pursue them or not. Nearly all schools, colleges and universities use English as the medium of instruction.

In Malaysia, Malay and English are taught as compulsory languages from the first year of primary school with the exception of publicly funded vernacular schools (known as national type schools). In the latter, either Mandarin or Tamil are taught as additional compulsory languages. In non-vernacular schools, all subjects with the exception of the sciences and mathematics are taught in Malay. In vernacular schools, all subjects with the exception of the sciences and mathematics are taught in the primary language that is used in the respective schools. The sciences and mathematics are taught in English, although some Mandarin vernacular schools have dispensation to teach those subjects concurrently in Mandarin.

In Sri Lanka, where the official state languages are Sinhalese, Tamil, and English, all government schools instruct either in Sinhala or Tamil. A few higher-level government schools (national-level schools) also offer instruction in English. All students studying in Sinhalese or Tamil are also taught English as a second language. All students studying in Sinhalese are also taught Tamil as a second language, and vice versa.

In all European Union school systems, it is mandatory to study at least one foreign language at some stage during the school career; there is a tendency for this to start earlier, even in the first year of primary school. Additional languages can be chosen as an optional subject. The most common foreign language chosen is increasingly English (the most popular first foreign language in 23 of the 25 member states of the European Union which do not have English as the language of instruction), followed by French and German. Some 90% of pupils learn English as a foreign language, whether the choice of language is obligatory or parental. Teaching is largely provided by generalist teachers in primary school and by specialists in middle and secondary schools. An exception to this is Ireland, where Irish Gaelic and English are the only mandatory languages, although the majority of students also study a modern language as it may be compulsory to do so at second level.

1995 European Commission’s White Paper "Teaching and learning – Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training, everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills.