South Korea brought K-pop and K-dramas to the world. The Korean language could be next

(CNN) — There’s never been a better time to learn Korean.

It’s one of the fastest-growing languages in the world, outpacing traditionally popular rivals like Chinese in multiple markets — reflecting the global phenomenon many call the “Korean wave.”

In 2022, Korean was the seventh most-studied language on the learning app Duolingo, according to the company’s annual language report. And it’s seeing particular success in parts of South and Southeast Asia, as the most-studied foreign language in the Philippines, and not far off the top spot in Thailand, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Although Chinese — which for years has been considered as the business language of the future — remains the second most spoken language in the world, thanks in part to the sheer size of China’s population, it has sat in eighth place on Duolingo for the last several years, lagging behind…