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In the mainland of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Mandarin Chinese is used as the medium of instruction in most schools. In elementary and secondary schools for ethnic minorities, the minority languages - such as Mongolian, Tibetan and Korean are also used. However, the two special administrative regions (SAR) of the PRC have their own policies on the media of instruction :

In the Hong Kong SAR, Chinese and English, which are the official languages of the region, are used as the mediums of instruction in schools. When Chinese is used as the medium of instruction, Cantonese Chinese is usually spoken, though Mandarin Chinese is spoken in some schools. Since 1997, the Hong Kong government has pursued a policy of encouraging schools to switch to mother-tongue teaching and has only allowed about 120 of the region's approximately 400 government and aided schools to continue using English as the medium of instruction. Following recommendations from the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research the government has announced that from 2008 onwards, secondary schools will only be permitted to use English as the medium of instruction if at least 85% of students enrolling in F. 1 fall into the top 40% of students for English, mathematics and Chinese in primary school assessments, as it has deemed that only students who are in this category are able to benefit from E.M.I. This move has been controversial as parents are eager to send their children to E.M.I. schools which they consider will offer them better career opportunities, as there are fears that switching to C.M.I will make it more difficult for students to gain university places in the territory, English being the principle medium at tertiary level, and as members of non-Chinese medium ethnic minorities are expected to find it more difficult to get school places.

In the Macau SAR, Chinese and Portuguese are the two official languages of the region. Chinese is used as the medium of instruction in many schools. When Chinese is used as the medium of instruction, Cantonese Chinese is usually spoken, though Mandarin Chinese is spoken in some schools. Portuguese is used in Portugal-backed schools. English, which is not an official language of the region, is also used in a lot of schools.

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In Estonia, Estonian is used with 26 schools in the south teaching Võro once a week.

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In Finland, Finnish is the language used in most schools, but Swedish, which is also an official national language, is used in a number of schools along the coast. The right to education in Swedish is based in the constitution. There are also a few schools where education is given to some extent in Sami in the north. See also Mandatory Swedish.

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In France, legislation restricts languages other than French in state schools. Other languages of France are the medium of instruction in non-state schools such as Diwan Breton language-medium schools and the Calendretas in the south that use Occitan. See Language policy in France

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In India, mediums of instruction alternate between English, Hindi, and the respective state's official language. Private schools usually prefer one of the first two choices, while public schools tend to go with one of the last two.
In the state of Goa, English or Konkani is used.
In the state of Maharashtra, English or Marathi is used.

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In Ireland, English is used in most schools with a growing number of gaelscoileanna using both Irish Gaelic and English.

In the Isle of Man, English is used, but Manx is being revived with on Manx-medium school at St. John's.

In Moldova, Moldovan (Romanian) is used but Russian is slowly being introduced.

In New Zealand, English is used in many schools, but a growing number of kohanga reo and kura kaupapa are using Māori instead.

In Pakistan, most schools and all universities use English as a medium of instruction.

In the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China (ROC), Mandarin Chinese is used as the medium of instruction.

In Romania, the medium of instruction is Romanian but minorities, such as Hungarian and German, are allowed to teach in their respective tongues.

In the United States, English is used, but in some schools, Spanish, French (in Louisiana,) Hawaiian (in Hawaii) and local Indian languages are used as well.

In Scotland, English is used the most because there is little or no education in Lowland Scots, and Scottish Gaelic is only just starting to be used again: see Gaelic medium unit.

In Switzerland, German, French, Italian, and/or Romansch are used in most schools.

In Tanzania, Swahili is used in primary schools (seven years), whereas English is used secondary schools (four to six years) and universties.

In Wales, while the majority of schools teach through the medium of English, an increasing number teach through the medium of Welsh.

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Occitan (IPA AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtæn/), known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name: occitan [utsi'ta][1], lenga d'òc [ˈleŋgɔˈðɔ(k)][2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [laˈleŋgɔˈnɔstrɔ][3] i.e. "our [own] language") is a Romance language spoken in Occitania, that is, Southern France, Monaco, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, and in the Aran Valley of Spain. It is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese (Calabria, Italy). At the present time it is an official language only in the Aran Valley (and in the region of Catalonia, which includes Aran).

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Southern France (or the South of France), colloquially known as Le Midi, is a loosely defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, and Switzerland south of the Jura. The region includes:

Aquitaine
Midi-Pyrénées
Languedoc-Roussillon
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Corsica
Rhone-Alpes
Auvergne
Limousin
This area corresponds in large part to Occitania; that is to say, the territory in which Occitan (the langue d'oc) – as distinct from the langues d'oïl of northern France – was the historically dominant language.

The name le Midi derives from mi (middle) and di (day) in Old French. The midday was synonymous with the direction of south, because in France (and the rest of the north Hemisphere), the sun moves southward at noon. The synonymy exists in Middle French as well, where meridien means both "midday" and "south."