Perhaps a surprise for many individuals, Russian tops this list as the most spoken language in Europe with 120 million native speakers on the continent! However, Mandarin is becoming increasingly more prevalent due to the opening[clarification needed] of the People's Republic of China. In addition, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Italian, Slovak, and Slovene are official languages in multiple EU countries at the regional level. Do you like the map? [39], On 16 November 2005, the President Peter Straub of the Committee of the Regions signed an agreement with the Spanish Ambassador to the EU, Carlos Bastarreche [es], approving the use of Spanish regional languages in an EU institution for the first time in a meeting on that day, with interpretation provided by European Commission interpreters. While perhaps not as well known as the other languages on this list, there are 40 million Polish native speakers that live in Europe. Arabic is spoken in many EU countries mainly in its Maghrebi and Levantine varieties. About this Worksheet. The translations are expensive. Nevertheless, there exist a number of languages spoken by sizable minorities, such as Breton (a Celtic language), Basque, and several Romance languages such as Occitan, Catalan, Corsican and the various langues d'oïl (other than French), as well as Germanic languages spoken in Alsace-Lorraine (Central Franconian, High Franconian, Luxembourgish, and Alemannic) and French Flanders (Dutch). French. To redeem this offer simply quote promo code 60041. [78] The Advocates-General, by contrast, may work and draft their opinions in any official language, as they do not take part in any deliberations. But many of these smaller minority languages are on the verge of dying out. [73] The German Bundestag has repeatedly called for German to receive an equal position in the EU Commission alongside English and French. "Written question – Public policy on foreign-language teaching: the Grin Report – E-3653/2006", "Cyrillic, the third official alphabet of the EU, was created by a truly multilingual European", "Taoiseach Website Press Release dated 1 January 2007", "Decision made at 667th Meeting of the Council of the European Union, Luxembourg", "Stádas na Gaeilge san Aontas Eorpach – Status of Irish in the EU", "EU to hire 30 Irish translators at cost of €3.5 million", https://slator.com/demand-drivers/ireland-ramps-translator-hiring-irish-gaelic-gets-nod-eu/, "2006 Census of Population – Volume 9 – Irish Language", "Oooops... We didn't find the page you are looking for...", "Article 75-1, Constitution du 4 octobre 1958", "Norme in materia di tutela delle minoranze linguistiche storiche", "DG Interpretation (DG SCIC) at the European Commission - Interpreting and Conference Service - Service d'intérpretation et conférence de la commission européenne", "EUROPA-Languages-News-Spanish regional languages used for the first time", "Spanish regional languages are used for the first time in EU institutions: "it's a historic day for Europe", say Spanish regional Presidents", "Catalan government welcomes European Parliament language move", "European Ombudsman Press Release No. Romance languages are spoken in western and southern European regions; they include French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. This leaves Catalan speakers without access to EU institutions in their mother tongue. The European Parliament translates its proceedings into all official languages so that fellow MEPs can understand them better than if they had the delayed translation. Most of these individuals (naturally) live in Poland, but Polish is also widely spoken in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus and Ukraine. To a lesser extent, this legacy also holds true among the older generation in parts of the EU that were formerly part of the Eastern bloc, such as the GDR. It’s the official language of Russia and Belarus, but it’s also still widely used in many eastern European countries (where it was taught in school during the Soviet Era). The five most spoken languages in the EU are English (44%), German (36%), French (29%), Italian (18%) and Spanish (17%). The Spanish governments have sought to give some official status in the EU for the languages of the autonomous communities of Spain, Catalan/Valencian, Galician and Basque. To encourage the member states to cooperate and to disseminate best practice the Commission issued a Communication on 24 July 2003, on Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan 2004–2006 and a Communication on 22 November 2005, on A New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism. Official Languages of the European Union To be an official language of the European Union, the language must be both an official and a working language within a member state. "Sprache: Warum Deutsch in der EU diskriminiert wird - WELT", "EU-Kommission soll Deutsch als Sprache nutzen: - WELT", "French language losing its cachet? The EU used to provide the main financial support to the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages until 2010, a non-governmental organisation which represents the interests of the over 40 million citizens who belong to a regional and minority language community, and for the Mercator networks of universities active in research on lesser-used languages in Europe. It encompasses 46 sovereign nations, 740 million inhabitants and one of the most important political institutions in the world: the European Union. These include Luxembourgish, an official language of Luxembourg since 1984, and Turkish, an official language of Cyprus. Spanish is most commonly studied in France, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal. This is the case in Luxembourg, where 92% speak at least two languages. With the enlargement of the European Union, the balance between French and German is slowly changing. As a Babbel subscriber you’ll enjoy a 10% discount on any Intrepid trip departing before December 31, 2018. 2003. In Europe alone, it is considered the first language of not only Francebut also Southern Belgium, Western Switzerland and Monaco. Those unfamiliar with Europe may be surprised to know that Germany also has a large population of Turkish speakers — more than 2 million people, in fact! Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. There are large Chinese communities in France, Spain, Italy, and other countries. That said, French’s global reach is even … More citizens in the new member states speak German (23% compared with 12% in the EU15) while fewer speak French or Spanish (3% and 1% respectively compared with 16% and 7% among the EU15 group). Almost half of the world’s population claims one of only 10 languages as their mother tongue. When you want to experience the authentic Italian way of life on your travels, then learning Italian is a must! 56% of citizens in the EU member states are able to hold a conversation in one language apart from their native language. The 667th Council Meeting of the Council of the European Union in Luxembourg on 13 June 2005, decided to authorise limited use at EU level of languages recognised by member states other than the official working languages. In the EU, language policy is the responsibility of member states, and the European Union does not have a common "language policy". The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity. When Ireland joined the EEC (now the EU) in 1973, Irish was accorded "Treaty Language" status. Only 5% of Turks, 13% of Irish, 16% of Italians, 17% of Spaniards and 18% of Britons speak at least two languages apart from their native language. Luxembourgish and Turkish (which have official status in Luxembourg and Cyprus, respectively) are the only two official languages of EU member states that are not official languages of the EU. [16] Non-institutional EU bodies are not legally obliged to make language arrangement for all the 24 languages (Kik v. Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, Case C-361/01, 2003 ECJ I-8283). 19/2006 30.11.2006", https://euobserver.com/institutional/132476, Proposal for an ACT OF ADAPTATION OF THE TERMS OF ACCESSION OF THE UNITED CYPRUS REPUBLIC TO THE EUROPEAN UNION, "Russian speakers 'excluded' from EU brochures in Latvia", National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic, Česko má nové oficiální národnostní menšiny. Language policy, "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages CETS No. Palgrave. In addition, the mainstream actions of Community programmes which encourage mobility and transnational partnerships motivate participants to learn languages. And let’s not forget that Europe also embraces notable cultural attitudes, like community, tolerance, and liberal democracy. Old and recent Chinese migrants speak a number of Chinese varieties, in particular Cantonese and other southern Chinese varieties. [70] 28% of the respondents state that they speak two foreign languages well enough to have a conversation. Spanish’s prestige grows even more when leaving Europe: 20 countries have Spanish declared as an official language and over 480 million individuals are Spanish native speakers throughout the globe, making it the second most widely-spoken language in the world. To encourage language learning, the EU supported the Council of Europe initiatives for European Year of Languages 2001 and the annual celebration of European Day of Languages on 26 September. The language map spans from Portugal to Ukraine, and the difficulty rankings run the gamut from Category I (about 24 weeks of instruction) to Category IV (about 44 weeks of instruction). Regulations and other documents of general application are drafted in the twenty-four official languages. Meetings of the European Council and the Council of the European Union are interpreted into all official languages. Respect for linguistic diversity is a fundamental value of the European Union, in the same way as respect for the person, openness towards other cultures, and tolerance and acceptance of other people. [45] According to the agreement, a translation body, which will be set up and financed by the Spanish government, will be responsible for translating complaints submitted in these languages. Some 94% of the total population of European are native speakers of an Indo-European language. [31], Due to similarities between Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin, there were some unofficial proposals to accept only one hybrid language as an official EU language as opposed to four separate ones (as in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) in order to reduce translation costs. Multilingualism is not a new feature in Luxembourg. https://www.theintrepidguide.com/how-many-languages-are-there-in-the-world For example, the European Court of Justice has its website at "curia.europa.eu". It is the official language of France (of course), as well as a co-official language of Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. When you combine the number of immigrants living in Europe and the number of second-hand English speakers, you’ll have no problem getting around Europe with English. At the same time, the balance is being changed in the opposite direction by growth of the French-speaking population and decrease of the German-speaking population. [76], The German language is, however, on the rise within both the EU-27, as in the higher echelons.[77]. star Easy apply. Ume Sami and Pite Sami are both in the top 10 most endangered languages in Europe. Based on the principle of subsidiarity, European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field, promoting cooperation between the member states and promoting the European dimension in the member states' language policies, particularly through the teaching and dissemination of the languages of the member states (Article 149.2). The number of member states exceeds the number of official languages, as several national languages are shared by two or more countries in the EU. Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands but also enjoys co-official status in Belgium. [27][28], The regulation means that legislation adopted by both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers is translated into Irish, and interpretation from Irish is available at European Parliament plenary sessions and some Council meetings. This is a free printable worksheet in PDF format and holds a printable version of the quiz Languages in Europe.By printing out this quiz and taking it with pen and paper creates for a good variation to only playing it online. Ready to discover the magic of Europe for yourself? Another interesting step would be to translate important public websites, such as the one of the European Central Bank, or Frontex web site also, in at least one other language than English or French. Bonne journée (Have a nice day) 3. Vietnamce a Bělorusy, Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms, "Tájékoztatom, hogy a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Nyelvtudományi intézete 2004, január 6-ai ülésén döntést hozott arról, hogy az eszperantó elő idegen nyelvnek minősül. As a result, Kyiv will be able to gain associate membership by the end of 2021. Since 2010, the portfolio was merged with education and culture, again. Traditionally, the Sámi were semi-nomadic and lived off the land, often by herding reindeer. [74] The language situation also disappoints many in France,[75] and Kristalina Georgieva, who is from Bulgaria, gained a round of applause when she told Parliament she would learn French while in the commission. The French constitution stipulates French as the sole language of France. English is the fourth most widely spoken language in Europe with approximately 70 million native English speakers – the number of English-speaking expats residing in Europe significantly adds to this figure. In the European Union, language policy is the responsibility of member states, and EU does not have a common language policy; European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field, based on the principle of "subsidiarity"; they promote a European dimension in the member states' language policies. [citation needed]. [56], Several NGOs exist which support signers, such as the European Union of the Deaf and the European Sign Language Centre. [22] All new acts of the institutions were required to be adopted and published in Maltese from 30 April 2007. The EU Parliament has made clear that its member states have autonomy for language education, which by treaty the Union must respect.[19]. Ukraine is actually the largest country by area in Europe (when one excludes France’s overseas territories and the asian continental portion of Russia). On 11 December 1990, the use of Catalan was the subject of a European Parliament Resolution (resolution A3-169/90 on languages in the [European] Community and the situation of Catalan). But what do people speak in Europe? Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle and Stefan Wolff. Bilingualism with Finnish is universal, though. The European Union itself has a Latin motto: "In varietate concordia". Show your support by sharing it. Italian ranks as the fourth most commonly spoken language in Europe and has more than 65 million speakers across the continent. According to the Euromosaic study,[33] some regional or minority languages spoken within the EU do not have official recognition at EU level. Europe can be a tricky thing to define: According to the Ancient Greeks, Europa was the beautiful princess abducted by Zeus and taken to the island of Crete. [25] This followed a unanimous decision on 13 June 2005 by EU foreign ministers that Irish would be made the 21st official language of the EU. Although Maltese is an official language, the Council set a transitional period of three years from 1 May 2004, during which the institutions were not obliged to draft all acts in Maltese. The Official Journal of the European Union is published in the twenty-four official languages. Out of a total population of 740 million, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language; within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Slavic, Germanic, and Romance, with more than 200 million speakers each, between them accounting for close to 90% of Europeans. In March 2010 fact-sheets in Russian produced by the EU executive's offices in Latvia were withdrawn, provoking criticism from Plaid Cymru MEP and European Free Alliance group President Jill Evans who called European Commission to continue to provide information in non-official EU languages and commented that "it's disappointing to hear that the EU is bowing to pressure to exclude Russian speakers in the Baltic in this way".[50]. Latin, along with Greek, was at the core of education in Europe from the schools of rhetoric of the Roman Republic in all of its provinces and territories, through the medieval trivium and quadrivium, through the humanists and the Renaissance, all the way to Newton's Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis (just to name one example of thousands of scientific works written in this language), to the public schools of all European countries, where Latin (along with Greek) was at the core of their curricula. (D… All languages of the EU are also working languages. Spoken in: Parts of Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden Number of native speakers: 30,000 Sámi is a group of closely-related languages spoken by the Sámi people. [17] According to the EU's English-language website,[18] the cost of maintaining the institutions’ policy of multilingualism—i.e., the cost of translation and interpretation—was €1,123 million in 2005, which is 1% of the annual general budget of the EU, or €2.28 per person per year. Répondre à ces difficultés tout en faisant évoluer ce cursus, l’un des plus attractifs de la filière LEA, pour lui donner plus de visibilité encore et augmenter ainsi les chances de nos étudiants sur le marché du travail européen et mondial a … are spoken in many parts of the EU by migrants and refugees who have left the region as a result of the Yugoslav wars and unrest there. In 19 out of 29 countries polled, English is the most widely known language apart from the native language, this being particularly the case in Sweden (89%), Malta (88%); the Netherlands (87%); and Denmark (86%). In the table, boxes coloured light blue mean that the language is an official language of the country, while the main language spoken in the country is coloured dark blue. [52] The Court of Auditors uses Curia Rationum in its logo. A partir de 2008, il a été confronté à des difficultés dues aux changements profonds affectant les universités britanniques partenaires. Levantine Arabic is spoken by migrants in Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Greece. French is most commonly studied and used in southern Europe, especially in Mediterranean countries, in Germany, Portugal, Romania, and Ireland. Committee meetings also often default to the language most understood by those attending instead of listening to the translation. 1.2. Though not an official language of the European Union, Russian is widely spoken in all member states that were part of the Soviet Union (and before that the Russian Empire). 1,000–2,000 Lule Sami speakers and 600 Southern Sami speakers. [46], Luxembourgish (Luxembourg) and Turkish (Cyprus) are the only two national languages that are not official languages of the EU. Here we break down the 13 most useful phrases for traveling around Europe, and translate them into the six most common European languages. 77% of EU citizens believe that children should learn English. This will strengthen Ukraine's position in the international arena, as well as promote the long-term use of the Ukrainian language as mandatory in EU countries. When a language is commonly spoken outside Europe, an estimate of the number of native speakers living in Europe and the total number of non-native (L2) speakers is also provided. The last spot on our list goes to Dutch, narrowly beating out Romanian for a spot in the Top 10. UK and Ireland not so much, Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe - 2012 Edition, European Coal and Steel Community (1951–2002), European Economic Community (1958–1993/2009), Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification, Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, Largest cities by population within city limits, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Languages_of_the_European_Union&oldid=1014651440, Articles with Latvian-language sources (lv), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing potentially dated statements from July 2013, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2020, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from June 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Furthermore, not all national languages have been accorded the status of official EU languages. Leading European Countries In Language Learning Luxembourg . The working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union is French. Through strategic studies, the Commission promotes debate, innovation, and the exchange of good practice. The 69 million Italian native speakers in Europe are experts on la dolce vita. Geographically we typically define it as the land mass stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caucasus Mountains in Russia — with an area of only 4 million square miles, it’s the second smallest continent on Earth. Fun facts about the Sámi languages: 1. In the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding since its inclusion in the Lisbon Treaty, the EU declares that it respects linguistic diversity (Article 22) and prohibits discrimination on grounds of language (Article 21). 2,000 speakers), Skolt Sami (400) and Inari Sami (300) have limited local recognition in certain municipalities of Finnish Lapland. Although not an EU treaty, most EU member states have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[82]. Only a few of the Commissioners use a language other than English or French as their working language. After Russian and German, the next most spoken language in Europe is French, with about 80 million native speakers. As a second language, over 200 million English speakers in Europe. Only a small part is in Europe, but still, it is one of the Indo-European languages,... German. These languages enjoy no official status under the French state and regions are not permitted to bestow any such status themselves. [61], Esperanto is not mentioned by the EU Commission as an EU language; the Commission mentions only official, indigenous regional and minority languages as well as languages of immigrants. You had to know this was coming, right? On 30 November 2006, the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, and the Spanish ambassador in the EU, Carlos Bastarreche, signed an agreement in Brussels to allow Spanish citizens to address complaints to the European Ombudsman in Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician, all three co-official languages in Spain. It also has co-official status in Cypress and is widely spoken around the Mediterranean, particularly in Macedonia, Greece and Serbia. [54], A wide variety of sign languages are used in the EU, with around 500,000 people using a sign language as their first language. Why not add it to your repertoire for your next trip to Amsterdam? Some of them may have some official status within the member state and count many more speakers than some of the lesser-used official languages. The knowledge of foreign languages varies considerably in the specific countries, as the table below shows. 2. The European Commission has also supported some initiatives to produce digital technologies that can better support signers, such as Dicta-Sign and SignSpeak.[55]. The number should be higher, if one considers the number of about 35,000 Esperanto exams between 2001 and 2015. Important families include the British, French, and German sign language families. was originally drawn up or was translated due to enlargement, are legally equally authentic. Why not add it to your list for your trip to Germany? Italian is naturally the official language of Italy, but it’s also a co-official language of Switzerland (it’s the third most spoken language by the Swiss, after German and French) and of Vatican City, the city-state for the Roman Catholic Church (conveniently landlocked by Rome, Italy). It may not be a dominant language globally (having only 80 million speakers), but it is one of the top 2 most spoken languages in Europe. Members of the European Parliament have the right to use any official language when speaking in Parliament. The designation of Irish as a "treaty language" meant that only the treaties of the European Union were translated into Irish, whereas Legal Acts of the European Union adopted under the treaties (like Directives and Regulations) did not have to be. While documents for and communication with citizens are in every official EU language as a right, day-to-day work in the European Commission is based around its three working languages: English, French, and German. On 26 February 2016 it was made public that Cyprus has asked to make Turkish an official EU language, in a “gesture” that could help reunification and improve EU–Turkey relations. Non-Indo-European, which includes the Uralic languages (e.g., Finnic and Finno-Ugric) and Basque. Europa:Languages and Europe. [citation needed]. Work from Home > Work From Home. Turkish (which is also an official language of the EU member Cyprus) is spoken as a first language by an estimated 1% of the population in Belgium and the western part of Germany, and by 1% in the Netherlands. [3][4] The three procedural languages are those used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU. For internal purposes the EU institutions are allowed by law to choose their own language arrangements. For years now, Spain has enjoyed a covetable position as one of Europe’s best travel destinations — especially for other Europeans looking for a warm and relaxing summer vacation. While this may seem like a small number, this language is pretty easy to pick up for native English speakers, especially compared to the other Germanic languages! The cost of translation, interpretation, publication, and legal services involved in making Irish an official EU language is estimated at just under €3.5 million a year. [63], The European party Europe – Democracy – Esperanto seeks to establish the planned language as an official second language in the EU in order to make international communication more efficient and fair in economical and philosophical terms. Before joining Babbel in 2015, she had been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. Van der Jeught, Stefaan (2015). These opinions are then translated into French for the benefit of the judges and their deliberations.[79]. Most official EU languages are written in the Latin script. The Slavic languages are to be found in central Europe and the Balkans in southern Europe. [36] However, many other languages other than Italian and the above-mentioned twelve are spoken across the country,[37] most of them being either Gallo-Italic or Italo-Dalmatian. The Commission believes that a network would be the most appropriate next step and, where possible, should build on existing structures; it will examine the possibility of financing it on a multi-annual basis through the proposed Lifelong Learning programme. If you consider the percentage of the population that learned French as a second language, then over 30% of European inhabitants know the language, making it a great choice for those that want to travel around the continent. This new regulation outlines an actual schedule of gradual reduction spread across five years starting from 2016. If you consider the percentage of the population that learned French as a second language, then over 30% of European inhabitants know the language, making it a great choice for those that want to travel around the continent. Au contraire! Until such a body is established the agreement will not become effective; so far the body has not been created nor there is any budget allocated to this end. It is the official language of France (of course), as well as a co-official language of Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Documents of major public importance or interest are produced in all official languages, but that accounts for a minority of the institutions′ work. Widespread introduction of English, longer courses In western Europe the teaching of English has become the general rule, and all pupils now learn English. Beginning with the Lingua programme [fr] in 1990, the European Union invests more than €30 million a year (out of a €120 billion EU budget) promoting language learning through the Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes in bursaries to enable language teachers to be trained abroad, placing foreign language assistants in schools, funding class exchanges to motivate pupils to learn languages, creating new language courses on CDs and the Internet, and projects that raise awareness of the benefits of language learning. In Finland, the Sami languages Northern Sami (ca. Citizens belonging to minorities, which traditionally and on long-term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic, enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in front of the courts of law (for the list of recognized minorities see. The majority of these languages evolved from the Indo-European family language tree. Minority Languages in Europe: Frameworks, Status, Prospects.