Multilingual Europe ?

Maciamo

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I have found this very interesting stats page about how widely each language is spoken inside the EU.

47% of Europeans can speak English (16% native + 31% non-native)
32% of Europeans can speak German (24% native + 8% non-native)
28% of Europeans can speak French (16% native + 12% non-native)

As for non-mother tongue skills in each country:

- the highest percentage of non-native English speakers are found respectively in : Malta (84%), Denmark (79%), Sweden (76%), Netherlands (75%) and Cyprus (67%).

- same for French : Luxembourg (85%), Belgium (32%), Italy (18%), Portugal (16%), Ireland (15%)
However, French is the education and government language in Luxembourg, and is a main official language in Belgium (along with Dutch).

- same for German : Luxembourg (81%), Netherlands (67%), Denmark (48%), Slovenia (38%), Czech Rep. (27%).
However, Luxembourgish is a dialect of German, and both Dutch and Danish are pretty close too.

45% of European citizens can take part in a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue. The percentage vary a lot depending on the age, country and education level. If 77% of European students and 65% aged 15-24 can speak another language well enough to hold a conversation, only 26% of retired and 28% aged 55+ can do the same.
 
German above French surprised me. I remember Helmut Kohl wanted to have German as the third offical language in the EU parliment, but gave up as French and English seemed to be so dominant. I think people have an illusion that French is a widely spoken language in the world, when Spanish, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese all rank above it. As far as I know it is only really used in African countries that it held before independance, and some of them have changed their offical language to English.
 
Mycernius said:
German above French surprised me. I remember Helmut Kohl wanted to have German as the third offical language in the EU parliment, but gave up as French and English seemed to be so dominant.

This is due to 25 million more native German spakers (don't forget Austria) than native French speakers (even with Belgium). Among language learners, you can see that French is more popular (12% instead of 8%)

I think people have an illusion that French is a widely spoken language in the world, when Spanish, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese all rank above it. As far as I know it is only really used in African countries that it held before independance, and some of them have changed their offical language to English.

The point is that French is very widespread on all 5 continents, with speakers in North America (Quebec, Vermont, Louisiana), Latin America (Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana...), half of Africa, parts of Oceania (New Caledonia, French Polynesia...), and used to be official in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (but only old people can speak nowadays). But there are relatively few native speakers (about 75m), less than Japanese or German for instance.
 
Maciamo said:
I have found this very interesting stats page about how widely each language is spoken inside the EU.

47% of Europeans can speak English (16% native + 31% non-native)
32% of Europeans can speak German (24% native + 8% non-native)
28% of Europeans can speak French (16% native + 12% non-native)
Very interesting... it's not surprising that English has the most non-native speakers, but I didn't know that German had the most native speakers :D
 
Maciamo said:
- the highest percentage of non-native English speakers are found respectively in :Netherlands (75%)
did u ever hear their english accent....if u would and relate it with the 75%, u would think WTF?? Their accent is more dutch then english :D (no hard feelings to our neighbours :blush: )
 
Mycernius said:
German above French surprised me. I remember Helmut Kohl wanted to have German as the third offical language in the EU parliment, but gave up as French and English seemed to be so dominant. I think people have an illusion that French is a widely spoken language in the world, when Spanish, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese all rank above it. As far as I know it is only really used in African countries that it held before independance, and some of them have changed their offical language to English.




you got to remember how many regions were german occupied through the course of history ...









Lina Inverse said:
Very interesting... it's not surprising that English has the most non-native speakers, but I didn't know that German had the most native speakers :D


we got US military bases in southern and middle germany! thats what makes the difference i think
 
Oh I don't believe these stats for a second. What are the criteria for "speaking english" here? Being able to understand "hello" and "How are you?" sentences? Those numbers should be lowered!


And more english-speakers in Denmark than Sweden? Joke of the day, thank you for that one ^_^ (seriously, they're not even close, and where's Finland? They are right behind Sweden in the list (Well, maybe not that close))
 
Lina Inverse said:
Very interesting... it's not surprising that English has the most non-native speakers, but I didn't know that German had the most native speakers :D
yeah, german is a pain *you know where* to learn :p
/me was in a deutsch französiches Gymnasium :relief:
 

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