Applied Languages

English is the most commonly-spoken foreign language in 14 out of 21 European Union member states, with data not available for the other six, according to new statistics released ahead of the European Day of Languages on September 26.

English is also the most commonly-studied foreign language in the 21 EU states included in the survey, except for Luxembourg, where English, French and German are equal and Ireland and the United Kingdom, where French is most common.

Twenty-eight per cent of EU citizens speak at least two foreign languages, according to the Eurostat survey, done in 2007.

In 2007, the highest shares of the population aged 25 to 64 who said that they spoke two or more foreign languages were found in Slovenia (72 per cent), Slovakia and Finland (both 68 per cent), Lithuania (66 per cent), Estonia (56 per cent) and Latvia (55 per cent).

The United Kingdom (65 per cent), Cyprus (59 per cent), Austria (50 per cent), Greece and Sweden (both 45 per cent) had the largest proportion of those declaring they speak one foreign language.

The highest shares of those speaking no foreign language were in Hungary (75 per cent), Portugal (51 per cent), Spain (47 per cent), Bulgaria (44 per cent) and Greece (43 per cent). Among adults aged 25 to 64 years, Russian is most common in Bulgaria, the Baltic States and Poland.

In the EU, 60 per cent of pupils in upper secondary education studied at least two foreign languages in 2007. Only six per cent of secondary school pupils in the EU studied no foreign language.

The European Day of Languages is aimed “to alert the public to the importance of language learning, to promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe and to encourage lifelong language learning in and out of school,” according to a European Commission statement.

“The EU recognised improving language learning in the EU as a key factor in the Lisbon strategy and the Barcelona European Council in 2002 set the objective of ensuring that all pupils study at least two foreign languages from an early age.”

All students in upper secondary education study two or more foreign languages in the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Finland. The highest proportions of students studying two or more foreign languages in 2007 were found in the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Finland (100 per cent of students in upper secondary education each), Slovenia and Slovakia (both 98 per cent) and Estonia (97 per cent).

The largest shares of students studying one foreign language were in Greece (92 per cent in 2006), Italy (74 per cent), Ireland (73 per cent), Spain (68 per cent), Malta (60 per cent) and Hungary (57 per cent). But more than half (51 per cent) of students in upper secondary education in the UK did not study any foreign language, followed by Ireland (19 per cent).

Read more: the sofia echo