In this sense, the spread of the internet and streaming video has provided great help to the learning of languages, especially English. It is written in Devanagari Script. ___ Official and Spoken Languages of European Countries. Thus, multilingualism has a strategic dimension for Europe: as the Council itself argues, “multilingual competence is at the heart of the vision of a European Education Area”. Prior to moving to a new place, the number one fear faced by expatsis… the language barrier. Obviously, these percentages vary from country to country, and age-group and employment situation are also important factors (in contrast, there are no major differences between women and men). With 15 million English Speakers, about 90 percent of the entire population in the Netherlands speak English. note: Castilian is the official language nationwide; the other languages As for the Russians, they speak English the least. In 1951, back in the days of the European Coal and Steel Community, the six founding nations – Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – recognised four official languages: Italian, French, German and Dutch. Cyprus 43.07%. If at all you would want to work and live in an exotic place, Vietnam can be ideal for you. United Kingdom 94.45%. I lived in Moscow and very … Among the top ten countries on this list, only one, Singapore, is in Asia. To this end, the European Union has promised to invest as much as 30 billion euro between 2021 and 2027 to make the programme more inclusive. Over the years, other languages were added with the creation and growth of the European Union, reaching a total of 24 official languages, and more than 60 minority and regional languages. English proficiency in European countries in 2019 Knowledge of other languages among young people in the EU 2018, by country Knowledge of other languages among young people in the European Union 2018 Multilingualism is one of the founding principles of the European Union, but only one in five Europeans can speak two languages other than their own – even though the picture is improving. While the continent is home to some budget-busting destinations like France, Ireland and Norway, there are also some culture-filled, cheap European countries that can be visited on $50 / day or less. Irish (Gaeilge), English (generally used), Luxembourgish (LÎtzebuergesch, the everyday spoken Netherlands 38.46%. Besides, it has stunning landscapes and delicious delicacies, which attracts thousands of tourists from across the globe. Italian is studied by 57 per cent of pupils in Malta, ten per cent in Croatia and four per cent in France. It comes before the fear of being too far away from friends and family, and way before things like culture shock or lesser healthcare and infrastructure standards. In 2017, World Atlas came out with a list of countries most (and least) proficient in English. language), French (administrative language), German (administrative language). “In this light, Italy is showing signs of improvement. Thus, beyond strengthening language education in schools (investing in teacher training, improving the continuity between elementary and middle school, etc. We also need to understand how effectively they learn, and how motivated they are to use these languages. ), broader exposure to the languages needs to be encouraged – for example, showing foreign films that are subtitled instead of dubbed, as they do in northern countries. Let’s start with Europe. “On the other hand, looking at the data we see that the differences between countries are enormous, and there’s still a lot of work to do to improve the study of second foreign languages.”. To get a sense of the issue, the Eurydice report entitled “Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe” analyses 60 indicators related to the study of languages, including variables such as the range of languages available in compulsory education programs, hours dedicated to language lessons, the transnational mobility of teachers and students, and linguistic support for newly arrived immigrant pupils. However, in some remote areas, English spea… Countries where people are least likely to be able to speak any foreign language are Hungary (65%), Italy (62%), the UK and Portugal (61% in each), and Ireland (60%). Student mobility is a crucial lever for improving linguistic competence. Malta 62.39%. Sweden 53.97%. However, as in the rest of Europe, language learning in Italy varies from region to region. According to research, it is one of the best and the cheapest countries to live and travel. #2 Denmark. Are you an ambitious language learner who wants to travel to places where you won't be able to use English as a crutch? List of official, national and spoken Languages of Europe. The Nordic countries are famous for their English speaking skills and the next four countries on this list are all from the Nordic region. Moldovan (virtually the same as the Romanian language), Serbo-Croatian (Ijekavian dialect - official), Dutch (Nederlands, official language), Frisian (official language), small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities, Spanish (español - the Castilian version) 74%, Catalan The 2019 Invalsi report reveals that the best results on average for English comprehension and listening are obtained by pupils in northern – rather than central and southern – Italy. Unsurprisingly, according to Eurostat English is the most spoken and known foreign language in the European Union, and the one most commonly studied language in primary and lower secondary school (by around 98 per cent of pupils). ; Non-sovereign entities are not included: A tiny principality in the heart of Europe, Luxembourg has three official languages: French, German and Luxem… Hindi is one of the families of Indo-European languages. What really makes the difference is the effectiveness of language teaching and exposure to foreign languages. Gibraltar Hindi is one of the widely spoken languages in the World. All or nearly all (99-100 %) primary school pupils in Cyprus, Malta, Austria and Spain learnt English as a foreign language in 2018, as was also the case in Liechtenstein, Norway and North Macedonia. This makes sense since communism only fell about 20 years ago. This is a list of countries where: English is considered to be the official language ; or the de facto language, that is the language used by the majority of speakers but not considered the official language. Some countries have even more than one national language. Topics Languages In May 2019, the Official Journal of the European Union published the “Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages ”. (official in Burgenland), Dutch 60%, French 40%, German less than 1%, small Sami- and Russian-speaking minorities, Llanito (a mixture of Spanish and English), Spanish, Greek (elliniká, the Koine-Demotic version), Greenlandic Inuktitut (Kalaallisut), Danish. French is in second place (33 per cent of pupils), followed by German (23 per cent) and Spanish (17 per cent). Malta Malta, the smallest EU state is well known for its relaxed lifestyle, low cost of living and historical links... 2. small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities. A similar picture emerges from the international PISA study (Programme for International Student Assessment), where pupils in northern Italy earn results higher than the OECD average, while results gradually drop and eventually fall below the OECD average as we move further south. Some countries, including Italy, don’t appear in the study (they are set to appear in the next study in the coming years). A popular stereotype of Americans traveling abroad is the tourist who is at a loss when it comes to coping with any language other than English. List of English Speaking Countries. The following is a list of countries and territories where English is an official … Fair or not, the fact is that while the U.S. does not have a national requirement for students to learn a foreign language in school, the typical European pupil must study multiple languages in the classroom before becoming a teen. Overall, a median of 92% of European students are learning a language in school. The EU Council’s stated goal is as simple as it is fascinating and ambitious: it is essential for EU citizens to know at least two languages other than their mother tongue. Moreover, Italian pupils, like about 60 per cent of European pupils, begin to learn a second foreign language in middle school,” explains Simona Biaggiani, analyst of European education systems and policies with the Italian branch of Eurydice, part of the Erasmus+ Agency, INDIRE. It’s EPI score is 73.8, which is the highest of any country that was tested. English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken. Interestingly, English is considered the primary foreign language in this … The EU Council’s stated goal is as simple as it is fascinating and ambitious: it is essential for EU citizens to know at least two languages other than their mother tongue. It is understood by the European institutions as either the capacity of a single individual to express themselves in other languages (plurilingualism), or the coexistence of different linguistic communities in a specific geographic area. South Africa, for example, has 11 different official languages, and even more languages and dialects are spoken in the country. Vietnam is generally safe from insecurities such as violence or theft. There are about 76 million native French speakers and 274 million fluent French speakers worldwide. Multilingualism is one of the founding principles of the European Union. For example, in 2003 compulsory English classes began to start from the first year of primary school. India is hands down the cheapest English speaking country to live in, to travel, or to retire, and it claims to be the world’s second largest English speaking country. While official data on age and language-learning is encouraging, data from other studies shows significant variation in the level of mastery among students from one European country to the next. Austria 40.64%. French is the official language in 29 countries. Liechtenstein. Most Vietnamese speak English. Hindi is the official language of India and majorly spoken in some countries listed below. I know this all too well, having lived and worked in many new countries in my life. Only one citizen in five can speak two languages other than their own, and fewer than one in ten know more than three languages. Denmark 52.95%. The European Union is a supranational union composed of 28 member states. Albanian (Shqip, Tosk (Toskë) is the official dialect), Shqip-Gheg dialect (Gegë), Greek, Italian, German, Slovene (official in Carinthia), Croatian and Hungarian Then there are other very important instruments to consider for effective language learning at school. English is still the most spoken language in the EU by far, with German now spoken by 36% of citizens and French spoken by 29% of the EU’s new smaller population of 446 million people. In many countries – including Italy – third languages are starting to be learned. Furthermore, studying a second foreign language for at least one year is compulsory in more than 20 European countries. In addition, at least 9 out of every 10 primary school children learnt English in Greece, Latvia, Poland, Italy, France, Croatia and Sweden. Most African countries have many different official languages. German is studied as a third language by more than half of the pupils in Denmark and Poland, while Spanish is studied by around half of the pupils in France. It's an inexact science, but while a 2014 report suggested that 54 per cent of Europeans claim to speak at least one other language, that figure falls to just 38 per cent for UK residents. Which countries speak French? 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