Half of the EU Citizens Bilingual

Society | September 26, 2005, Monday // 00:00

Half of the population in the European Union can speak at least one more language than their native one, a Eurobarometer survey revealed.

The survey that focuses on Europeans' knowledge of languages was published by the European Commission in celebration of the European Day of Languages. The Council of Europe started commemorating its linguistic diversity on September 26, 2001, aiming to encourage people to learn foreign languages.

According to the Eurobarometer survey, bilingualism largely depends on the country of residence. An all-time winner is Luxembourg with 99 % of its population saying hi in more than one tongue. Less impressive are the numbers for Portugal, Spain and Italy (36 %), the UK (30 %) and Hungary (29%).

Naturally, English tops all, and is spoken as a second language by a third of the Europeans, far down the ladder are German with 12 % and French with 11 %. The fourth place is a tie between Russian and Spanish.

As far as occupations go, students are at the top with a whooping 80 % of them being bilingual.

Primary schools follow suit and offer more and more opportunities for studying a foreign language. As a result the number of pupils who take up at least one foreign language at a tender age has risen to 50 % almost everywhere recently.

Accoding to Jan Figel', European commissioner in charge of Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism the poll published Monday shows that the younger the respondent is, the likelihood of speaking a foreign language increases, and today's young generation will fully contribute to enriching Europe's multilingual society.

Language learning and teaching is amply sponsored by the EU, and programmes like Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci receive more than EUR 30 M per year in order to stimulate students and teachers alike.

The Erasmus Youth Programme also inspires mobility in learners - a key factor in motivating them to get to know their neighbours, and learn a new language.

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