The findings of a Eurostat study conducted in 2007 have just been released showing that English is the most common language across the European Union (EU).
Of the 21 EU Member States, there are 6 states in which no data collected and of the remaining 15 states, English was spoken in 14 of them.
In fact, English is the most common language in the EU to be studied too. Exceptions to this are Luxembourg, where English, French and German are studied equally and Ireland and the UK, where French is the most commonly studied language.
English as the most common language across the EU is also represented in the data collected on citizens who speak a minimum of 2 languages: 28% of all EU citizens, the study reports. In fact, in Slovenia, 72% of 25 – 64 year olds spoke 2 or more languages, Slovakia and Finland 68%, Lithuania 66%, Estonia 56% and Latvia 55%.
As one would expect if English were to be the most common language across the EU, the UK has the highest proportion of people who stated they only spoke one language, 65%. This was also the case for Cyprus 59%, Austria 50% and Greece and Sweden, both with 45%.
The analysis from this study was released just ahead of The European Day of Languages. The day itself is “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.”
“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.”
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