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Majority
of Europeans consider that everyone should know a foreign language
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The
good news:
71%
of Europeans consider that everyone should know a foreign
language
74%
of parents believed that their children should learn other
European languages as it opens up the labour market for them
The
bad news:
74%
of Europeans cannot speak a second language
92% of Europeans cannot speak a third language
66%
of British people can only speak their mother tongue
22%
of Europeans do not consider themselves to be good at languages
For
more results, read below...
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71%
of Europeans consider that everyone should learn a foreign
language
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press
release from European Union
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Brussels,
19 February 2001
Europeans and foreign languages - Results of the special Eurobarometer
survey for the European Year of Languages
This Eurobarometer
survey, which was conducted last December among 16 000 citizens
of the European Union, provides information on the language knowledge
of Europeans, their opportunities to use the foreign languages they
know, their opinions on the usefulness of speaking other languages,
their interest in speaking these languages and the ways in which
languages are learned in the various Member States.
Commenting on the results of this survey at today's European conference
to launch the European Year of Languages in Lund (Sweden), Viviane
Reding, the Member of the Commission responsible for Education and
Culture, felt that the results of this survey were encouraging,
even though much still remained to be done before all European school-leavers
could speak two languages other than their mother tongue. In addition,
there is clearly a need for greater efforts in the area of lifelong
language learning in the Member States. The Commissioner hoped that
everyone would do their part to ensure that this European Year of
languages 2001, which is designed to make European citizens more
aware of language learning and teaching, is a great success.
The results of this Eurobarometer survey include the following:
- It is no surprise that English easily comes top of the languages
spoken by Europeans after their mother tongue: 41% of the people
interviewed said that they speak English, which was more than French
(19%), German (10%) or Spanish (7%). The proportion of Europeans
who can only speak their mother tongue is 47%, which is an average
that hides major differences between Luxembourg (2% of Luxembourgers
can only speak their mother tongue) and the United Kingdom (66%
of British people can only speak their mother tongue). In Sweden,
the Netherlands and Denmark, less than 15% of citizens cannot express
themselves in another language, whereas this is the case for 56%
of Portuguese people, 53% of Spaniards and 51% of French people.
- 74% of Europeans
cannot speak a second foreign language and 92% cannot speak a third
foreign language. And yet, a considerable majority of Europeans
considers that everyone should know a foreign language: 71% take
this view, the least convinced being the Germans (64%) and Austrians
(55%), and the most convinced the Luxembourgers (96%) and Greeks
(86%). When parents are asked why their children should learn other
European languages at school or university, the main reason given
is the opportunities that this opens up on the labour market (74%),
followed by the number of speakers of this language.
- 22% of Europeans
do not consider themselves to be "good at languages".
The people with the most confidence in their abilities are the Danes,
Greeks and Luxembourgers. The people with the least confidence in
their abilities are the French and Germans.
- Europeans
learn foreign languages mainly at secondary school (59%), much more
so than on holiday (20%). The proportion of people who learn languages
at work is low (17%), but with major differences between Spain (38%)
or Italy (40%) and Portugal (2%) or France (3%). The Member States
in which children often start learning their first foreign language
at primary school are Ireland, Luxembourg and Austria.
- The reasons
that deter European citizens from learning a foreign language are,
first, a lack of time (34%), followed by a lack of motivation (31%).
The cost of language training is another factor that discourages
people from learning languages, especially in the countries of southern
Europe.
- 47% of Europeans
think that the enlargement of the European Union should not result
in a decision to choose only one common language of communication.
38% of the people interviewed believe that this will be inevitable,
especially the Italians (60%) and the Greeks (48%).
The European
Year of languages is organised by the European Union and the Council
of Europe. The Commission (with a budget of 8 million) is
supporting an information campaign throughout Europe and innovatory
projects for language learning and teaching. As well as the official
languages of the Union, these projects cover regional and minority
languages, languages of immigrants and sign languages.
An
executive summary of Special
Eurobarometer 54.1b European and Languages for download.
Full
report in French Special
Eurobarometer 54.1b Les Européens et les langues for
download.
To
find out how to get the competitive advantage through the language
advantage, take a look at our Language
Advantage Work section>>
Any questions? Like to talk to us about Europans
and Languages 2001?
For more information or any feedback, please contact
us.
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