Languages in the EU

Joker   Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:44 am GMT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union

Do you think that the maps and stats here more or less accurately show the spread of the major languages in the EU? I'm wondering because I'm a native English speaker who has been studying Spanish for a while and now I want to learn another major European language. General usefulness and practicality are important, so I guess it would come down to German or French. However, it looks like English and French have the widest presence across Europe. Anyone (especially from Europe) agree?
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:53 am GMT
I'd venture to say for usefulness you should learn French, because someone who speaks German is more likely to speak English. On the other hand, Germany is the heart of Europe, the economic centre of all the action.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:54 am GMT
That map is surprissing and contradicts some of my pre-conceived ideas:

-The French are not the ones who speak English worse than anybody else, they know English better than the Spanish and Italians.

-German is virtually not spoken by the Spanish and Italians ( 5% or less). I thought that it was more popular in these countries since it is more spoken than French in the EU and Italy is actually a neighbor of Germany!

-Spanish is very spoken in France and Italy, more than 20% of people speak it. Even there is a good amount of people who speak Spanish as far as in Sweden ( 10% or more). Now I understand why Bjorn ,the member of ABBA speaks Spanish, it is definitely popular there. Also I found strange that +50% people in Portugal speak Spanish since it is not taught in schools, partly because they don't feel that they need to study Spanish to understand it, but if they don't study Spanish I don't think that they can be considered Spanish speakers but only understand it to a big degree.

-As for French it is clearly the second most spoken European language appart from English and the best distributed across Europe again excluding English. Englis is clearly the European language par excellence No surprises here.
mac   Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:13 am GMT
<< -German is virtually not spoken by the Spanish and Italians ( 5% or less). I thought that it was more popular in these countries since it is more spoken than French in the EU and Italy is actually a neighbor of Germany! >>

I never thought (or heard) that German was very popular in those countries. BTW, France is also a neighbor of Italy and they both speak a Romance language so it makes sense that more Italian learn French, I guess.
mac   Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:39 am GMT
<< Even there is a good amount of people who speak Spanish as far as in Sweden ( 10% or more). >>

That surprised me too.

< Also I found strange that +50% people in Portugal speak Spanish since it is not taught in schools >>

Public school isn't the only way the aquire knowledge of a language. The two languages are very similar and Portugal is totally bordered by Spain, apart from the sea. I'm not that surprised that many there can speak Spanish.
Guest2   Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:55 am GMT
Well, I was seeing the 4 maps. There are several interesting things:


- The situation in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europeans have been studying Russian and German during the last 2 centuries. So, it is difficult to change this tendency. However, the situation is slowly changing (fast with English). I think they are going to study more French and Spanish there, and a little less German and Russian.


- The situation in the World. There are 4 international languages in European Union: English, German, French and Spanish. But one of them is not a United Nations language, it is not a World language because it is not spoken in other continents. You can see:

English: everywhere. 750 million speakers. UNO World language.

Spanish: North America, Latin America, Europe, North Africa. 500 m. speakers. UNO World language.

French: Canada, Haiti, Europe, Africa. 200 m. speakers. UNO World language.


German: Central Europe. 100 million speakers.


In short, in my opinion, German is the less important language taking into account the whole World. French and Spanish are more international, stronger languages.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:27 am GMT
Clearly, French is stronger among the romance language countries while German is stronger in Central and Eastern as well as Northern Europe. So take your pick.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:56 am GMT
I can't believe and accept that more people in Germany and Poland has Spanish as foreign language than French. This is a lie.

The same thing in Turkey. Imagine Spanish outnumbers German? When everybody knows that Germany have had a strong tie that predates WWI and in fact German outperforms English there.

As for Sweden, the number of Spanish speakers is 5% and Italian is more popular there than Spanish.

TO THE HISPANIC FANATIC(S) WHO CHANGES THE INFORMATION POSTED IN WIKIPEDIA, PLEASE DON'T CHANGE WHAT IS FACTUAL WITH IS FALLACY. WIKIPEDIA'S CREDIBILITY IS BEING RUINED JUST BECASXUER OF INDIVIDUALS LIKE YOU.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:59 am GMT
<< French: Canada, Haiti, Europe, Africa. 200 m. speakers. UNO World language. >>

85 million native speakers + 250 million secondary or near native speakers in Africa + 200 million non-native speakers.
Guest2   Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:13 am GMT
No. It is spoken by 176 million people. If you want to include students, it is spoken by 265 million people. You can not include more people that the same Francophonie.

"À travers le monde, la langue française rassemble près de 115 millions d’hommes et de femmes pour qui elle est la langue maternelle, 61 autres millions qui la maîtrisent partiellement et près de 89 millions de jeunes ou d’adultes qui ont fait le choix de l’apprendre. Ainsi, la communauté ayant le français en partage regroupe aujourd’hui sur les cinq continents près de 265 millions de personnes."

References 2006. La langue française dans le monde. Délégation générale
à la langue française et aux langues de France.
Guest2   Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:06 am GMT
"As for Sweden, the number of Spanish speakers is 5% and Italian is more popular there than Spanish."

I am not from Sweden. I am not sure if Spanish is more spoken than French or Italian. A person from Sweden can confirm that or not. But you should add not only students, but also the minorities from Latin America that live there, and in other countries.

The same in Germany. You need to add not only students, but also Latin Americans and Spaniards than live there.

Anyway, Spanish is 4th more studied language in European Union. English first, German second and French third according to the Special Eurobarometer of the European Comission, taking into account second speakers.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:07 am GMT
About 80% of UK primary schools that currently teach any foreign language teach French.

Which are Europe's most-talked languages?
( based on a contribution by Graham Davies to LinguanetForum, 25 August 2006)

Which Western European language gives you most people to speak to?

A survey in 2005 of languages spoken by people in the European Union (EU) + candidate coountries (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey) asked EU citizens which language they spoke as their Mother Tongue (MT) and first Foreign Language (FL).

The figures for the main languages are:

English: 51% (MT 13%, FL 38%)

German: 32% (MT 18%, FL 14%)

French: 25% (MT 12%, FL 13%)

Italian: 16% (MT 13%, FL 3%)

Spanish: 15% (MT 9%, FL 6%)


Studying languages at school
Overall, 77% of European citizens considered that children should learn English as their first FL. Only the UK, Ireland (64%) and Luxembourg (8%) considered French to be the first FL that children should learn.

When asked which two FLs UK children should learn at school, UK citizens answered:

French: 77%

Spanish 39%

German: 34%

German came higher in most other European countries and French and Spanish came lower.

http://www.earlystart.co.uk/which-lang.htm
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:11 am GMT
<< Spanish: North America, Latin America, Europe, North Africa. 500 m. speakers. UNO World language. >>

The number of native Spanish speakers is 330 million and those who speak it as a second and foreign language is just 20 million. So the total is just 350 million.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:22 am GMT
Now I also can't believe that Spanish has more non-native speakers than French in Italy and Portugal. It's very clear that that article was made by a Hispanic who's so biased.
Mr. Freeze   Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:24 am GMT
English remains the most widely spoken foreign language throughout Europe. 38% of EU citizens state that they have sufficient skills in English to have a conversation (excluding the citizens of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the two English-speaking countries). 14% of Europeans indicate that they know either French or German along with their mother tongue. French is most commonly studied and used in Southern Europe, especially in Mediterranean countries, in Germany, Romania, the UK and Ireland while German is commonly studied and used in the Benelux countries, in Scandinavia and in the newer EU member states. Spanish is most commonly studied in parts of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal. In 19 out of 29 countries polled, English is the most widely known language apart from the mother tongue, this being particularly the case in Sweden (89%), Malta (an ex-British colony that ia also part of the Commonwealth of Nations as well) (88%), the Netherlands (87%), and Denmark (86%), while German and French is so in three countries. Moreover, the citizens of the EU think they speak English at a better level than any other second or foreign language. 77% of EU citizens believe that children should learn English and that it's considered the number one language to learn in all countries where the research conducted but the United Kingdom, Ireland and Luxembourg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union