2C. Range of Languages Known

Along with the distribution of language skills, the range of languages spoken is also a matter of interest here. In terms of foreign languages spoken over the continent, the linguistic map of Europe seems to be limited to five languages:

English, French, German, Spanish and Russian.

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. 14% of Europeans indicate that they know either French or German along with their mother tongue. In comparison with the situation in 200123, more respondents state that they speak English (+6 points), French (+3 points), German (+6 points) and Spanish (+1 point). Russian was not covered in the 2000 Survey, which was carried out in the Europe of 15 Member States.

With the enlargement of the European Union, the balance between French and German is slowly changing. Clearly more citizens in the new Member States master German (23% compared with 12% in the EU15) while their skills in French and Spanish are scarce (3% and 1% respectively compared with 16% and 7% among the EU15 group).

Another development since the 2001 survey is that Russian has been introduced to the map of the most spoken languages in Europe. This is due to its historical and geographical influence, especially in the Baltic States.

When analyzing the results at the country level, in 19 out of 29 countries polled, English is the most widely spoken language in addition to the mother tongue. This is particularly the case in Sweden (89%), Malta (88%) and the Netherlands (87%). It is also worth pointing out that in every country covered in this survey, with the exception of Luxembourg, English appears as one of the two most widely-spoken foreign languages.

French is the most commonly spoken foreign language in Luxembourg (90%), the United Kingdom (23%) and Ireland (20%). The high proportion of citizens of Luxembourg who speak French as a foreign language is understandable, since French is the administrative language of the country, although 77% of respondents in the country speak Luxembourgish as their mother tongue.

Citizens of Slovakia (32%), the Czech Republic (28%) and Hungary (25%) are the most likely to know German and most Lithuanians (80%), Latvians (70%) and Estonians (66%) master Russian. Finally, a significant proportion of Slovenians has a knowledge of Croatian (59%).

2D. The Level of Language Skills

- The self-assessed level of languages skills of Europeans is rising -

When the five most widely spoken foreign languages are considered, over half of the respondents rate their language skills as very good or good.

Citizens of the EU appear to evaluate their language skills in English to be the best. 69% indicate that they can speak English well or very well. 59% evaluate their competence in German to be better than basic and 56% indicate the same when it comes to their skills in Russian.

In relation to the survey conducted in 2001, the self-rated language skills of Europeans are improving in every language mentioned here. The share of those mastering English and Spanish increases by 4 points, and the jump is 3 points and 2 points for French and German respectively24. It can therefore be said that the level of language competences of Europeans is rising.

At the country level, the highest proportion of Danes (46%), Maltese (41%) and Cypriots (40%) state that their skills in English are very good.

Respondents state less frequently that their language skills are very good in German, French and Spanish. 31% of Greeks state that they speak very good German and French respectively, while 37% of Slovenians indicate the same of their competences in Spanish. 37% of Latvians and Lithuanians report knowing Russian very well.

The analysis also reveals the importance of being able to use the language in authentic situations with native speakers. 68% of those who speak English as a foreign language in Ireland rate their skills to be very good25. This is also the case for 68% of those speaking German as a foreign language in Austria and for 71% of those speaking French as a foreign language in France.

The analysis by socio-demographic categories reveals similar patterns to those perceived with regard to the number of languages Europeans know. The young, those with a multicultural background and, not surprisingly, those who are active language learners and speak several foreign languages appear to evaluate their languages skills to be better than their counterparts.