Languages of the European Union
Languages of the European Union | |
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Kurdish languages, Hebrew language | |
Signed | Many sign languages, in the French Sign Language family, German Sign Language family and Swedish Sign Language family; also the Maltese Sign Language |
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The
The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity. This principle is enshrined in the
The most widely understood language in the EU is English, which is understood by 44% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%. All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as
Official EU languages
As of 30 July 2023[update], the official languages of the European Union, as stipulated in the latest amendment of Regulation No 1 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community of 1958, are:[11][12]
Language | Official in (de jure or de facto) | Since | |
---|---|---|---|
At national level | At subnational level | ||
Bulgarian | Bulgaria | 2007 | |
Croatian | Croatia | Austria[nb 1] | 2013 |
Czech | Czechia | Slovakia[nb 2] | 2004 |
Danish | Denmark | Germany[nb 3] | 1973 |
Dutch | Belgium Netherlands |
1958 | |
English | Ireland Malta |
1973 | |
Estonian | Estonia | 2004 | |
Finnish | Finland Sweden[nb 4] |
1995 | |
French | Belgium France Luxembourg |
Italy[nb 5] | 1958 |
German | Austria Belgium Germany Luxembourg |
Denmark[nb 6] Italy[nb 7] Poland[nb 8] |
1958 |
Greek | Cyprus Greece |
1981 | |
Hungarian | Hungary | Austria[nb 1] Romania[nb 2] Slovakia[nb 2] Slovenia[nb 9] |
2004 |
Irish | Ireland | 2007 | |
Italian | Italy | Croatia[nb 10] Slovenia[nb 11] |
1958 |
Latvian | Latvia | 2004 | |
Lithuanian | Lithuania | Poland[nb 12] | 2004 |
Maltese | Malta | 2004 | |
Polish | Poland | 2004 | |
Portuguese | Portugal | 1986 | |
Romanian | Romania | 2007 | |
Slovak | Slovakia Czechia[nb 13] Hungary[nb 14] |
2004 | |
Slovene | Slovenia | Austria[nb 15] Hungary[nb 16] Italy[nb 17] |
2004 |
Spanish | Spain | 1986 | |
Swedish | Finland Sweden |
1995 |
- ^ a b Co-official status in certain municipalities in the State of Burgenland[13][14]
- ^ a b c Co-official status in the municipalities in which the size of the minority population meets the legal threshold of 20%.
- ^ State of Schleswig-Holstein
- ^ Recognized minority language.[15]
- ^ Region of Aosta Valley
- ^ Region of Southern Jutland
- ^ Province of South Tyrol
- ^ 22 gminas in Opole Voivodeship
- ^ Co-official in certain municipalities in the region of Prekmurje
- ^ in Istria County
- Slovenian Istria
- ^ Gmina Puńsk in Podlaskie Voivodeship
- ^ Co-official status in the Czech Republic under certain circumstances, which is defined by several laws.
- ^ Recognized minority language.
- Carinthia[14]
- ^ County of Vas
- ^ Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia
The number of member states exceeds the number of official languages, as several national languages are shared by two or more countries in the EU. Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, and Swedish are all official languages at the national level in multiple countries (see table above). In addition, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Italian, Slovak, and Slovene are official languages in multiple EU countries at the regional level.
Furthermore, not all national languages have been accorded the status of official EU languages. These include
All languages of the EU are also working languages.[12] Documents which a member state or a person subject to the jurisdiction of a member state sends to institutions of the Community may be drafted in any one of the official languages selected by the sender. The reply is drafted in the same language. Regulations and other documents of general application are drafted in the twenty-four official languages. The Official Journal of the European Union is published in the twenty-four official languages.
Documents of major public importance or interest are produced in all official languages, but that accounts for a minority of the institutions′ work. Other documents—e.g., communications with the national authorities, decisions addressed to particular individuals or entities and correspondence—are translated only into the languages needed. For internal purposes the EU institutions are allowed by law to choose their own language arrangements. The
The translations are expensive.[17] According to the EU's English-language website,[18] the cost of maintaining the institutions’ policy of multilingualism—i.e., the cost of translation and interpretation—was €1,123 million in 2005, which is 1% of the annual general budget of the EU, or €2.28 per person per year. The EU Parliament has made clear that its member states have autonomy for language education, which by treaty the Union must respect.[19]
Language families
The vast majority of EU languages belong to the Indo-European family: the three dominant subfamilies are the Germanic, Romance, and Slavic. Germanic languages are spoken in central and northern Europe and include Danish, Dutch, English, German, and Swedish. Romance languages are spoken in western and southern European regions; they include French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. The Slavic languages are to be found in central Europe and the Balkans in southern Europe. They include Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene. The Baltic languages, Latvian and Lithuanian; the Celtic languages, including Irish; and Greek are also Indo-European.
Outside the Indo-European family, Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian are Uralic languages while Maltese is the only Afroasiatic language with official status in the EU.
Writing systems
Most official EU languages are written in the
Language-specific regulations
Maltese
Although Maltese is an official language, the Council set a transitional period of three years from 1 May 2004, during which the institutions were not obliged to draft all acts in Maltese.[21] It was agreed that the council could extend this transitional period by an additional year, but decided not to.[22] All new acts of the institutions were required to be adopted and published in Maltese from 30 April 2007.
Irish
When Ireland joined the EEC (now the EU) in 1973, Irish was accorded "Treaty Language" status. This meant that the founding EU Treaty was restated in Irish. Irish was also listed in that treaty and all subsequent EU treaties as one of the authentic languages of the treaties.[23] As a Treaty Language, Irish was an official procedural language of the European Court of Justice.[24] It was also possible to correspond in written Irish with the EU Institutions.
However, despite being the first official language of Ireland and having been accorded minority-language status in the Northern Ireland region of the United Kingdom, then an EU member state, Irish was not made an official working language of the EU until 1 January 2007. On that date an EU Council Regulation making Irish an official working language of the EU came into effect.[25] This followed a unanimous decision on 13 June 2005 by EU foreign ministers that Irish would be made the 21st official language of the EU.[26] However, a derogation previously stipulated that not all documents have to be translated into Irish as is the case with the other official languages.[25][27]
The regulation meant that legislation adopted by both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers is translated into Irish, and interpretation from Irish was available at European Parliament plenary sessions and some Council meetings. The cost of translation, interpretation, publication, and legal services involved in making Irish an official EU language was estimated at just under €3.5 million a year.[28] On 3 December 2015, a new regulation passed by the council had set a definitive schedule on the gradual reduction of the derogation of the Irish language. This regulation outlined a schedule of gradual reduction spread across five years starting from 2016. The derogation was ultimately revoked on 1 January 2022, making Irish a fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history.[29]
Irish is the only official language of the EU that is not the most widely spoken language in any member state. According to the 2006 Irish census figures, there are 1.66 million people in Ireland with some ability to speak Irish, out of a population of 4.6 million, though only 538,500 use Irish on a daily basis (counting those who use it mainly in the education system) and just over 72,000 use Irish as a daily language outside the education system.[30]
South-Slavic language status
At the time of
Regional, minority and other languages
Some regional or minority languages spoken within the EU do not have official recognition at EU level.[32] Some of them may have some official status within the member state and count many more speakers than some of the lesser-used official languages. The official languages of EU are in bold.
In the list, language varieties classified as
Languages of France
The
Nevertheless, there exist a number of languages spoken by sizable minorities, such as Breton (a Celtic language), Basque, and several Romance languages such as Occitan, Catalan, Corsican and the various langues d'oïl (other than French), as well as Germanic languages spoken in Alsace-Lorraine (Central Franconian, High Franconian, Luxembourgish, and Alemannic) and French Flanders (Dutch).
These languages enjoy no official status under the French state, and regions are not permitted to bestow any such status themselves.[citation needed]
Languages of Greece
The official language of Greece is Greek, and recognized minority languages are Armenian, Ladino and Turkish. Nevertheless, there are several other languages in Greece, which lack any recognition. These are Albanian, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian (these last two usually being collectively known as "Vlach"), Romani and the Slavic varieties spoken in the country. Greece has been described as the only European Union member state that sticks to a "linguistic assimilationist ideology".[34]
Languages of Italy
Languages of Spain
The Spanish governments have sought to give some official status in the EU for the languages of the autonomous communities of Spain, Catalan/Valencian, Galician and Basque. The 667th Council Meeting of the Council of the European Union in Luxembourg on 13 June 2005, decided to authorise limited use at EU level of languages recognised by member states other than the official working languages. The Council granted recognition to "languages other than the languages referred to in Council Regulation No 1/1958 whose status is recognised by the Constitution of a Member State on all or part of its territory or the use of which as a national language is authorised by law." The official use of such languages will be authorised on the basis of an administrative arrangement concluded between the council and the requesting member state.[26]
Although Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician are not nationwide official languages in Spain, as co-official languages in the respective regions—pursuant to Spanish constitution, among other documents—they are eligible to benefit from official use in EU institutions under the terms of 13 June 2005 resolution of the Council of the European Union. The Spanish government has assented to the provisions in respect of these languages.
The status of Catalan, spoken by over 9 million EU citizens (just over 1.8% of the total), has been the subject of particular debate. On 11 December 1990, the use of Catalan was the subject of a European Parliament Resolution (resolution A3-169/90 on languages in the [European] Community and the situation of Catalan).[38]
On 16 November 2005, the President
On 3 July 2006, the European Parliament's Bureau approved a proposal by the Spanish State to allow citizens to address the European Parliament in Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician, two months after its initial rejection.[42][43]
On 30 November 2006, the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, and the Spanish ambassador in the EU, Carlos Bastarreche, signed an agreement in Brussels to allow Spanish citizens to address complaints to the European Ombudsman in Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician, all three co-official languages in Spain.[44] According to the agreement, a translation body, which will be set up and financed by the Spanish government, will be responsible for translating complaints submitted in these languages. In turn, it will translate the Ombudsman's decisions from Spanish into the language of the complainant. Until such a body is established the agreement will not become effective.
Following the
Galician in particular, not being itself a European Parliament official language, can be used and is in fact used by some European Parliament constituents as a spoken dialect of Portuguese due to its similarity with this language.[46]
Luxembourgish and Turkish
In September 2010, Luxembourg's foreign minister Jean Asselborn declined a request of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) to make Luxembourgish an official language of the European Union citing financial reasons and also that German and French being already official languages would be sufficient for the needs of Luxembourg.[49]
Romani
The Romani people, numbering over two million in the EU,[50] speak the Romani language (actually numerous different languages), which is not official in any EU member state or polity, except for being an official minority language of Sweden and Finland. Moreover, Romani mass media and educational institution presences are near-negligible.
Russian
Though not an official language of the European Union,
In March 2010 fact-sheets in Russian produced by the EU executive's offices in Latvia were withdrawn, provoking criticism from Plaid Cymru MEP and European Free Alliance group President Jill Evans who called European Commission to continue to provide information in non-official EU languages and commented that "it's disappointing to hear that the EU is bowing to pressure to exclude Russian speakers in the Baltic in this way".[51]
Sami languages
In Finland, the
At least five different Sami languages are spoken in Sweden, but "Sami language" (undifferentiated) is recognised as an official
are spoken in Sweden.Latin
For millennia, Latin served as a lingua franca for administrative, scholarly, religious, political, and other purposes in parts of the present-day European Union. After Athens and other Greek city-states of the 6th to 4th centuries BC, the first documented political entity historically verifiable in Europe was the Roman Republic, traditionally founded in 509 BC, the successor-state to the Etruscan city-state confederacies.[52] Latin as a lingua franca of Europe was rivalled only by Greek. It is serving as honourable and ceremonial language in some of the oldest European universities in the 21st century, and has operated as the official language of the
Immigrant languages
A wide variety of languages from other parts of the world are spoken by
There are large
There are many Russian-speaking immigrants in Germany[54] and France.[citation needed]
Many immigrant communities in the EU have been in place for several generations now, and their members are
Sign languages
A wide variety of sign languages are used in the EU, with around 500,000 people using a sign language as their first language.[56] None of these languages are recognised as an official language of an EU member state, with the exception of Ireland passing the Irish Sign Language Act 2017 that granted it official status alongside Irish and English, and only three states (Austria,[57] Finland and Portugal) refer to sign languages in their constitution.[58]
Several
The sign languages in use in the EU are more difficult to classify into language families than the spoken languages, because of language contact and creolization. Important families include the Swedish, French, and German sign language families.
Vietnamese
Vietnamese is one of the 14 recognized minority languages in the Czech Republic.[59]
Esperanto
Esperanto is a constructed language that is part of the educational system in several member states. In Hungary it is officially recognised by the Ministry of Education as a foreign language;[60] and examinations in Esperanto may be used to meet the requirements of knowledge of foreign languages needed to complete university or high school. Every year, since 2001, between 1000 and 3000 people have passed examinations in Esperanto, making up for a sum of more than 35,000 up to 2016; it is recognised by the Hungarian state.[61] The Hungarian census 2001 found 4575 Esperanto speakers in Hungary (4407 of them learned the language, for 168 of them it is a family or native language); in 2011 it found 8397 Esperanto speakers.[62] In 1990 there were only 2083 Esperanto speakers in Hungary following the census.[63]
Esperanto is not mentioned by the EU Commission as an EU language; the Commission mentions only official, indigenous regional and minority languages as well as languages of immigrants.[64] Following estimates there are approximately 100,000 Europeans sometimes using Esperanto (and several millions having learned Esperanto); the language has several thousand native speakers, some of them of the second or third generation.[65]
The European party
The European Esperanto Union also promotes Esperanto as the international auxiliary language of Europe.[67]
Knowledge
Official languages |
First language |
Additional language |
Total |
---|---|---|---|
English | 1% | 43% | 44% |
German | 20% | 16% | 36% |
French | 14% | 16% | 30% |
Italian | 15% | 3% | 18% |
Spanish | 9% | 8% | 17% |
Polish | 9% | 1% | 10% |
Romanian | 6% | 0% | 6% |
Dutch | 5% | 1% | 6% |
Hungarian | 3% | 0% | 3% |
Portuguese | 2% | 1% | 3% |
Greek | 2% | 1% | 3% |
Swedish | 2% | 1% | 3% |
Czech | 2% | 1% | 3% |
Bulgarian | 2% | 0% | 2% |
Slovak | 1% | 1% | 2% |
Danish | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Finnish | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Croatian | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Lithuanian | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Slovene | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Estonian | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Irish | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Latvian | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Maltese | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Non-official languages |
First language |
Additional language |
Total |
---|---|---|---|
Russian | 1% | 5% | 6% |
Catalan (s) | 1% | 1% | 2% |
Arabic
|
1% | 1% | 2% |
Tamil | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Turkish | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Galician (s) | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Basque (s) | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Luxembourgish
|
<1% | 0% | <1% |
Chinese | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Hindi | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Urdu | <1% | 0% | <1% |
Other | 2% | 3% | 5% |
The five most spoken languages in the EU are English (44%), German (36%), French (30%), Italian (18%) and Spanish (17%). At 20% of the total number of speakers, German is the most widely spoken native language, followed by Italian (15%), French (14%) and Spanish (9%). The knowledge of foreign languages varies considerably in the specific countries, as the table below shows. The most spoken second or foreign languages in the EU are English, French, German, Spanish, and Russian. In the table, boxes coloured light blue mean that the language is an official language of the country, while the main language spoken in the country is coloured dark blue.
-
Knowledge of English.
-
Knowledge of German.
-
Knowledge of French. (Note that around 40% of Belgium's population are native French speakers.)
-
Knowledge of Italian.
-
Knowledge of Spanish.
-
Knowledge of Russian. (Note that 37.5% of Latvia's population[70] and about 30% of Estonia's population are native Russian speakers.)
Country | Population 15+1 | English | French | German | Spanish | Russian | Italian | Polish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
European Union (total) |
408,879,069 | 44% | 30% | 36% | 17% | 6% | 18% | 10% |
Austria | 7,009,827 | 73% | 11% | 97% | 4% | 2% | 9% | 1% |
Belgium2 | 8,939,546 | 38% | 81% | 23% | 5% | 1% | 4% | 0% |
Bulgaria | 6,537,510 | 25% | 2% | 8% | 2% | 23% | 1% | 0% |
Croatia | 3,856,401 | 49% | 4% | 34% | 2% | 4% | 14% | 0% |
Cyprus | 660,400 | 73% | 11% | 5% | 2% | 4% | 3% | 0% |
Czech Republic | 9,012,443 | 27% | 1% | 15% | 1% | 13% | 1% | 2% |
Denmark | 4,561,264 | 86% | 9% | 47% | 4% | 0% | 1% | 0% |
Estonia | 945,733 | 50% | 1% | 22% | 1% | 56%3 | 0% | 0% |
Finland | 4,440,004 | 70% | 3% | 18% | 3% | 3% | 1% | 0% |
France | 47,756,439 | 39% | 97% | 8% | 13% | 1% | 5% | 1% |
Germany | 64,409,146 | 56% | 15% | 98% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 1% |
Greece | 8,693,566 | 51% | 9% | 9% | 1% | 1% | 8% | 0% |
Hungary | 8,320,614 | 20% | 3% | 18% | 1% | 4% | 1% | 0% |
Ireland | 3,522,000 | 99% | 17% | 7% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 3% |
Italy | 51,862,391 | 34% | 4% | 3% | 8% | 0% | 97% | 0% |
Latvia | 1,447,866 | 46% | 1% | 14% | 1% | 67%4 | 0% | 2% |
Lithuania | 2,829,740 | 31% | 2% | 8% | 1% | 67% | 1% | 13% |
Luxembourg | 404,907 | 56% | 96% | 71% | 5% | 0% | 6% | 0% |
Malta | 335,476 | 89% | 17% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 66% | 0% |
Netherlands | 13,371,980 | 90% | 29% | 71% | 5% | 0% | 2% | 0% |
Poland | 32,413,735 | 33% | 4% | 19% | 1% | 26% | 2% | 99% |
Portugal | 8,080,915 | 27% | 24% | 1% | 10% | 0% | 1% | 0% |
Romania | 18,246,731 | 31% | 23% | 7% | 5% | 3% | 7% | 0% |
Slovakia | 4,549,955 | 26% | 2% | 22% | 1% | 17% | 1% | 5% |
Slovenia | 1,759,701 | 59% | 3% | 48% | 3% | 5% | 12% | 0% |
Spain | 39,127,930 | 22% | 12% | 2% | 98% | 1% | 2% | 0% |
Sweden | 7,791,240 | 86% | 11% | 30% | 5% | 0% | 2% | 1% |
1 This does not refer to the total population of the countries.
2 40% of those who speak French are native speakers, for a total of 85%.
3 Includes about 30% native speakers
4 Includes more than 30% native speakers
56% of EU citizens are able to hold a conversation in a language other than their native language, nine percent higher than reported in 2001 among the 15 member states at the time.[71] 28% are able to hold a conversation in at least two foreign languages, while 44% are only able to speak their native language. Approximately 1 in 5 Europeans can be described as an active language learner (i.e., someone who has recently improved his/her language skills or intends to do so over the following 12 months).
English remains by far the most widely spoken foreign language throughout Europe. A total of 95% of students in the EU study English at secondary level[72] and 38% of EU citizens state that they have sufficient skills in English to have a conversation (excluding citizens of Ireland, an English-speaking country). A total of 28% of Europeans indicate that they know either French (14%) or German (14%), along with their native language. French is most commonly studied and used in southern Europe, especially in Mediterranean countries, in Germany, Portugal, Romania, the Benelux countries and Ireland. German, on the other hand, is commonly studied and used in the Benelux countries, in Scandinavia, and in the newer EU member states. Spanish is most commonly studied in France, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal. In 19 out of 29 countries polled, English is the most widely known language apart from the native language, this being particularly the case in Sweden (89%), Malta (88%); the Netherlands (87%); and Denmark (86%). A total of 77% of EU citizens believe that children should learn English. English was considered the number one language to learn in all countries where the research was conducted except for Ireland and Luxembourg. English, either as a native language or as a second/foreign language, is spoken by 44% of EU citizens, followed by German with 36% and French with 30%.
With the enlargement of the European Union, the balance between French and German is slowly changing. More citizens in the new member states speak German (23% compared with 12% in the EU15) while fewer speak French or Spanish (3% and 1% respectively compared with 16% and 7% among the EU15 group). A notable exception is Romania, where 24% of the population speaks French as a foreign language compared to 6% who speak German as a foreign language. At the same time, the balance is being changed in the opposite direction by growth of the French-speaking population and decrease of the German-speaking population.[citation needed]
Language skills are unevenly distributed both over the geographical area of Europe and over sociodemographic groups. Reasonably good language competences are perceived in relatively small member states with several state languages, lesser used native languages or "language exchange" with neighbouring countries. This is the case in Luxembourg, where 92% speak at least two languages. Those who live in southern European countries or countries where one of the major European languages is a state language have a lower likelihood of speaking multiple foreign languages. Only 5% of Turks, 13% of Irish, 16% of Italians, 17% of Spaniards and 18% of Britons speak at least two languages apart from their native language.
Working languages
European Commission
While documents for and communication with citizens are in every official EU language as a right, day-to-day work in the European Commission is based around its three working languages: English, French, and German.[73] Of these, English and French are used the most often. The use of English vs. French depends greatly on the unit or directorate. Only a few of the commissioners use a language other than English or French as their working language. German is rarely used as a true working language in the Commission, and German media have called the dominance of English and French a discrimination against German (which is the most spoken mother tongue of the EU) and a violation of the regulations pertaining to the EU's working languages.[74] The German Bundestag has repeatedly called for German to receive an equal position in the Commission alongside English and French.[75] The language situation has also disappointed many in France,[76] and Kristalina Georgieva, who is from Bulgaria, gained a round of applause when she told the European Parliament she would learn French while in the Commission.[77]
Use of German has, however, been increasing in EU institutions, as has the number of people learning the language across Europe.[78]
European Parliament
The European Parliament translates its proceedings into all official languages so that fellow MEPs can understand them better than if they had the delayed translation.[79] Committee meetings also often default to the language most understood by those attending instead of listening to the translation.
Court of Justice
The working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union is French. The judges deliberate in French, pleadings and written legal submissions are translated into French, and the judgment is drafted in French.[80] The Advocates-General, by contrast, may work and draft their opinions in any official language, as they do not take part in any deliberations. These opinions are then translated into French for the benefit of the judges and their deliberations.[81]
European Central Bank
The working language of the European Central Bank is English.
Policy
The European Union's legal powers on legislative acts and other initiatives on language policy are based on the provisions of the Treaties of the European Union. In the EU, language policy is the responsibility of member states, and the European Union does not have a common "language policy". Based on the principle of subsidiarity, European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field, promoting cooperation between the member states and promoting the European dimension in the member states' language policies, particularly through the teaching and dissemination of the languages of the member states (Article 149.2).[82][83] The rules governing the languages of the institutions of the Community shall, without prejudice to the provisions contained in the Statute of the Court of Justice, be determined by the council, acting unanimously (Article 290). All languages, in which[word missing?] was originally drawn up or was translated due to enlargement, are legally equally authentic. Every citizen of the Union may write to any of the EU institutions or bodies in one of these languages and receive an answer in the same language (Article 24 TFEU).
In the
Initiatives
Beginning with the
Through strategic studies, the Commission promotes debate, innovation, and the exchange of good practice. In addition, the mainstream actions of Community programmes which encourage mobility and transnational partnerships motivate participants to learn languages.
The new programmes proposed for implementation for the
The EU used to provide the main financial support to the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages until 2010, a non-governmental organisation which represents the interests of the over 40 million citizens who belong to a regional and minority language community, and for the Mercator networks of universities active in research on lesser-used languages in Europe. Following a request from the European Parliament, the commission in 2004 launched a feasibility study on the possible creation of a new EU agency, the "European Agency for Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity." The study concludes that there are unmet needs in this field, and proposes two options: creating an agency or setting up a European network of "Language Diversity Centres." The Commission believes that a network would be the most appropriate next step and, where possible, should build on existing structures; it will examine the possibility of financing it on a multi-annual basis through the proposed Lifelong Learning programme. Another interesting step would be to translate important public websites, such as the one of the European Central Bank, or Frontex web site also, in at least one other language than English or French.
Although not an EU treaty, most EU member states have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[84]
To encourage language learning, the EU supported the Council of Europe initiatives for European Year of Languages 2001 and the annual celebration of European Day of Languages on 26 September.
To encourage the member states to cooperate and to disseminate best practice the Commission issued a Communication on 24 July 2003, on Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan 2004–2006 and a Communication on 22 November 2005, on A New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism.
From 22 November 2004, the
EU devotes a specialised subsite of its "Europa" portal to languages, the EUROPA Languages portal.
See also
- Languages of Europe
- English language in Europe
- French language in Europe
- German language in Europe
- European Day of Languages – 26 September
- Linguistic issues concerning the euro
- Inter-Active Terminology for Europe(IATE)
References
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- ^ "EU".
- ^ Hernández-Morales, Aitor; Moens, Barbara (8 September 2023). "Doubts over Catalan as EU language create a headache for Spain's Sánchez". Politico. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- ^ "COM(2003)449: Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan 2004–2006" (PDF).
- ^ "EUROPA – Education and Training – Action Plan Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity". European Commission. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010.
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- ^ English will not be an official EU language after Brexit, says senior MEP, Politico Europe 27 June 2016
- ^ Britain is leaving the EU, but its language will stay, The Economist 13 May 2017
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- ^ a b "Languages of Europe – Official EU languages". European Commission. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
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Compare:
ISBN 9781107009073. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
As Livy's tale of the would-be king of Veii at the fanum Voltumnae shows, most Etruscan statesmen by the fifth century regarded the installation of a king as a giant step backwards in civic affairs. [...] The implication is that most Etruscan states had evolved more open governments [...].
- ^ "CURIA". europa.eu.
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- ISBN 92-894-7759-8. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Sign languages". European Commission. 31 July 2023.
- ^ Federal Constitutional Law, article 8 (3)
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- Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedomsensures right of the national and ethnic minorities for education and communication with authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (The Administrative Rule) in its paragraph 16 (4) (Procedural Language) ensures, that a citizen of the Czech Republic, who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, have right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. In the case that the administrative agency doesn't have an employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (About The Rights of Members of Minorities) paragraph 9 (The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law) the same applies for the members of national minorities also in front of the courts of law.
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Further reading
- Sabine Fiedler (2010). "Approaches to fair linguistic communication". European Journal of Language Policy. 2 (1): 1–21. . Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- Gazzola, Michele (4 October 2006). "Managing multilingualism in the European Union: language policy evaluation for the European Parliament". Language Policy. 5 (4): 395–419. S2CID 53576362.
- Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle and Stefan Wolff. 2003. Minority Languages in Europe: Frameworks, Status, Prospects. Palgrave. ISBN 1-4039-0396-4
- Nic Craith, Máiréad. 2005. Europe and the Politics of Language: Citizens, Migrants and Outsiders. Palgrave. ISBN 1-4039-1833-3
- Richard L. Creech, "Law and Language in the European Union: The Paradox of a Babel ‘United in Diversity’" (Europa Law Publishing: Groningen, 2005) ISBN 90-76871-43-4
- Shetter, William Z., EU Language Year 2001: Celebrating diversity but with a hangover, Language Miniature No 63.
- Shetter, William Z., Harmony or Cacophony: The Global Language System, Language Miniature No 96.
- Van der Jeught, Stefaan (2015). EU Language Law, Groningen: Europa Law Publishing, ISBN 9789089521729.
- Alice Leal, Seán Ó Riain, Language Policy and the Future of Europe, Routledge, 2023
External links
- Europa: Languages and Europe – The European Union portal on languages
- Eurostat: Foreign language learning statistics (Jan. 2016)
- European Commission > Education and Training > Policy Areas > Languages
- European Commission Directorate-General for Translation (DGT)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Interpretation (former SCIC)
- European Union Publications Office
- European Union interinstitutional style guide
- Translation tools and workflow
- Most Europeans can speak multiple languages. UK and Ireland not so much
- Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe - 2012 Edition