5 Things to Know About the Many Languages Spoken in Europe

5 Things to Know About the Many Languages Spoken in Europe 5 Things to Know About the Many Languages Spoken in Europe Love French? Cant get enough of Spanish? Heart skips a beat when hearing Italian?Are you a language learner about to embark on a  journey of studying one of Europes languages?Or are you about to fulfill a lifetime dream of actually traveling to Europe?Well, arent you a daring soul!Europe is a place like no other, and Im not just talking about food or the fact that they play football a little differently than Americans.Im talking about languages.In this post, were going to explore some essential information for language learners about the languages spoken in Europe, including some things you may be surprised to learn.Here are the 5 things you absolutely need to know about Europes languages and their speakers before you set sail for that linguistic coast. 5 Things to Know About the Many Languages Spoken in Europe1) The most common language spoken in Europe is wait for it English!There are 24 official languages in the European Union. In alphabetical order, they are(Take a deep breath here.)BulgarianCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEstonianFinnishFrenchGermanGreekHungarianIrishItalianLatvianLithuanianMaltesePolishPortugueseRomanianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwedishWhew, what a mouthful!And that doesnt even include the official languages of European countries that arent in the EU.Guess what the most widely spoken language is. Thats right, English.In a 2012 European Commission survey, the five most widely spoken languages in the EU were shown to be English (38%), French (12%), German (11%), Spanish (7%) and Russian (5%). That last one, Russian, is not an official language, but is spoken by a sizable number of people.English tops the other tongues because its the favorite second language of Europeans.That should take away a little bit of the anxiety for travelers planning a European getaway, knowing they can most probably get by with English. I say a little bit because this shouldnt stop anyone from learning the most useful phrases, polite greetings and expressions of thei r host country. In fact, it should encourage you.Why? For one thing, European citizens will definitely be more warm and welcoming once they hear you talking in their language. Even if youre mispronouncing a lot, they’ll appreciate your efforts and point you in the true direction of the nearest bathroom, going out of their way to put you out of your misery.For example, in France, you might do better than you would expect with your bad French. Your Sil vous plait (Please) and Merci beaucoup (Thank you very much)  will endear you to the locals. It will set you apart from the stereotypical clueless tourist who expects to be catered to.Furthermore, having the safety net of English puts you in a lower-risk situation and invites you  to try harder, to be even more ambitious in your target language.  So get started today!2) More than half of Europeans are bilingualFor those language learners who think that being a true bilingual is rare, or that its quite difficult, well, there’s a whol e continent to suggest otherwise.A majority of Europeans (54%) are bilinguals, which means  they can talk to you in another language in addition to their mother tongue. A lower but significant percentage (25%) are trilinguals, which means they can run around and greet people in three different languages. And heres one that really takes the cake: 10% of Europeans speak four languages! How about that?Its a linguistic fiesta over there!Now, what does this mean for language learners on the other side of the globe?First, it proves that  learning another language is very doable. Its not just for the gifted or those with fat wallets. If the Europeans can do it, so can everybody else.Second, it means that English-speaking language learners can easily find language exchange partners in Europe. No, you dont need to actually go to Europe to engage them. There are plenty of technology tools like Skype and a host of great language exchange websites that can help you do this.Many Europeans are le arning English and theyll gladly exchange their two (or three or four) languages for your English. You can easily find yourself Skyping with somebody whos learning English from you, but whos also teaching you French and German.Pretty good deal, dont you think?But you may ask, How did they do it in the first place? How did they become so good at so many languages?Well, why dont we just ask the Europeans how they did it?(And thats exactly our next point.)3) Europeans are learning languages through immersionIn the same survey  mentioned: Europeans say they regularly use foreign languages when watching films/television or listening to the radio (37%), using the internet (36%) and communicating with friends (35%). 27% of respondents report using foreign languages regularly for conversations at work and 50% during holidays abroad.And these numbers are only climbing over the years. In fact, the proportion of Europeans who do not use a foreign language regularly in any situation fell from 1 3% in 2005 to 9% in 2012.Now what does this all mean to the observant language learner?It means Europeans have been socialized to be bilinguals and trilinguals. Sure, there are language schools all over the place, but the best way to learn a language, as the survey found with Europeans, is in the routines of everyday life.Would you not learn a language if over a third of the time when you’re talking with friends, you find the need to use a foreign language? If 27% of the time you speak to coworkers, youre actually using a foreign language, wouldnt you master it over time?Europe, as a result of geography and of the history of migrations, has evolved into a multi-cultural and multi-language society.Not everyone can grow up in that kind of immersive environment, though, where borrowing sugar from your next-door neighbor also functions as a language lesson. So learners from other parts of the world make do with the next best thing: online immersion.As mentioned above, there are all ki nds of ways to immerse yourself in your target language, and there are plenty of options when it comes to European languages, including TV, movies,  radio and video. You dont have to travel far and wide to get the immersion going.And thats where FluentU  comes in.  FluentU takes real-world videosâ€"like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talksâ€"and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.  Our videos place you in an environment where you can witness how native speakers speak the language. Its like youre actually in the target country, watching a native speaker deliver the evening news or rock a concert stage.Now you don’t have to buy an online ticket to be there.4) Many European languages look and sound similar heres whyThey belong to the same language groups!Its possible to look at European languages as belonging to two major groupings:Indo-European,  which  includes Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Indo-Iranian, Slavic and the Romance languages (e.g., Span ish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian).Non-Indo-European, which includes the Uralic languages (e.g., Finnic and Finno-Ugric) and Basque.While some languages, like Basque, are language isolates  (they dont share a family with other languages) many European languages belong to the same language groups and have similar origins, so their structures and vocabularies tend to be similar.For example, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian belong to the same branch of the Indo-European family called the Romance languages. No, its not because theyre romantic, seductive or anything of the sort. Theyre Roman in origin and developed from the official language of the Roman Empire: Latin.Thats  why theyre so similar.  If you map out the areas where the Romance languages are spoken today, they correlate pretty well to the territories held by the Western Roman Empire in its prime.They diverged and started to follow independent linguistic evolutions with  the fall of the Western Ro man Empire. These territories splintered into many different independent states.  The Latin in these areas became slowly differentiated. For example, they borrowed from the peoples that came to settle in the different territories after the fall.That’s why we have the case with French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish where they have many underlying similarities, but also have clear distinctions.Now, what does this have to do with language learners today?For one thing, this would certainly explain why the word for planet is el planeta  (in Spanish), o planeta  (in Portuguese), il pianeta  (in Italian) and la planète  (in French). They all came from the Latin planeta.There are plenty of similarities for Romance languages (cognates) which means theres a real possibility that one can be learning multiple languages  over time without too much difficulty. One can take advantage of their similarities in structure and vocabulary. So while learning French words, you may be inadve rtently making yourself recognize Italian.But watch out, because although there are useful similarities between Romance languages, you can get easily tripped up with their differences. In the planet example above, the translation in French is in the feminine gender, while the Italian is masculine. Now you might say, “Well that’s not really confusing. French-feminine, Italian-masculine!” But you have to remember that its only just for one word. Try to memorize 30 vocabulary words and their gender in both French and Italian and youll readily see the potential for confusion.My advice is, when you study multiple languages  at the same time, go for those that arent too similar. Try French and Finnish for example. Theres not much overlap between them, as one can imagine. After some time, when your French becomes solid, only then should you begin Italian. By then your knowledge of French can be used as juxtaposition to fully take advantage of the cognates and be a jumping off point f or Italianâ€"instead of you being soft on both languages and learning them both at the same time.5) There are lots of languages spoken in Europe, not just the big onesThere are 24 official languages in Europe but there are actually more than  200 languages spoken on the continent.Furthermore, language is an extension of identity.Cases in point are the regional languages, like Basque, Catalan, Galician, Scottish, Gaelic and Welshâ€"languages that, owing to geographic, historical or social factors, have not been assimilated or subsumed by larger linguistic entities and have instead maintained their own rich presence.Whats very interesting is that not only do people from these regions speak a different language, they also often have different traditions and beliefs, even if located just a few kilometers from a major linguistic population.Basque (believed to be the oldest language originating in Europe), for example, is a language spoken in the Pyreneesâ€"between Spain and France. Its a language entirely unrelated to any existing or extinct language. And it was spoken even before Spain came under Roman rule.Now, heres an important point to be remembered by language learners: When youre studying a language, youre essentially studying not just vocabulary and grammar. Youre looking at a culture, a history of a people and the words they use to describe and structure their experience.Even when youre just visiting or playing tourist, recognize the fact that a difference in language signals a different way of looking at the world.Keep this in mind when choosing languages to study and places to visit.Because although this does not erase the fact that were all the same underneath the skin, the difference in languages across Europe highlight for language learners and travelers opportunities for growth, discovery and delight.I wish you all the best in your linguistic endeavors.You will get there.And if youre contemplating actually traveling across Europe do bring me back som ething, will ya?