Did you know that... there are 20 official languages in the European Union (EU). The language spoken most often as a mother tongue is German, by 24% of EU citizens, followed by French, English and Italian with 16% each and Spanish with 11%. On the other hand, the language spoken most often as a foreign tongue is English, by 31% of non-native speakers in the EU. Next in line are French and German at 12% and 8% respectively. 45% of EU citizens can converse in a language not their own. However, this percentage varies from country to country. In Luxemburg, for example, nearly everyone can speak at least one foreign language, as can approximately 80% of people in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. At the other end, less than a third of people in the UK, Ireland and Portugal are able to converse in a foreign language. This might be due to different nations’ educational systems. In Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece and Austria more than a third of primary school students study a foreign language. Source: These figures are republished from the European Commission’s document, Languages in Europe. These and other statistics can be found at this link. This website: Copyright © 2004 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher or the previous publisher of original republished materials.