Two languages other than one’s own” “

Education in multilingualism is one of the keys to mutual understanding, peaceful co-existence and, ultimately, European integration. The institutions of the Union are convinced of this. They have long been supporting (as does the Council of Europe) programmes for the study of languages. “Educational systems in each country and the future generations are crucial elements to tackle the challenges of multilingualism”: European Commissioner for education, training and culture JÁN FIGEL believes that “youth will help to enrich the multilingual society of Europe”. EUROPEANS BELIEVE IN IT. The question of multilingualism was recently investigated by the experts of Eurobarometer, the polling agency of the European Commission in Brussels. A survey carried out by the agency on a sample of 30,000 citizens in the 25 member countries of the Eu, plus the four candidate countries – Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey -, was followed up by the publication of a report with the title “Europeans and their Languages”. It says: “The number of European citizens who know at least one foreign language has grown progressively from 47% in 2001 to 56% in 2005” and today “a higher number of Europeans than four years ago recognize that it is useful to know foreign languages”. The survey reflects two fundamental goals of the Union in this respect: first, “the long-term objective for all European citizens to speak two foreign languages apart from their own”; second, the promotion of “life-long language study, beginning from earliest childhood”. FOR WORK, STUDY AND TRAVEL. In a supranational community with 20 official languages (from 1st January 2007 they will grow to 23, with the addition of Gaelic, Romanian and Bulgarian) and numerous minority expressions, multilingualism is considered an “essential element of integration”. “The advantage of knowing foreign tongues is indispensable – says the Eurobarometer report -. Language helps us to understand other ways of life, which in turn smoothes the way to intercultural tolerance. Language skills also increase opportunities for working, studying and travelling throughout Europe and permit intercultural communication”. The attention of the EU is concentrated not so much on the need to have real multilingual skills at the institutional level (however necessary that is for a “transparent” Europe and to permit the regular functioning of Parliament, Commission, Council, specialist agencies, territorial offices, info-points, etc.), as on the added value represented by mutual understanding in the social, cultural and economic fields. GERMAN AND RUSSIAN GROWING. According to the Eurobarometer report, over half of Europe’s citizens “are able to converse in a language other than their own”. The most “xenophiliac” in this sense are, for geographical and historical reasons, the citizens of Luxembourg, Slovakia and Latvia. 28% of those interviewed declared they spoke two foreign languages. Very high percentages were registered once again in Luxembourg (where there are three official languages), Holland and Slovenia. But nor should another fact be ignored: almost half of interviewees (44%) admitted they did not know any language other than their own. Among the many other findings of the report, English is confirmed “the foreign language most widespread in Europe”. “38% of EU citizens say they have a sufficient knowledge of English. In 19 countries it is the most spoken language after the mother tongue”: that’s the case especially in Sweden, Malta and the Netherlands. 14% of Europeans say they know French, very widespread in England; the same percentage is registered for the German spoken in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Spanish and Russian complete the group of the best-known languages. THE ROLE OF SCHOOLS. The report points out that “language skills are not distributed in a uniform way, neither from a geographical nor from a socio-demographic point of view”. The English and the Irish have no incentive to learn other languages, since their own is considered “universal”. The citizens of small nations, frontier regions or areas affected by significant phenomena of immigration are those most led to learn and use foreign languages. The report suggests that “the typical multilingual European is young, educated, or still a student, born in a country other than that in which he is resident”; he/she is an individual who generally “uses foreign languages for professional reasons and is motivated to learn them”. Among the citizens interviewed there exists – according to the experts – “huge consensus on the advantages of knowing more than one language”. This is an attitude that ought to have political repercussions, given that 67% of interviewees “think that the teaching of foreign languages ought to be a political priority” to be translated, in the various Eu countries, into suitable initiatives at the educational and cultural level.