“The number of European citizens knowing one foreign language, at least, has been constantly growing: from 47% in 2001 to 56% in 2005”, and today, “a higher number of Europeans, with respect to four years ago, think that knowing foreign languages is useful” (83% in 2005, in comparison with 72% in 2001). Today, a survey by Eurobarometro entitled “The Europeans and Their Languages” was shown in Brussels. It is a poll of thirty thousand citizens in 25 EU countries, plus Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey. They were questioned about their experiences and their perception of multilingualism. In particular, the questions reflected two of the main objectives of the European Union about the subject: first of all, “they took into account the long-term objective, for all European citizens, of speaking two languages apart from their own”; furthermore, there was the intention to promote “the study of languages during the whole lifetime, starting from the earliest infancy”. In a European Union with 20 official languages (they will be 23 from January 1st, 2007, including Gaelic, Rumanian and Bulgarian) and numerous minority expressions, multilingualism is considered “an essential integration element”. “The advantage to know foreign languages is unquestionable it is written in the report by Eurobarometro -. The language helps to understand different ways of life, which in turn pave the way to intercultural tolerance. Moreover, language skills increase working, studying and travelling opportunities all over Europe, and they secure intercultural communication”.
