Jonge Europeanen steeds vaker meertalig (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Half of all Europeans are studying a foreign language from primary schools onwards, a new survey from the European information network Eurydice has shown.

The study shows a general increase in foreign language learning in primary education but some countries are more 'multilingual' than others.

The 'top 3' linguists are from Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark. About three quarters of people in Denmark and the Netherlands (as well as in Sweden) can speak English well enough to take part in a conversation. In Luxembourg, 77% of the population can speak German at that same level.

Ireland, Hungary and the UK have the least number of pupils speaking foreign languages.

In all the countries, except for Belgium and Luxembourg, English takes the lead of the most taught languages at primary level.

At secondary level the main languages learned in most countries are English (with a significant rise in popularity in central and eastern Europe between 1998-2002), French (mostly in southern and German-speaking countries), German (in northern, central and eastern Europe), Spanish (mostly in Portugal, Italy and France), and Russian (in the Baltic- and some eastern Europe countries).

The report is based on studies carried out in 30 European countries (the 25 countries from the EU, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Bulgaria and Romania) concerning the school year 2002/2003.

"In an enlarged and multilingual Europe, learning foreign languages from a very young age allows us to discover other cultures and better preparation for occupational mobility", European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism Jan Figel said.

But language learning and linguistic diversity are not encouraged only at early ages.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday (9 February) that it had selected 69 further European universities in 18 countries to add to the Erasmus Mundus programme in the 2005-2006 academic year.

The Erasmus Mundus programme's objective is to strengthen European cooperation in higher education, by allowing students to carry out some of their curriculum in a European country other than their own.

In 2005-2006 some 900 students and 100 academics will benefit from the programme's scholarships.