BILINGUALISM

   BILINGUALISM

         Residents of the European Union (EU) are becoming better and better at languages. Almost 50 percent of the EU population say they can speak at least one foreign language very well. That figure rises to nearly 80 percent for students. To celebrate its linguistic diversity, September 26 has become the official European Day of Languages. The day’s website shows a Slovak proverb that says: “The number of languages you speak is the number of times you are human”. This is to encourage all Europeans to brush up on their language skills. The website predicts that Europe's young generation "will fully contribute to enriching Europe's multilingual society".

        

         The results of the “Eurobarometer” survey put Luxembourgers at the top of the language ability list. An amazing 99 percent of Luxembourg’s population is at least bilingual. Those with the poorest language skills are the Hungarians (29 percent) and British (30 percent). They survey also shows that English is the most widely spoken foreign language, used by more than a third of the population. It is followed by German (12 percent), which has for the first time usurped French (11 percent) for the second spot. European enlargement to incorporate former communist countries has elevated Russian to fourth place - tied with Spanish. The EU spends $36 million a year on language programs.