![\"Created](\"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/number-of-languages.jpeg\")
<\/a>Created by Jakub Marian<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n These are not as obvious as you would think. The nations who can hold their heads up high in regard to the average (mean) number of languages spoken per individual are the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, where in addition to their own individual languages have a healthy number of Russian, Polish and Belarusian speakers, with English on the rise. Beating their average of 2.7 languages spoken are Denmark (2.8), the Netherlands (3.2) and the victors, Luxembourg, surrounded by so many countries it\u2019s amazing they don\u2019t simply fold their arms in dismay and make Esperanto the national tongue.<\/p>\n A surprisingly high score of note goes to Slovenia, which with\u00a0an average of 3.0 languages spoken is the clear winner of the nations anywhere near the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n The bigger nations fare rather badly. The average German can speak an additional language, perhaps unsurprisingly as English is taught in virtually every school there. France, Italy and Spain fare less well, but few would be shocked to find the UK and Ireland veer towards the bottom of the poll, with English being such a dominant global language in the 21st century (and the UK\u2019s current desire to distance itself from the European project). Only one nation fares worse \u2013 Hungary, with a dismal average of 1.5 languages spoken. As of 2011 only 16%<\/a> of people in Hungary spoke the second-most popular language: English.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s interesting to note the average levels of language learning among a nation\u2019s people, no-one in the world is actually the \u2018average person\u2019, and digging down into different cities paints a more interesting picture. Certainly if a city is close to the border with another EU state, for example the near neighbours of Vienna and Bratislava, the free movement of people within the EU and the desire to understand the neighbouring country will make bilingualism far more common, important and attractive.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean a city has to be close to another country experience high levels of language knowledge. Berlin, for example, is a reasonable distance from its nearest international border (with Poland) but experiences high levels of immigration, which combine with the previously mentioned German propensity for language learning make it a home from home for countless languages and cultures.<\/p>\n Paradoxically, one of the most multicultural cities in the world, London, seems almost to rebel against the sharing of languages. There are hundreds of languages spoken in the UK capital, but many people who arrive fail to learn English, and Londoners seem to have little inclination to learn the languages of newcomers, perhaps given the widespread nature of English across the world. London, as ever, is as difficult to comprehend as anywhere in the world, as demonstrated by this map of the most common second language spoken around each London Underground station:<\/p>\n Created by Oliver O'Brien <\/a> UCL Geography\/UCL CASA<\/p><\/div>\n Officially, there are 24 official and working languages<\/a> in the EU, though in practice only English and French are used in the majority of EU business. The most widely spoken language in the EU is English, which is understood by 51% of adults, while German is the most widely spoken native language, spoken by 18% of EU citizens (Germany being the most populous country in the community, at least for now).<\/p>\n In addition, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Slovak, and Slovene are official languages in multiple EU countries at the regional level. Other languages are perennially trying to get themselves \u2018on the books\u2019, with initial status as a \u2018co-official\u2019 language given to the likes of Welsh and three of Spain\u2019s languages, Catalan, Basque and Galician.<\/p>\n And then there are the countless immigrant languages brought into the EU from around the world. Around 6% of EU citizens have at least a working knowledge of Russian, the most widely spoken non-official language, followed by Arabic at 2%. Surprisingly, fewer than 1% of EU citizens had knowledge of Chinese when the report containing these figures<\/a> was published in 2012.<\/p>\n As EU citizens are allowed to move freely between the member states there is likely to be an increase in the diversity of citizens in any one nation. While we often enjoy the benefits of multiculturalism, from different cuisines to art and a huge range of cultural activities, the ghettoisation of populations unable to understand each other within a country is a constant bone of contention for people on both sides of the migration debate.<\/p>\n Each of us can help smooth community relations by learning a new language, even if only to show that we\u2019re willing to engage with citizens of other cultures and try to understand their native tongues, within our own borders. We currently have 17 language levels tests<\/a> for you to try, to establish how much you already know about a foreign tongue and how suited you may be to developing that knowledge, or indeed starting from scratch. Perhaps take a look at our French<\/a>, German<\/a> or Spanish<\/a> tests for one of the more common European languages, spoken by millions within the EU, or push yourself with a go at Russian<\/a>, Arabic<\/a> or even Japanese<\/a>.<\/p>\n Learning languages is enjoyable and good for the brain, but it can also be good for community relations and making yourself a truly global citizen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Listen & Learn, our goal is to get people speaking as many languages as possible. The more we can all understand each other in our native tongues the more harmonious a planet this will be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236,17],"tags":[397,398,46],"class_list":["post-2808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-must-know","category-news-politics-religion-history-law","tag-bilingualism","tag-eu","tag-languages"],"yoast_head":"\nThe countries with the highest language-learning levels<\/b><\/h3>\n
The countries with the lowest language-learning levels<\/b><\/h3>\n
Bilingualism in cities<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Languages of the EU<\/b><\/h3>\n
Language and multiculturalism<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n