Key takeaways:
- Survey was conducted in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain
- The vast majority (87-97%) of Europeans think being able to speak another language is useful, with between 46% and 70% saying it is ‘very useful’
- Only a fifth of Britons (21%) say they can speak another language, compared to three quarters (74%) of Danes
- There is support for making languages compulsory in schools until the age of 16 in Britain, but Europeans are more likely to support this
A new YouGov survey conducted in six European countries - Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, examines attitudes to language learning across Europe. The results show variation between Britain and the other countries polled when it comes to language proficiency, though there is a consensus across all countries polled that languages are useful (87-97%). But what are the main motivations for learning languages, and which languages Europeans most like to learn?
Danes are the most likely to claim that they can speak a second language fluently
Britons are the least likely among the six nations surveyed to be able to speak another language fluently (hold a conversation with a native speaker), with only one in five (21%) claiming this. Danes are by far the most likely to say they can speak additional languages, at 74%, followed by 54% of Germans, 47% of Spaniards, 37% of French people and 28% of Italians.
Despite being the most likely to say they can speak another language fluently, Danes are least likely to say that they grew up in a household where someone spoke a language other than Danish on a regular basis (11%).
English is the most common language spoken among Europeans, with between 62% and 93% of those who speak more than one language citing English as one they can speak fluently. In Britain, a quarter (24%) of those who speak another language say they can speak French, followed by Spanish (13%).
What are the main motivations for learning languages?
Of those who cannot already fluently speak a second language, the Italians (90%) and the Spanish (89%) are most likely to say that they would like to learn, though three quarters of Germans (77%), Danes (76%), Britons (75%) and French (73%) also express this desire.
Among Europeans who do not already speak more than one language, and who would want to learn one, English is consistently the language that people would most like to learn (55-83%), whilst in Britain, Spanish (32%) and French (21%) top the list.
And when it comes to motivations for learning a new language, travel comes top (25-40%), followed by personal improvement (19-24%).
Among those who do not fluently speak another language, the most common reason for having not yet learnt one in Britain, Germany, Denmark and Italy is not having a pressing enough reason to do so (25-28%), while in Spain more than a third (34%) say that they have found learning a language too difficult.
Britons are less likely than other Europeans to say that language learning should be compulsory up to the age of 16
While as many as 82-90% of people in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain think that learning foreign languages should be mandatory in schools up to the age of 16, in Britain - the only country in which this is not already the case – this figure falls to 66%.
This indicates that Britons are less likely to see being able to speak another language as important, and indeed when we dig further into the 87-97% of Europeans who say knowing another language is useful, we discover that Britons are the least likely to describe it as “very useful” (46%) than the other countries surveyed (57-70%).
Which visitors to the country should be expected to speak the language?
Whilst people in all six countries overwhelmingly think that it is important for those moving to a new country to work or retire to be able to speak the language, opinion is more split when it comes to tourists. A majority of those in Italy (72%), Spain (61%) and France (56%) think that it is important for tourists to be able to speak the language of the country they are travelling to, yet Britons, Germans and Danes are much less likely to say this (22-39%).
Although Spain is the country with the highest total number of people moving to retire from abroad, the Spanish (along with the Danish) are slightly less likely (81-84%) than other nationalities (89-94%) to think that it is important for people moving to retire to a country to be able to speak its language.
Denmark is also an outlier in its leniency when it comes to students going on a study abroad programme for a year, with just under three quarters (73%) of Danes saying it is important, compared to 88-93% of adults in the other countries polled.
See the full results here
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