What languages are spoken in Europe?
Most of the languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European family. Out of a total population of 740 million, there are 94% native speakers of some Indo-European language. Within this, the three largest groups are the Slavic, Germanic and Romance languages, with more than 200 million speakers each, representing a total of 90% of European languages. Other small groups of languages are Greek (10 million), Baltic (7 million), Albanian (5 million), Romani (1.5 million), and Celtic (1 million). And what languages are spoken in Europe?
Most spoken languages in Europe
Sort from highest to lowest number of native speakers in Europe, the most widely spoken languages in Europe.
|
Russian 106 million |
German 97 million |
French 66 million |
|
Italian 65 million |
English 60 million |
Polish 39 million |
|
Spanish 38 million |
Ukrainian 33 million |
Romanian 24 million |
|
Dutch 22 million |
Austro-Bavarian 14 million |
Hungarian 13 million |
|
Turkish 12 million |
Greek 11 million |
Czech 11 million |
|
Portuguese 10 million |
Swedish 9 million |
Serbian 9 million |
Russian
Russian (русский язык) is the most widely spoken Slavic language in Europe and its alphabet is Cyrillic. Although 106 million in Europe speak it as their first language, this figure rises to 160 million in total in Europe if we count people who have learned it as a foreign language.
It has official status in the following countries: Russia and Belarus; and in the following regions: Gagauzia ( Moldova), Svalbard ( Norway) and some area of Ukraine.
German
German (Deutsch) is the most widely spoken Germanic language in European lands, by 97 million natives and 170 million in total in Europe, making it the most widely spoken if the total figure is taken into account. It is official in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In the Italy region of South Tyrol (bordering Austria) it also has official status.
French
French (français ) is the most common Romance language in Europe, accumulating a total figure in Europe of 135 million (66 million natives). In the following countries it is official: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland. Likewise, it is in the areas of Valle d’Aosta ( Italy), Jersey ( Andorra) and El Pas de la Casa ( Andorra).
Italian
Italian (Italian) , is the second most widely spoken Latin-derived language in Europe with 65 million native speakers (82 million total). It is official in the states of: Italy, San Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican City. It is also credited with such status in Istria County ( Croatia) and in Slovenian Istria ( Slovenia).
English
English (English) is in the 5th position, with 60 million native speakers . However, the total number of speakers in Europe amounts to 260 million, a figure that makes English the most widely spoken language in Europe if we take non-native speakers into account. It is official in 3 states: Ireland, Malta and United Kingdom.
Polish
Polish (język polski) is in sixth position, with 38.5 million native people. Due to Polish emigration, it is also spoken in different European countries and in the United States, with estimated figures of about 5 million more. It is official only in Poland.
Spanish
Spanish is the seventh most natively spoken language in Europe, with 38 million speakers (76 million in total in Europe). It is official only in Spain.
Foreign language proficiency by country
The following table shows the knowledge (native or as a secondary language), in the countries of the European Union (according to Eurobarometer 386 of 2012), of the 7 most widely spoken languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Polish).):
| Country | |||||||
| EU-28 | 51% | 26% | 32% | fifteen% | 6% | 16% | 9% |
| Germany | 56% | fifteen% | 98% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 1% |
| Austria | 73% | eleven% | 97% | 4% | two% | 9% | 1% |
| Belgium | 38% | 81% | 23% | 5% | 1% | 4% | 0% |
| Bulgarian | 25% | two% | 8% | two% | 23% | 1% | 0% |
| Croatia | 49% | 4% | 3. 4% | two% | 4% | 14% | 0% |
| Cyprus | 73% | eleven% | 5% | two% | 4% | 3% | 0% |
| Denmark | 86% | 9% | 47% | 4% | 0% | 1% | 0% |
| Slovakia | 26% | two% | 22% | 1% | 17% | 1% | 5% |
| Slovenia | 59% | 3% | 48% | 3% | 5% | 12% | 0% |
| Spain | 22% | 12% | two% | 98% | 1% | two% | 0% |
| Estonia | fifty% | 1% | 22% | 1% | 56% | 0% | 0% |
| Finland | 70% | 3% | 18% | 3% | 3% | 1% | 0% |
| France | 39% | 97% | 8% | 13% | 1% | 5% | 1% |
| Greece | 51% | 9% | 9% | 1% | 1% | 8% | 0% |
| Netherlands | 90% | 29% | 71% | 5% | 0% | two% | 0% |
| Hungary | twenty% | 3% | 18% | 1% | 4% | 1% | 0% |
| Ireland | 99% | 17% | 7% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 3% |
| Italy | 3. 4% | 16% | 5% | eleven% | 0% | 97% | 0% |
| Latvia | 46% | 1% | 14% | 1% | 67% | 0% | two% |
| Lithuania | 38% | 3% | 14% | 1% | 80% | 1% | 12% |
| Luxembourg | 56% | 96% | 71% | 5% | 0% | 6% | 0% |
| Malta | 89% | 17% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 66% | 0% |
| Poland | 33% | 4% | 19% | 1% | 26% | two% | 99% |
| Portugal | 27% | 24% | 1% | 10% | 0% | 1% | 0% |
| United Kingdom | 97% | 19% | 9% | 8% | two% | two% | 1% |
| Czech Republic | 27% | 1% | fifteen% | 1% | 13% | 1% | two% |
| Romania | 31% | 23% | 7% | 5% | 3% | 7% | 0% |
| Sweden | 86% | eleven% | 30% | 5% | 0% | two% | 1% |
Alphabets used in Europe
The main alphabets in Europe are Latin and Cyrillic. The following map breaks down the scripts used in the national languages:
Alphabet legend: Latin, Latin & Cyrillic, Cyrillic, Greek, Greek and Latin, Georgian and Armenian.
Latin alphabet
Also known as the Roman alphabet, it is the most widely used alphabet in the world. The classical Latin alphabet was made up of 23 letters:
ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVX YZ
These, in turn, evolved from the Etruscan alphabet, which can be seen in the following table in the row above and its Latin correspondence in the lower part:
| A | B. | C | D | AND | F | Z | H | Yo | K | L | M | N | EITHER | P | Q | R | yes | T | v | X |
|---|
Notable differences from the international Latin alphabet are the absence of the letters JU W. In addition, additional letters from the Roman alphabet are for example:
- By ligature: Æ Œ ß ŋ Ȣ Ñ ä Ç @
- By diacritical accents: Ñ Å Č Ų Ĉ Ĝ Ĥ Ĵ Ŝ Ŭ
- By digraphs: IJ LL RR CH
- By modification: Ø Ð Ȝ ə
- Loans from other alphabets: Þ Ƿ
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic alphabet is the youngest of the alphabets used in countries of the old continent. It was invented by Kliment Ohridski in the 10th century in Preslav (capital of the First Bulgarian Empire). Kliment was a student of the brothers Cirilio and Methodius, and the first is the one that gives its name to the alphabet.
The following representations are divided into letters, italic letters and their Latin equivalent. Italic letters in the Cyrillic alphabet may vary from their original form.
consonants:
| б | в | г | д | ж | з | к | л | m | н | п | р | c | you | ф | h | ц | ч | ш | щ |
| б | в | г | д | ж | з | к | л | m | н | п | р | c | you | ф | h | ц | ч | ш | щ |
| b | v | g | d | zh | z | k | he | m | n | p | r | s | you | F | j | ts | ch | sh | shh |
Vowels and signs:
| to | е | ё | and | й | or | u | ъ | ы | ь | э | ю | я |
| to | е | ё | and | й | or | u | ъ | ы | ь | э | ю | я |
| a | ye | me | Yo | Yo | either | or | * | Y | ** | and | yu | Already |
* hard
sign ** soft sign
This alphabet is present in several languages in Europe: Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Ukrainian, among others.
Maps of different vocabulary by country
Visualization of different basic vocabulary through maps and the etymology of said words. You can zoom in on the maps by clicking on them.
How do you say thanks?
Large groups can be observed when expressing gratitude:
- In dark red: from the Latin gratia (thank you).
- In different yellows: from Proto-Germanic þankaz (thought, gratitude).
- In pistachio green: from Proto-Slavic xvala (glory).
Surprising long formations such as the Irish «go raibh maith agat» and the Basque «eskerrik asko». Respectively, a shorter version can be used (although it is very rare): “maith agat” and “mila esker”.