5 ms·

It's interesting that after Brexit, only 1% of EU citizens are native English speakers. That's less than Bulgarian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_

It's interesting that after Brexit, only 1% of EU citizens are native English speakers. That's less than Bulgarian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union#Knowledge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Unio...

rev_d 6y ago
That seems a little incorrect, considering that Ireland is non-English only on paper.
- makomk 6y ago
  Ireland is quite small compared to the current size of the EU.
  - secfirstmd 6y ago
    Yep we are about 1 percent or just over I think.
  - cies 6y ago
    But it has 2/3 the population of Bulgaria.
- saberdancer 6y ago
  That's exactly the point. Ireland is only larger country in the EU with native English speakers.
- esperent 6y ago
  Ireland has English as an official language, along with Irish.
jobigoud 6y ago
Interestingly it's now quite similar in number to Catalan, which after all these years is still not an official EU language despite being spoken by ~10M people (~4M natively) in multiple countries.
- happy_path 6y ago
  All Spaniards can speak Spanish according to Spanish Constitution. Thus, Catalan is a regional language. If the EU should have to provide translations and material in each of the regional languages, the cost of coding laws would be quite a bit high.
  - estaseuropano 6y ago
    There's already 24 official languages: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-languages_en https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-languages_en not even those get all translations: https://europa.eu/european-union/abouteuropa/language-policy_en https://europa.eu/european-union/abouteuropa/language-policy... And cost per page is around 80€ https://slator.com/industry-news/eur-82-per-page-inside-eu-translation-centres-2018-budget/ https://slator.com/industry-news/eur-82-per-page-inside-eu-t... Already 2006 translation cost was close to 1bn/year, must be much more now... https://euobserver.com/news/21459 https://euobserver.com/news/21459
xxpor 6y ago
I'm genuinely shocked only 43% know English as an additional language. I guess it depends on what level of knowledge they're looking for.
- mrtksn 6y ago
  Eastern Europe used to be under USSR influence, which made English language education a rarity. Russian and French were much more popular. The public signs often had French as foreign language, not English. Older generations often know some French, Russian,German and even Spanish but rarely know any English. Minorities often speak the language of the country they live in, their mother tongue and 1 or 2 of the language listed above. For younger generation it’s completely different of course, most speak the local language, the mother tongue and English + the language of the country they work if they are working abroad.
  - gpvos 6y ago
    In Slovakia, I met a waitress of about 25 years old who only spoke Slovak, Hungarian and a third language that I also didn't speak, maybe it was Russian. In a night train from Poland to Germany, I met someone of about 30 who only spoke Polish and German. So it can still differ a lot per person. (I only speak several western European languages.)
- iagovar 6y ago
  You can have an entire life in and out of the internet with spanish, without need of English. I'm not saying it's the optimal choice, but only if you get technical you'll miss something. And this is even when localized results separate sites for Spain and Latin america. There's a bit of cross-interaction, but not that much. I guess this is possible with other languages to a varying degree.
  - xxpor 6y ago
    I mean it seems totally plausible. Just based on my interactions in Europe (as a dumb non-multilingual English speaker), I'd just have guessed it'd be higher. I've never come across anyone who's had ZERO English skills, while that was somewhat common in Tokyo, for example. Granted, almost all of my time in Europe has been spent in cities so that probably matters a lot.
esperent 6y ago
I think that's a little misleading though, since virtually all north western Europeans (Netherlands, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium etc.) that I've met who are under 35 or so speak English at very close to a native level. You can't say that about Bulgarian.
- mattmanser 6y ago
  Being half-dutch, I wouldn't say fluent. Have you actually been to those countries, are are you just going by travellers you met? Even in Holland, which has an extremely good English education from 7 or 8 has plenty of people who are good, but not fluent, and for the older generations it's much, much lower level, broken sentences, much smaller vocabulary. When I was in France last time, 3 years ago, still plenty who struggled after I'd exhausted my terrible French. I've also noticed the French tend to speak French in game voice chat where almost everyone else will be using English, apart from Italians and maybe Arabic or Turkish or something (I don't really recognise the language).

rev_d 6y ago

That seems a little incorrect, considering that Ireland is non-English only on paper.

makomk 6y ago
Ireland is quite small compared to the current size of the EU.
- secfirstmd 6y ago
  Yep we are about 1 percent or just over I think.
- cies 6y ago
  But it has 2/3 the population of Bulgaria.
saberdancer 6y ago
That's exactly the point. Ireland is only larger country in the EU with native English speakers.
esperent 6y ago
Ireland has English as an official language, along with Irish.

jobigoud 6y ago

Interestingly it's now quite similar in number to Catalan, which after all these years is still not an official EU language despite being spoken by ~10M people (~4M natively) in multiple countries.

happy_path 6y ago
All Spaniards can speak Spanish according to Spanish Constitution. Thus, Catalan is a regional language. If the EU should have to provide translations and material in each of the regional languages, the cost of coding laws would be quite a bit high.
- estaseuropano 6y ago
  There's already 24 official languages: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-languages_en https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-languages_en not even those get all translations: https://europa.eu/european-union/abouteuropa/language-policy_en https://europa.eu/european-union/abouteuropa/language-policy... And cost per page is around 80€ https://slator.com/industry-news/eur-82-per-page-inside-eu-translation-centres-2018-budget/ https://slator.com/industry-news/eur-82-per-page-inside-eu-t... Already 2006 translation cost was close to 1bn/year, must be much more now... https://euobserver.com/news/21459 https://euobserver.com/news/21459

xxpor 6y ago

I'm genuinely shocked only 43% know English as an additional language. I guess it depends on what level of knowledge they're looking for.

mrtksn 6y ago
Eastern Europe used to be under USSR influence, which made English language education a rarity. Russian and French were much more popular. The public signs often had French as foreign language, not English. Older generations often know some French, Russian,German and even Spanish but rarely know any English. Minorities often speak the language of the country they live in, their mother tongue and 1 or 2 of the language listed above. For younger generation it’s completely different of course, most speak the local language, the mother tongue and English + the language of the country they work if they are working abroad.
- gpvos 6y ago
  In Slovakia, I met a waitress of about 25 years old who only spoke Slovak, Hungarian and a third language that I also didn't speak, maybe it was Russian. In a night train from Poland to Germany, I met someone of about 30 who only spoke Polish and German. So it can still differ a lot per person. (I only speak several western European languages.)
iagovar 6y ago
You can have an entire life in and out of the internet with spanish, without need of English. I'm not saying it's the optimal choice, but only if you get technical you'll miss something. And this is even when localized results separate sites for Spain and Latin america. There's a bit of cross-interaction, but not that much. I guess this is possible with other languages to a varying degree.
- xxpor 6y ago
  I mean it seems totally plausible. Just based on my interactions in Europe (as a dumb non-multilingual English speaker), I'd just have guessed it'd be higher. I've never come across anyone who's had ZERO English skills, while that was somewhat common in Tokyo, for example. Granted, almost all of my time in Europe has been spent in cities so that probably matters a lot.

esperent 6y ago

I think that's a little misleading though, since virtually all north western Europeans (Netherlands, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium etc.) that I've met who are under 35 or so speak English at very close to a native level. You can't say that about Bulgarian.

mattmanser 6y ago
Being half-dutch, I wouldn't say fluent. Have you actually been to those countries, are are you just going by travellers you met? Even in Holland, which has an extremely good English education from 7 or 8 has plenty of people who are good, but not fluent, and for the older generations it's much, much lower level, broken sentences, much smaller vocabulary. When I was in France last time, 3 years ago, still plenty who struggled after I'd exhausted my terrible French. I've also noticed the French tend to speak French in game voice chat where almost everyone else will be using English, apart from Italians and maybe Arabic or Turkish or something (I don't really recognise the language).