Brussels, 28/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - To mark the European Day of Languages on 26 September (EUROPE 10460), Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, published statistics on language-learning by primary and secondary school pupils. According to the statistics, English is virtually unanimously chosen as first foreign language by pupils in the European Union (95%). There is, however, greater diversity to be found in the choice of second foreign language.
According to Eurostat, in 2009, 82% of pupils in primary education and lower secondary education studied English as a foreign language. The highest proportions were to be found in Malta (100%), Spain and Italy (99% each) and in Austria (98%). French was the foreign language most frequently studied in Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom, whilst in Luxembourg, the most popular language was German. More diversity can be observed for the most frequently-studied second language. French is the most-studied second foreign language (16% of pupils), followed by German (9%), then Spanish (6%). More specifically, French and German are most studied in seven member states each, Russian in four, Spanish in three, Italian into and Dutch and Swedish in one country each.
English also gets the popular vote as first foreign language in upper secondary education (95% on average). The percentages lie above 90% in all member states with the exception of Hungary and Malta. French remains the most-studied language in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and German keeps its crown in Luxembourg. The second language most often studied by this category of pupils showed less diversity. German just about gets the upper hand over French with 27% (compared to 26% for French), followed by Spanish (19%). More specifically, German and French were the most-studied second language in 10 member states each, Russian in three, Spanish in two and Swedish in one. (IL/transl.fl)