Luxembourg, 28/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - When it comes to learning foreign languages at schools in the EU, the features are both divergent, especially with regard to the age at which the study of the first foreign language starts, and also similar, in that English dominates every syllabus. These are the main conclusions of a report published by Eurostat last week.
Study of a first foreign language is compulsory at primary level or from the start of secondary school in every EU country apart from Ireland. The country where children start youngest is Luxembourg (from age 6) while pupils do not start until they are 11 in France and the United Kingdom and 12 in the Flemish-speaking community in Belgium. Outside the EU, the study of a foreign language starts earliest in Norway and Malta (at age 6) and latest in Iceland, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovenia (all at age 11).
Unlike primary school, learning a foreign language is standard throughout the EU wt lower secondary level general education. English is easily the most widely taught language in the EU: 93% of pupils were studying it in 1998/1999. The figure was above 90% in every EU and EFTA country, apart from the French-speaking and Flemish-speaking communities in Belgium (39% and 49% respectively), Luxembourg (53%) and Italy (81%). The focus on English is a little less marked in the candidate countries, with the proportion of pupils learning English at lower secondary level ranging from 33% in Hungary to 84% in Estonia and 100% in Malta and Cyprus.
As for French and German, they were studied by 33% and 13% of pupils at lower secondary level in the EU in 1998/1999, compared with 28% and 20% at upper secondary level. French was most common at lower secondary level in the Flemish-speaking community in Belgium and Luxembourg (both 97%), Greece (81%) and Ireland (75%), and limited in Austria (4%), Denmark (5%) and Finland (9%). Germany is especially studied in Luxembourg (96%) and Denmark (60%) and much less in the French-speaking community of Belgium, Spain and Italy (2% each).
In the candidate countries, the study of French was particularly common from lower secondary level in Cyprus and Romania, but was limited in the other countries. German, on the other hand, was studied more than on average in the EU throughout secondary schooling in every candidate country apart from Malta and Romania. Lastly, although very few pupils studied Russian in the EU, the percentage was much higher in the candidate countries, and especially in Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.