More students study foreign languages in Europe but perceptions of skill levels differ significantly

Significantly more primary school pupils were learning a foreign language in 2008 than in 2000. This is also the case in lower secondary education but there the progress was more modest. Students in upper secondary general education study more languages than students in the vocational stream at the same level. English is by far the foreign language most studied at all levels of education, followed by French, German, Russian and Spanish. More than one-third of adults aged 25 to 64 perceive that they do not know any foreign language. A slightly smaller proportion say that they know one foreign language. The best known foreign language by far is perceived to be English. In general, a higher proportion of the younger adult population claim to speak foreign languages than of the older generations. Likewise, a correlation was found between a high level of education and a higher perceived proficiency in foreign languages.

Eurostat: News Release No.139, 2010: In the EU, nearly 80% of children were studying a foreign language at primary school in 2008 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-press-releases/-/3-24092010-AP

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