Talk:Languages of the European Union

There should be tables for all the 20-some languages listing the English sorting order and the Union sorting order. -- Kaihsu 14:28, 2004 Mar 1 (UTC)

I removed the following section from the table: (38 % of all European citizens) Reasons: It certainly depends on the method in determining how many Europeans speak German. In order to be consistent, I think it is better to stick to one figure. Since the table refers to official numbers of the EU, I think it is better to stick to EU calculations. Gugganij 14:16, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I removed the following sentence: Romanian and Bulgarian will become official languages of the EU from 1 January 2007. Reasons: Even if it is very likely that Romania and Bulgaria will join the EU, the negotiations are not finished yet. If those negotiations turn out to be successful (again: which is quite likely), the exact date of this enlargement is also not known yet. Gugganij 16:17, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I removed the following statement: Note also that the proportion that speak French as a foreign language is mostly constituted by the Germans.

Reason: According to [1], section Skills in EN, FR and DE 13 % of the German population speak French as a foreign language. A percentage which is lower than in 5 other EU15 member states (Luxemburg, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Ireland). In the UK 11 % of the population speak French as a foreign language. Gugganij 14:03, 22 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

OTOH: The population of Lux, I, P, B and Irl combined is smaller than that of Germany, therefore the original statement is actually true (but the wording is misleading because the word "proportion" refers to the individual countries, while "constituted" refers to the proportion of the individual speakers of french as a foreign language). IMHO it would be better to state the absolute number of speakers...

I just made a few calculations (using the percentages stated in the link mentioned above and the population figures in wikipedia): There are about 40 million people (EU15) speaking French as a foreign language. Germany: 10 Million, Italy: 10, UK: 6.6, NL: 2, B: 3.2, Spain: 2.8. Gugganij 21:36, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Any chance to replace the numbers of the EU15 with numbers of the EU25?

data on EU languages

Sorry, but the European Commission does not yet have up-to-date data on the languages situation since the enlargement of 2004. --Holdspa 12:41, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I've suggested removing this text because, so far as I know, no decision has yet been taken on these languages by the European Council

For example, as a result of Spain taking advantage of this paragraph, certified translations of the Constitution may be produced in the Catalan, Galician and Basque languages. --Holdspa 12:57, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

More recent data are already available ( http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf ). It would be good if someone updated the article.

Question

What happens if there is a discrepancy amang the translations? Is there a language that takes precedence in this casd?68.6.83.157 01:11, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Seems likely, but I don't know the standard procedure. 惑乱分からん 21:17, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is it a discrepancy to note that 7% of the UK speak English? I am almost certain that 100% do, and if not then it is undeniably in the 90s.

You haven't paying attention. The table you refering to clearly shows the percentage of those who speak a given language as second language! The table does not contain the number of native speakers. It just means 7 % percent in the UK speak English only as a second language, the rest as native one. --Lucius1976 19:27, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone caption that table. I'm not sure how to do it myself. It needs to be pointed out that the figures represent those who speak English, French or German as a second (not foreign) language. It seemed very ambiguos to me when I first read it, and I was about to edit it to relfect the fact that nearly 100% of people in Ireland speak English until I read this page.

Working languages: Frenh doesnt only have international influene due to "historical" reason but more importantly for political reasons - just as German has more influence for economical reasons. Feb-2006