Europeans and European languages: translate or not translate?

Europe is known for its linguistic diversity: 23 official languages ​​and more than 60 regional indigenous languages ​​are spoken in this part of the world. In addition, according to the full report of the European Commission of 2012 “Europeans and European Languages”, many migrants who came to Europe speak their native languages.

How, in the presence of such a motley language environment, decide how appropriate the translation will be?

Recently, TNS, which conducts surveys of public opinion and social networks in 27 countries of the European Union, prepared a report on how Europeans use and perceive languages. And I would like to acquaint you with some of the most interesting findings made in this document.

Almost all Europeans speak several languages ​​- this is a delusion

According to the report, 54% of Europeans are able to conduct conversation in at least one language, except their own. Every fourth European, except for his native language, speaks two more languages, every tenth knows three or more foreign languages.
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This is a fairly high figure compared with the world average. But almost half of the region’s 740 million people speak only one language. Moreover, when respondents were asked whether they knew a foreign language well enough to communicate on the Internet, this figure dropped to 39%. In other words, less than 40% of Europeans speak a foreign language at a level that allows you to communicate and contact on the Internet. In particular, for the English language - currently the dominant foreign language in the EU - this figure is 26%.

I would like to add the data from the previous study to these indicators: 9 out of 10 Europeans prefer to browse the Internet in their own language . This is an amazing figure, and it becomes clear how many opportunities you miss, if your site, for example, is made only in English.

The three most common foreign languages ​​in EU member states

In 19 of the 25 EU Member States (except the UK and Ireland), the main language of communication is English. Firstly, it is a foreign language, which is spoken by the most people, and secondly, this language is the most preferable for studying: 67% of Europeans called English one of the two most useful languages ​​for themselves. English is far ahead of German (17%), French (16%), Spanish (14%) and Chinese (6%).

In addition to English, the two most common foreign languages ​​are French and German. An indicative fact: a comparison of these results with the results of a similar study of 2005 showed that the subjective significance of studying French and German languages ​​decreased significantly. In other words, today the knowledge of these languages ​​is not considered as useful as before.

Foreign languages, the knowledge of which allows you to talk, -

The level of multilingualism in different EU countries is very different.

The above table shows that the level of multilingualism in European countries is very different. To demonstrate this most clearly, below are the five countries with the highest level and the five countries with the lowest level of multilingualism.



This is very valuable information for those who are thinking about whether to spend money on translating a website into a foreign language. For example, if your customers are located in the Netherlands, most likely, translation of your website from English will not be of great benefit, and vice versa - such benefit will be if you plan, for example, to enter the market of Hungary, Italy or Portugal.

In favor of multilingualism, but not at the expense of native languages

Europeans demonstrate a high level of openness to foreign languages: more than 8 out of 10 Europeans claim that knowledge of other languages ​​besides their mother tongue is very useful, and all EU citizens should speak at least one foreign language.

Moreover, the majority of Europeans support the ability to speak one “common language” for all EU member states, with 81% stating that all languages ​​should, as before, be equal. This is a very important caveat, which reflects the growing popularity of the opinion that all languages ​​should have equal rights (as compared with the results of the 2005 survey). The report states:

(...) Most Europeans support the idea that all EU citizens should speak one common language, but this view does not mean that some language should have an advantage over other languages.

Multilingualism level does NOT increase

Of course, EU citizens' knowledge of several languages ​​is of great importance for achieving the stated goal - the creation of a developing united Europe. The impact of multilingualism on labor mobility, competitiveness and the functioning of the EU economy in the world market should not be underestimated.

Frequently (and quite reasonably), the Internet is called the force that binds us all together — geographically, culturally and linguistically, but “there are no signs that multilingualism is rising in the EU”.

The report data shows that the share of Europeans, who, according to them, speak a foreign language, compared with the data of 2005, has slightly decreased. This reduction is mainly due to a significant decrease in the number of people who speak Russian and German, in Central and Eastern Europe - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary.

At the same time, foreign languages ​​are increasingly used for “regular” communication on the Internet (an increase of 10 percentage points compared with 2005).

Instead of conclusion

Each member state of the European Union independently determines the policy in the field of education and language learning, therefore, to be honest, a united, “speaking the same language” Europe is a utopia.

Moreover, the ability to speak a language does not always mean that a person often uses it, for example, is actively searching for products or services on the Internet in that language. Therefore, when developing the “roadmap” of European expansion, it is necessary to remember: in this region there is no “golden rule”, a single language or a single cultural identity.

Summarizing all the above, it should be noted that translating a website into a huge number of languages ​​used in Europe is often not economically feasible. Therefore, it is possible to identify groups of countries with similar linguistic and cultural characteristics and create, for example, a website in English for the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, in Russian for the Baltic countries, etc. For countries with a low level of knowledge of several foreign languages, it is worthwhile to determine the ratio of the potential economic effect and cost of website translation. Using a foreign language for a target audience in countries such as Portugal, Hungary, Italy and Poland will be a waste of time, effort and money.

Of course, such an approach is likely to put you in terms that are obviously losing from a linguistic point of view in comparison with local competitors. However, certain benefits can be achieved by expanding your company's activities internationally. On the other hand, it is clear that the ideal solution is to use the native language for the target audience in any country. And often this factor becomes decisive for success.

Translation into Russian is made by ABBYY Language Services .