Languages of Europe

There are more than 250 languages spoken in Europe. Most of these belong to the Indo-European language family.

The three biggest groups of Indo-European languages are Romance, Germanic, and Slavic. Many people in Europe also speak Hellenic (which includes Greek), Baltic, Albanian, Celtic, and Armenian languages. Some people speak Indo-Aryan languages like Romani. Others speak Uralic or Turkic languages. Small groups speak Basque, Semitic languages such as Maltese, or languages from the Caucasus.

People from other parts of the world have moved to Europe, bringing their languages with them. About 4% of Europeans now speak African or Asian languages. The most common of these is Arabic.

Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, German, French, Italian, and English. Even though Russian is the most-spoken native language, English is spoken by the most people overall because many speak it as a second or foreign language English as a second or foreign language.

Indo-European languages

See also: Indo-European languages and List of Indo-European languages

The Indo-European language family started from an old language called Proto-Indo-European. People who spoke these languages moved into Europe about 4,000 years ago, during the Bronze Age.

Germanic

Further information: Germanic languages and Germanic peoples

Germanic languages are very common in Western, Northern, and Central Europe. Over 500 million Europeans speak them. The biggest groups are German, English, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Limburgish.

There are two main types of Germanic languages: West Germanic and North Germanic. A third type, East Germanic, is no longer spoken. The only surviving East Germanic language is Gothic.

Anglo-Frisian

Main articles: Anglo-Frisian languages and English language in Europe

The Anglo-Frisian language family is mostly English (Anglic) today. English is the main language in the United Kingdom and very common in the Republic of Ireland. Many Europeans speak it as a second language. Scots is spoken in Scotland and Ulster. Some think it is a separate language, while others see it as a type of English.

The Frisian languages are spoken by Frisians living along the southern coast of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. These include West Frisian, East Frisian, and North Frisian.

Dutch

Main articles: Dutch-speaking Europe, Dutch language, and Low Franconian

Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands, the northern part of Belgium, and the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. In Belgium and France, Dutch is sometimes called Flemish. Dutch has many different types.

German

Main articles: German language and Geographical distribution of German speakers

German is spoken in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, much of Switzerland, northern Italy, Luxembourg, and parts of Belgium and France.

German has several types, including Standard German, Central German, High Franconian, Upper German, and Yiddish.

Low German

Low German is spoken in parts of Northern Germany and the northern and eastern Netherlands. It can be split into West Low German and East Low German.

North Germanic (Scandinavian)

The North Germanic languages are spoken in Nordic countries and include Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, and Elfdalian.

Romance

Further information: Romance languages, Italic languages, and Roman people

See also: Latins

About 215 million Europeans speak Romance languages, mainly in Southern and Western Europe. The largest groups include French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, Catalan, Neapolitan, Sicilian, Venetian, Galician, Sardinian, and Occitan.

Romance languages developed from types of Vulgar Latin spoken in the Roman Empire. Latin was part of the Indo-European language family. Romance languages are split into groups.

Slavic

See also: Slavic languages and Slavs

Slavic languages are spoken across large parts of Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe. About 315 million people speak a Slavic language. The biggest groups include Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovak, Belarusian, Slovene, and Macedonian.

Slavic languages are divided into three groups.

Others

• Greek is spoken mainly in Greece and Cyprus.
• The Baltic languages include Lithuanian and Latvian.
• Albanian is spoken in Albania, Kosovo, and nearby areas.
• Armenian is spoken in Armenia and nearby regions.
• There are six living Celtic languages, including Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Breton, and Manx.
• Romani is spoken by Romani people across Europe.
• Ossetian is spoken in the North Caucasus.

Uralic languages

Main article: Uralic languages

The Finnic languages include Finnish, spoken by many people, and Estonian, spoken by fewer people. There are also smaller languages like Kven. Other Finno-Permic languages include Mari, and the Sami languages.

The Ugric branch includes the Hungarian language, spoken by many people. The Samoyedic Nenets language is spoken in Nenets Autonomous Okrug in far northeastern Europe, near the Ural Mountains.

Semitic languages

Main article: Semitic languages

• Maltese is a special language spoken in Malta by about 500,000 people. It comes from an old Arabic language but has many words from Italian, French, and English. It is unique because it uses the same letters we use in English and is one of the official languages of the EU.
• Cypriot Maronite Arabic is spoken by some people in Cyprus, especially in Nicosia, Kormakiti, and Lemesos. Their ancestors brought this language from Lebanon long ago, and it has some influences from Greek.
• Eastern Aramaic is spoken by some communities in Europe who moved there during a hard time in history.

Turkic languages

Main article: Turkic languages

Europe has several Turkic languages. The Oghuz group includes Turkish, spoken in East Thrace and by some groups of people who moved there, and Azerbaijani, spoken in Northeast Azerbaijan and parts of Southern Russia. The Kipchak group has languages like Crimean Tatar, Karaim, and Tatar, spoken in places such as Tatarstan and the North Caucasus. Some Oghur languages, like Chuvash in Chuvashia, are still used even though many others are not.

Other languages

The Basque language, also called Euskara, is spoken by many people in the Basque Country. This area is in the Pyrenees mountains, mostly in Spain and partly in France. Basque is a special language that does not come from any other language family.

Other language families in Europe include the Northwest Caucasian and Northeast Caucasian languages, mainly spoken near the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan. There is also the Mongolic language Kalmyk, spoken in the Republic of Kalmykia. The Kartvelian languages, such as Georgian, are mainly spoken in the Caucasus and Anatolia.

Sign languages

Main article: List of sign languages § Europe

Many sign languages are used across Europe. The most widespread family is the Francosign languages, found from Iberia to the Balkans and the Baltics. British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (LSF) are among the oldest sign languages still used today. German Sign Language (DGS) also has many users.

Sign languages in Europe often develop separately from the spoken languages around them. They are usually named after the country where they are used, like French Sign Language for the language used in France, Wallonia, and Romandy. Some countries recognize sign languages officially, while others do not. Different sign languages may be related, but understanding these connections can be difficult. Examples include the Francosign family and the BANZSL family, which includes British Sign Language (BSL), New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and Swedish Sign Language. Other sign languages, such as Irish Sign Language (ISL), have origins that are still not fully known.

History of standardization

Further information: Ethnic groups in Europe § History, Vernacular, and De vulgari eloquentia

In the Middle Ages, Europe was shaped by two big ideas: being Christian and using Latin.

The first dictionaries were simple word lists. The Latin-German Abrogans was one of the earliest. More dictionaries came after the printing press was invented.

As nations formed, they chose certain dialects as their national languages. This led to efforts to make these languages more standard. Many groups were created, like the Accademia della Crusca in 1582 and the Académie française in 1635. Language became tied to national identity and was also linked to religious beliefs.

Some of the first languages to have official standards were Italian, French, English, and German. Other nations also began to develop their own standard languages in the 16th century.

Europe has had many languages used in different areas and times. These included Classical Greek, Latin, Old Occitan, and many others. Some became important because of powerful empires or cultural movements.

Different parts of Europe have many languages, and some places work to protect these smaller languages. Groups like the Council of Europe support linguistic diversity.

The main writing systems in Europe today are the Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

The European Union has 24 official languages. This means people can talk to the EU and read important documents in any of these languages. The EU works with the Council of Europe to help people learn more languages.

List of languages

Further information: List of European languages by number of speakers, List of endangered languages in Europe, and List of extinct languages and dialects of Europe

Here is a table of European languages. It shows how many people speak each language in Europe, either as their first or second language. You can learn more about languages spoken around the world by checking the list of languages by number of native speakers and the list of languages by total number of speakers.

This list includes any language that has an ISO 639 code. It does not include sign languages. Because of how the codes work, some groups of speakers might appear more than once. For example, people who speak Bavarian are listed under "Bavarian" and also under "German."

Languages spoken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, and Turkey

There are different ways to decide what counts as Europe. Some people think parts of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia might be included. For simplicity, the languages and information from these five countries are grouped together here, since they are usually seen as whole countries.

Immigrant communities

After 1945, many people came to Europe from other places, and they brought their languages with them.

Some of the biggest groups speak Arabic, Turkish, Armenians, Berbers, and Kurds. There are also smaller groups who speak languages from Africa and India.

List of the largest immigrant languages