Languages in the European Union

The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the Member States of the European Union. They include the twenty-three official languages of the European Union along with a range of others. The EU has a number of policies relating to language learning.

Welsh language makes EU debut — 20 November 2008, 21:42 CET

The Welsh language, spoken by 600,000 people, got a cultural boost on Thursday when it was heard, and interpreted, at the European Union for the first time.

Commission Communication on Multilingualism: tapping the full potential of languages in Europe — 18 September 2008, 14:50 CET

In its new Communication, entitled "Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment", the Commission gives an overview of what needs to be done to turn linguistic diversity into an asset for solidarity and prosperity. The Commission invites EU Member States and the other EU Institutions to join efforts to encourage and assist citizens in acquiring language skills and removing communication barriers. It proposes an approach which advocates including multilingualism across a whole series of EU policy areas. The policy document proposes a series of concrete actions related to these questions and foresees a review of the progress made in 2012 (pdf)

A guide to languages in the European Union — 11 September 2008, 13:14 CET

News, background information and web links about languages, language learning and other activities involving languages and cultural diversity in the EU.

Europa languages portal — 25 January 2008, 13:06 CET

This portal is your point of entry to information about languages from the European Union - Linguistic Diversity - Language Learning - Language Teaching - Translation - Interpretation - Language Technology

Languages in the EU website — 25 January 2008, 13:01 CET

Listen to all the 23 official languages of the European Union - i.e. the ones used for EU business. On this site you can hear examples spoken by interpreters from the EU institutions.

EC boost for computer-assisted translation — 21 January 2008, 23:35 CET

The EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published a million sentences translated into 22 official EU languages in a bid to help the development of computer-assisted translation technologies and software.

DGT-TM - DGT Multilingual Translation Memory of the Acquis Communautaire — 20 January 2008, 15:24 CET

The European Commission's is making its collection of about 1 million sentences and their high quality translations in 22 of the 23 official EU languages freely available. This kind of data is highly sought after by developers of machine translation systems in which automatic translation software "learns" from manually translated texts how words and phrases are correctly and contextually translated. The data can also help the development of other linguistic software tools such as grammar and spell checkers, online dictionaries and multilingual text classification systems.

ECTACO iTRAVL Deluxe voice activated language communicator — 04 November 2008, 19:25 CET

The ECTACO iTRAVL Deluxe is the world's most sophisticated and elegant multilingual travel, translation, and language learning handheld ever made.

Report on the implementation of the Action Plan "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity 2004-2006" — 28 September 2007, 00:35 CET

The EU Action Plan "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity 2004-2006" called for a progress review in 2007. A European Commission Working Paper reporting on its implementation was adopted on 25 September 2007. This report outlines the main results of the implementation of the Action Plan "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity 2004-2006", both at European and national level. It highlights current trends in the reform of educational systems to better promote language learning, takes stock of what has been achieved in the past three years and provides a basis for further action in the field of multilingualism policy.

European Day of Languages 2007 — 27 September 2007, 16:30 CET

At the end of the hugely successful 2001 European Year of Languages, jointly organised by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, it was decided that 26 September each year should be the European Day of Languages, to celebrate the rich heritage of cultures and traditions embodied in all the languages of Europe – and not only the 23 official languages of the EU.

EU terminology translator — 28 June 2007, 11:23 CET

A one-stop shop for EU-related terminology (InterActiveTerminology for Europe) in 23 languages opened to the public on 28 June 2007. The InterActive Terminology for Europe database, known as IATE, combines the terminology databases of the individual EU institutions and bodies in a single database containing 8.7 million terms and covering all 23 official EU languages. IATE ,which has been in use by the translation services of the EU institutions since 2005, already plays a major role in ensuring the quality of the written communication of the EU institutions and bodies. Offering easy access to validated EU-related terminology, it ensures the consistency and reliability of terminology which is indispensable for producing the clear and unambiguous texts necessary for guaranteeing both the validity and transparency of the legislative process and effective communication with the citizens of the Union.

Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise — 23 February 2007, 15:26 CET

This study was commissioned by the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission in December 2005 and undertaken by the UK National Centre for Languages, in collaboration with an international team of researchers. Its objective was to provide the Commission and decision-takers in Member States with practical information and analysis of the use of language skills by SMEs and the impact on business performance.

Eurodicautom — 08 August 2006, 10:39 CET

Eurodicautom is the multilingual term bank of the European Commission. Eurodicautom covers a broad spectrum of human knowledge, but is particularly rich in technical and specialised terminology (agriculture, telecommunications, transport, legislation, finance) related to EU policy.

Translation Directorate-General of the European Commission — 05 August 2006, 21:12 CET

The European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation is the largest translation service in the world. Located in Brussels and Luxembourg, it has a permanent staff of some 1 650 linguists and 550 support staff, and also uses freelance translators all over the world. Known as the DGT after its English initials, the service translates written text into and out of all the EU's official languages, exclusively for the European Commission. Interpretation of the spoken word is the responsibility of the Commission's Directorate-General for Interpretation.

Languages of Europe — 05 August 2006, 21:09 CET

Official languages of Europe statistics: The official EU languages; Policy issues; Awareness raising; Language teaching; Language learning; EU funding opportunities; Key documents; Useful links