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English has become the pre-eminent second language of Europe not in the absence of any colonial history or diaspora, but rather as a concerted effort to increase fluency in English by Europeans since the Second World War. English has become the most useful language to connect different language groups in Europe.
As of 2024, there are 57 sovereign states and 28 non-sovereign entities where English is an official language. Many administrative divisions have declared English an official language at the local or regional level. Most states where English is an official language are former territories of the British Empire.
Luxembourgish and Turkish, which have official status in Luxembourg and Cyprus, respectively, are the only two official languages of EU member states that are not official languages of the EU. In 2023, the Spanish government requested that its co-official languages Catalan, Basque, and Galician be added to the official languages of the EU. [12]
Co-official languages in Spain. The autonomous communities have established the following official languages in their respective territories: Catalan in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, Valencian (a variety of Catalan) in Valencia, Galician in Galicia, Basque in the Basque Country and a part of Navarre, and the Aranese language in the Aran ...
A color-coded map of most languages used throughout Europe. There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. [1] [2] Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language.
While the European Union (EU) allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of the Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. [142] Although in most countries English is not an official language, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language.
The majority of languages of Spain [4] belong to the Romance language family, of which Spanish is the only one with official status in the whole country. [5] [6] Others, including Catalan (in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands) and Galician (in Galicia), enjoy official status in their respective autonomous regions, similar to Basque in the northeast of the country (a non-Romance ...
Official language A language designated as having a unique legal status in the state: typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business. Regional language A language designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state.