My group analyzed the answers to question number five: How many and which languages should be spoken in the European Union.
It is an interesting issue, mainly because we discovered two main trends: the 65% of the interviewers considered the English language the one suitable for communication in the European Union, while the 30% think that every State should keep its language.
In addition to this, other people answered that people in Europe should know two or more languages in order to successfully communicate in the European Union.
It is important to note that if English is chosen equally both by men and women, it is men who mainly underline the importance of national languages, while two young women focused on the importance of one, common language, without making a concrete proposal. An alternative choice, preferred by 2 men and 1 woman, consists in wide-known languages, but the label is rather vague, because it may also be intended as including some extra-European or extra-EU languages, such as Chinese or Russian.
Moreover, I noted that the youngest among the interviewed are they who chose two or more languages besides English, while the oldest people are they who chose minority languages. Such choices are therefore connected with the interviewed avarage age.
The different opinions seem to imply that the youngest would prefer a common knowledge to be adopted as suitable vehicle for working languages; on the other hand the oldest people are worried about protecting minority languages, even if they are spoken only only on a local or regional level.
If our interviews may be seen as representative of young people's perception of the issue discussed, the information considered brings to the conclusion that most people are in line with the European Union’s multilingualism policy according to which every European citizen had to knowat least three languages.
Teacher: OK!