Speaking for Europe
Languages in the European Union

European Commission

Manuscript completed in August 2008

Catalogue number: NA-AB-08-127-EN-C

Text only:   Manuscript (260 Kb)

Illustrated version:   1472 Kb

The EU promotes the linguistic and cultural diversity of its peoples. It does so by supporting the teaching and learning of their languages. The EU’s ambitious goal is to enable citizens to be fluent in two languages in addition to their mother tongue.
The EU institutions work with 23 official languages. This is to ensure that all EU citizens, whether they speak a major European language or a lesser-known one, have equal access to the policies and legislation of the European Union. This booklet looks in turn at the wide array of languages spoken in the EU, the many ways in which Europeans can benefit from learning languages and the EU’s support programmes. Finally it examines what it takes to run a multilingual Union.