Hungary among worst EU countries for foreign languages

A recent iNews article claims the UK is in crisis when it comes to language education. In fact, it reads Britain is bottom of the class when it comes to second languages.

Theknowledgeacademy.com has analysed where Britain sits in knowing a foreign language – in comparison to the rest of Europe.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES KNOWN

Looking at the most recent data on the number of foreign languages known (Eurostat) theknowledgeacademy.com found Brits are behind EVERY EU country when it comes to knowing another language.

In fact, 65.4% of Brits admit they can’t speak any other language. Just ahead of Romania (64.2%), Hungary (57.6%) and Bulgaria (50.5%.)

Comparably, Sweden has the lowest percentage of people who can’t speak any other language – at 3.4%.

This means approximately 96.6% of Swedish people can speak at least one other language. An impressive feat.

The example set by Sweden is closely followed by Denmark (4.2%), Latvia (4.2%) and Lithuania (4.5%.)

Slightly behind these three countries, but with remarkable rates still, is Luxembourg (5.5%) and Finland (8%.)

In fact, these figures indicate 94.5% of locals in Luxembourg can speak a second language. While 92% of Finns – known to be fluent in Finnish, Swedish and English among others – can speak at least one other language.

This survey focuses on the 28 EU countries. Figures represent the percentage of the population who do NOT know any foreign languages. Figures are sourced from Eurostat and were updated this year (2019). Figures are the most recent of their kind.