Are most countires in europe required to learn english?

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HeterÃ³nimo

Europe, Portugal, my education system regarding foreign languages:

- English is a mandatory language since 1st grade to the 12th and final grade of school. But in University, most courses have english as a mandatory subject so most portuguese have at least 16 years of english.

- In the 5th grade a second foreign language is required, usually either spanish, french or german, this second language is also a mandatory subject to the 12th year and in University courses related to the teaching of languages, sociology, psychology, history, architecture and international studies also require the second foreign language you chose at school.

So the average portuguese has 16 years of english and between 8 and 12 years of either spanish, german or french.
But many people still learn a third language in private shcools as a complement.

In the US, although it's true you already speak the world's "lingua franca", english, it's very strange why you don't have a true foreign language program, especially when spanish as a considerable weight in the US. My impression is that only a handful of americans know spanish well enough to talk or read.
I don't even know if you have a foreign language as a mandatory subject for some years or if it's just optional.
It's strange, wrong, and makes americans even more apart from the rest of the world, it isolates you even more.

Citizen of EU

First of all, the language is ENGLISH not American, so it has nothing to do with the US. Probably nobody here in Europe cares, what kind of language the Americans speak, for all we care you can speak Martian if you want...

We learn foreign languages because we want to know something more than just one thing. We do it for ourselves, not because of the Americans. We do business mostly between each other and only few percent of all European business is done with the US (in response to one of the answers above).

I am surprised though, that you don't learn anything at all. Although if you take a look to American tourists - one glimpse tells you everything: no idea where they are, speak only English, not even trying to say a word in other language. Terrible. Anyway, I find that awful. You (meaning the whole country) should really consider changing your egocentric attitude to others...

What was the question again? Oh yes. Terrible. Well, we have to admit that there has always been a language, that was spoken by most of the world in order to communicate with others - so-called "world language". It used to be Latin, now it's English, tomorrow it will be... who knows?

MUSICGUY

probably because english is a universal language in most areas of business

im surprised to hear you dont learn a language in US here in ireland we have to learn another european language for example:italian,french,spanish,german,po...

ARE

It is because English is the most common second language people speak in Europe and has NOTHING to do with the US.
European countries have their own languages and it'd be difficult to learn all of them in case you travel so English would be the only option and most EU citizens speak it.
I guess most EU kids at school learn English and a second foreign language like German, French, Spanish.
PS. I agree with seabhcan

Aurora

Good question. At school in my country Finland, children usually study English or Swedish as their first language at an early age or some other language the pupil want to study. Later on they can choose German, French, Spanish, Russian or even Latin.

The smaller the country the more people want to learn foreign languages to get to know and be in contact with others out in our wide world!

I have met many Americans, nice people, some have known foreign languages, most just English. It would certainly be good if people over there, would know other languages too.

The more languages you know, the richer you are!

seabhcan

Most educated people in mainland Europe speak more than just two languages. For example, Every child in Switzerland must learn German Italian French and English.

dariana2

Countries are not required to learn any language.
Many people in Europe speak other languages because they learned in school or they simple need it to communicate at work or when they travel.
In my country you have to learn 2 foreign languages in school. Most people learn English and French but i have friends who learned Japanese.
I also learned by myself Spanish and Italian.

littlekitty1985

Countries are not, but many people choose to learn English as it is advantageous.

Bori

Of course, I live in Albania, all the people of the young generation study English at school or in an English course. In some schools they study Italian,French or Greek.

...

because english is the number one lang. on the list, (the most common) and it also has to do with people taking the initiative to learn a diff. lang.

Rowena

Some people on here are just rude for one thing. We Americans do learn all kinds of languages. Not all of us but some of us do speak other languages.

The Europeans are not the only ones who know multiple languages. I think they are just jealous and want to make themselves seem smarter than us is all. Of course many people from Europe are smart, but Americans are smart as well.

We as Americans are given the choice to learn other languages, and if some of us don't choose to, it's really no ones business.

Ok, that out of the way, some of us choose not to learn other languages because we are given the choice.

I'm an American and I speak fluent German, that I learned in all 4 years of High School :)

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America is still the number one country. People all over the world travel to America and do business with Americans. They feel that they have to know the language in order to communicate and make business with the number one country. America is a financial resource.

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