Multilingualism Factors of the European Union Member-States

Abstract

Languages are the basis for Europeans who want to coexist and work together. To do this, the Europeans need to understand each other, the EU's neighbors and partners as well, and to teach and promote the linguistic heritage of the Member States. The motto of the European Union – “Unity in diversity” – reflects multilingualism as the basis of the EU, which is enshrined in a number of documents at the pan-European level. Multilingualism makes business and citizens more competitive and mobile. Promoting multilingualism is a great way to unite Europeans, to build a truly inclusive society where citizens' rights are respected. In the EU “multilingualism” is treated as the ability of communities, groups and individuals to use more than one language in their daily activities on an ongoing basis. The European Commission (together with national governments) coordinates the goal of multilingualism and the goals of the language strategy. Languages should not be an obstacle to participation in society, and marginalized language groups should be identified, represented and included in society. However, the national language policy is the sphere of competence of each state. The article substantiates the assumption that there are certain factors that determine the specifics and level of multilingualism of the EU Member-States. The multilingualism index of each EU Member-State was calculated and the countries were ranked according to a number of sub-indices, in particular: official languages, foreign language skills, language education and study, foreigners (migrants) and language policy, everyday languages, international communications. It was found out that according to the integrated index of multilingualism, the top 5 countries are represented by Luxembourg, Germany, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The most important factors determining the policy of multilingualism are the following: the influence of citizens who are interested in learning foreign languages, as well as foreigners, migrants who study the state language to assimilate in society, the influence of using foreign languages in practice and online communication.