Languages of Europe

There are over 250 languages spoken across Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. As of 2018, out of the 744 million people living in Europe, about 94% speak an Indo-European language as their first language. The three biggest groups of these languages are Romance, Germanic, and Slavic, each with more than 200 million speakers, making up almost 90% of the population.

Smaller language families in Europe include Hellenic (which includes Greek), Baltic, Albanian, Celtic, and Armenian. There are also some Indo-Aryan languages spoken by smaller groups, such as Romani. Beyond Indo-European languages, many people in Europe speak Uralic or Turkic languages, and smaller groups speak Basque, Semitic languages like Maltese, or languages from the Caucasus.

Immigration has brought more languages to Europe, with African and Asian languages now spoken by about 4% of the population. The most common of these is Arabic. Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, German, French, Italian, and English. While Russian is the most-spoken native language, English has the most total speakers when you include those who speak it as a second or foreign language English as a second or foreign language.

Indo-European languages

See also: Indo-European languages and List of Indo-European languages

The Indo-European language family comes from a very old language called Proto-Indo-European. People who spoke these languages started moving into Europe about 4,000 years ago, during the Bronze Age time.

Germanic

Further information: Germanic languages and Germanic peoples

Germanic languages are most common in Western, Northern, and Central Europe. Over 500 million Europeans speak Germanic languages. The biggest groups are German (about 95 million), English (about 400 million), Dutch (about 24 million), Swedish (about 10 million), Danish (about 6 million), Norwegian (about 5 million), and Limburgish (about 1.3 million).

There are two main types of Germanic languages: West Germanic and North Germanic. A third type, East Germanic, is no longer spoken. The only surviving East Germanic language is Gothic.

Anglo-Frisian

Main articles: Anglo-Frisian languages and English language in Europe

The Anglo-Frisian language family is mostly represented today by English (Anglic). English is the main language in the United Kingdom and very common in the Republic of Ireland. Many Europeans also speak it as a second or third language. Scots is spoken in Scotland and Ulster. Some consider it a separate language, while others see it as a dialect of English.

The Frisian languages are spoken by about 400,000 Frisians living along the southern coast of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. These include West Frisian, East Frisian, and North Frisian.

Dutch

Main articles: Dutch-speaking Europe, Dutch language, and Low Franconian

Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands, the northern part of Belgium, and the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. In Belgium and France, Dutch is sometimes called Flemish. Dutch has many different dialects.

German

Main articles: German language and Geographical distribution of German speakers

German is spoken in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, much of Switzerland, northern Italy (South Tyrol), Luxembourg, the East Cantons of Belgium, and the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France.

German has several dialect groups, including Standard German, Central German, High Franconian, Upper German (such as Bavarian and Swiss German), and Yiddish.

Low German

Low German is spoken in parts of Northern Germany and the northern and eastern Netherlands. It can be split into West Low German and East Low German.

North Germanic (Scandinavian)

The North Germanic languages are spoken in Nordic countries and include Swedish (Sweden and parts of Finland), Danish (Denmark), Norwegian (Norway), Icelandic (Iceland), Faroese (Faroe Islands), and Elfdalian (in a small part of central Sweden).

Romance

Further information: Romance languages, Italic languages, and Roman people

See also: Latins

About 215 million Europeans speak Romance languages, mainly in Southern and Western Europe. The largest groups include French (about 72 million), Italian (about 65 million), Spanish (about 40 million), Romanian (about 24 million), Portuguese (about 10 million), Catalan (about 7 million), Neapolitan (about 6 million), Sicilian (about 5 million), Venetian (about 4 million), Galician (about 2 million), Sardinian (about 1 million), and Occitan (about 500,000).

Romance languages developed from types of Vulgar Latin spoken in the Roman Empire a long time ago. Latin was part of the Indo-European language family. Romance languages are split into groups like Italo-Western, Eastern Romance, and Sardinian.

Slavic

See also: Slavic languages and Slavs

Slavic languages are spoken across large parts of Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe. About 315 million people speak a Slavic language. The biggest groups include Russian (about 110 million), Polish (about 40 million), Ukrainian (about 33 million), Serbo-Croatian (about 18 million), Czech (about 11 million), Bulgarian (about 8 million), Slovak (about 5 million), Belarusian (about 3.7 million), Slovene (about 2.3 million), and Macedonian (about 1.6 million).

Slavic languages are divided into three groups: West Slavic, East Slavic, and South Slavic.

Others

• Greek (about 13 million) is spoken mainly in Greece and Cyprus, with smaller communities elsewhere.
• The Baltic languages include Lithuanian and Latvian.
• Albanian (about 7.5 million) is spoken in Albania, Kosovo, and nearby areas.
• Armenian (about 7 million) is spoken in Armenia and nearby regions.
• There are six living Celtic languages, including Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Breton, and Manx.
• Romani (about 4.6 million) is spoken by Romani people across Europe.
• Ossetian (about 600,000) is an Iranian language spoken in the North Caucasus.

Uralic languages

Main article: Uralic languages

The Finnic languages include Finnish, spoken by about 5 million people, and Estonian, spoken by about 1 million people. There are also smaller languages like Kven, with around 8,000 speakers. Other Finno-Permic languages include Mari, with about 400,000 speakers, and the Sami languages, with about 30,000 speakers.

The Ugric branch includes the Hungarian language, spoken by about 13 million people, which came to Europe during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. The Samoyedic Nenets language is spoken in Nenets Autonomous Okrug in far northeastern Europe, near the Ural Mountains.

Semitic languages

Main article: Semitic languages

• Maltese is a special kind of language spoken in Malta by about 500,000 people. It comes from an old Arabic language but has many words and sounds from Italian, French, and English. It is unique because it is written with the same letters we use in English and is one of the official languages of the EU.
• Cypriot Maronite Arabic is spoken by some people in Cyprus, especially in Nicosia, Kormakiti, and Lemesos. Their ancestors brought this language from Lebanon many years ago, and it has some influences from Greek.
• Eastern Aramaic is spoken by some communities in Europe who moved there during a difficult time in history.

Turkic languages

Main article: Turkic languages

Europe is home to several Turkic languages. The Oghuz group includes Turkish, spoken in East Thrace and by immigrant groups, and Azerbaijani, spoken in Northeast Azerbaijan and parts of Southern Russia. The Kipchak group features languages like Crimean Tatar, Karaim, and Tatar, spoken in places such as Tatarstan and the North Caucasus. Some Oghur languages, like Chuvash in Chuvashia, survive despite many others no longer being used.

Other languages

The Basque language, also called Euskara, is spoken by about 750,000 people in the Basque Country. This area is located in the Pyrenees mountains, mostly in northeastern Spain and partly in southwestern France. Basque is a unique language that does not come from any known language family.

Other language families in Europe include the Northwest Caucasian and Northeast Caucasian languages, mainly spoken in areas near the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan. There is also the Mongolic language Kalmyk, spoken in the Republic of Kalmykia. The Kartvelian languages, such as Georgian, are mainly spoken in the Caucasus and Anatolia.

Sign languages

Main article: List of sign languages § Europe

Many sign languages are used across Europe. The most widespread family is the Francosign languages, found from Iberia to the Balkans and the Baltics. British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (LSF) are among the oldest continuously used sign languages. German Sign Language (DGS) also has many users.

Sign languages in Europe often develop independently from the spoken languages around them. They are usually named after the country where they are used, like French Sign Language for the language used in France, Wallonia, and Romandy. Some countries officially recognize sign languages, while others do not. Different sign languages may share family connections, but understanding these relationships can be challenging. Examples include the Francosign family and the BANZSL family, which includes British Sign Language (BSL), New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and Swedish Sign Language. Other sign languages, such as Irish Sign Language (ISL), have origins that are still unclear.

History of standardization

Further information: Ethnic groups in Europe § History, Vernacular, and De vulgari eloquentia

In the Middle Ages, Europe was mostly defined by two big ideas: being Christian and using Latin.

The first dictionaries were simple lists of words. The Latin-German Abrogans was one of the earliest. Later, more dictionaries appeared after the printing press was invented.

As nations began to form, they picked certain dialects to be their national languages. This led to efforts to make these languages more standard. Many language groups were created, like the Accademia della Crusca in 1582 and the Académie française in 1635. Language became tied to national identity and was also used to show religious beliefs.

Some of the first languages to have official standards were Italian, French, English, and German. Other nations also started to develop their own standard languages in the 16th century.

Europe has had many languages used widely in different areas and times. These included Classical Greek, Latin, Old Occitan, and many others. Some became important because of powerful empires or cultural movements.

Different parts of Europe have many languages, and some places have tried to protect these smaller languages. Groups like the Council of Europe work to support linguistic diversity.

The main writing systems in Europe today are the Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

The European Union has 24 official languages. This means people can talk to the EU and read important documents in any of these languages. The EU works with the Council of Europe to help people learn more languages.

List of languages

Further information: List of European languages by number of speakers, List of endangered languages in Europe, and List of extinct languages and dialects of Europe

The following is a table of European languages. It shows how many people speak each language, either as their first or second language, but only within Europe. You can find out more about languages spoken around the world by looking at the list of languages by number of native speakers and the list of languages by total number of speakers.

This list includes any language that has an ISO 639 code. However, it does not include sign languages. Because of how the codes are defined, some groups of speakers might appear more than once. For example, people who speak Bavarian are listed under "Bavarian" and also under "German" because of the way the codes work.

Languages spoken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, and Turkey

There are different ways to decide what counts as Europe, and some people think that parts of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia might be included. For simplicity, the languages and information about them from these five countries are grouped together here, since they are usually looked at as whole countries rather than smaller parts.

Immigrant communities

After 1945, many people moved to Europe from other places, bringing their languages with them.

Some of the biggest groups include people who speak Arabic, Turkish, Armenians, Berbers, and Kurds. There are also smaller groups who speak languages from Africa and India.

List of the largest immigrant languages