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Multilingualism is vital for an inclusive EU - researchers

30 August 2016
by Sophie Hebden

While most of us have experienced the frustration of not being able to join in with a conversation because we don’t understand what’s being said, weak foreign language skills can also prevent people from fully engaging in European society, particularly if they are poor.
That’s the conclusion of researchers who are studying the link between multilingualism and social cohesion, and who say that multilingualism is vital for an inclusive EU.
Europe has a huge array of languages. There are 24 official languages in the EU and three working languages – English, French and German – but this still excludes the approximately 60 minority languages that are mother tongue for some 40 million European citizens.
Dr Michele Gazzola, who is based at the Humboldt University, Germany, and has worked on the EU-funded LAPO project, says language skills across Europe are often overestimated. He has estimated how many Europeans would be adversely affected if the EU's official language policy was changed to include fewer languages to save on costs, as is sometimes proposed in the press and academic circles.
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