Languages of Europe Romance, Germanic, and Slavic

Language facts Did you know that There are between 6000 and 7000 languages in the world. Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia and Africa. 02 At least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual (they speak two or more languages.). 03 Jobs are more easily available to those who speak several languages. Bilingualism enhances the thinking process and fosters contacts with other people and their cultures. 04 Many languages have 50,000 words or more, but in everyday conversation people use the same few hundred words. 05 The mother tongue is usually the language one knows best and uses most.

Romance Italian Spanish Portuguese French Romanian

Romance Romance Languages originally come from Latin. They are spoken by 600 million people around the globe.

Romance Languages Map

1) What countries in Europe speak a Romance language? 2) In what region of Europe are most Romance language speaking countries located? 3) Which countries other than in Europe speak Romance languages? 4) What do the striped areas of the map mean? 5) Which Romance language would you most like to learn?

Germanic English Irish Dutch German Swedish Norwegian Danish Icelandic Spoken by 450 million people around the globe.

Germanic Languages Map

1) What countries in Europe speak a Germanic language? 2) In what region of Europe are most Germanic language speaking countries located? 3) Which countries other than in Europe speak Germanic languages? 4) What country speaks Danish? 5) Do you know anyone who speaks a Germanic language other than English?

Slavic Polish Czech Russian Ukrainian Croatian Serbian

Slavic Languages Map

1) What countries in Europe speak a Slavic language? 2) In what region of Europe are most Slavic language speaking countries located? 3) What countries are in this area, but don’t speak a Slavic language? 4) Which countries other than in Europe speak Slavic languages? 5) What are the three East Slavic Languages?

Language facts Did you know that Most European languages use the Latin alphabet. 07 In their daily lives Europeans come across foreign languages. There is a need to learn a common language. Europe has become largely multilingual. 08 English borrowed words and expressions from many other languages in the past. European languages are now borrowing many words from English. 09 Most countries in Europe have a number of regional or minority languages – some of these are official. 10 The non-European languages most widely used on European territory are Arabic, Chinese and Hindi, each with its own writing system.

What language family is found in the most northern part of Europe?

From what language family do most eastern European languages come?

What language family is found mostly in southern Europe?

What countries speak the Romance languages?