Which countries offer the best conditions for speaking a new language optimally in the near future? The learning platform Preply has dealt with this question and conducted a study that should provide answers. The result is the
European Language Index
, which analysed the language learning environment of 27 EU countries.
According to the study, Luxembourg offers the best conditions for language learning. It is followed by the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Luxembourg scores with an education system that introduces all schoolchildren to a foreign language as early as primary school. In addition, natural linguistic diversity in Luxembourg contributes to its leading position. In addition to Luxembourgish, German and French are also important official and lingua franca.
Ranking: The best countries to learn languages
According to the study, a good language learning environment is characterised by a high population and language diversity, foreign language teaching as an integral part of the education system and a wide distribution of foreign-language TV programmes, preferably in the original language with subtitles.
With a placement in eleventh place, Germany narrowly misses entering the top 10 of the best countries for language learning. Although around 79 percent of people in Germany have knowledge of at least one foreign language, the corresponding language level still leaves room for improvement. Only about one in three Germans can converse fluently in a foreign language.
While the widespread distribution of foreign-language films in the original language with subtitles in countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Cyprus helps to promote foreign language skills among the population, foreign-language films in Germany are almost without exception shown dubbed. The high prevalence of dubbing had an overall negative impact on the result of Germany.
“It has been proven that it is easier for us to learn an additional foreign language if, on the one hand, we are already supported in primary school and, on the other hand, if foreign languages are naturally integrated into everyday life here and there. This happens, for example, when you come into contact with native speakers or when you watch a film in the original sound. With the European Language Index, we want to provide an overview of the different conditions for language learning in Europe,” says Kirill Bigai, founder of Preply.
