Table of Contents
Do Brits learn a second language?
According to a recent survey co-ordinated by the European Commission 80\% of European 15-30 year olds can read and write in at least one foreign language. This number drops to only 32\% amongst British 15-30 year olds. This is not just because all European young people speak English.
What percent of the UK is monolingual?
It is estimated that over 95\% of the British population are monolingual English speakers. There are various minority Celtic languages, and speakers of these are invariably bilingual English speakers.
How many people in the UK do not speak English as a first language?
Less than 2\% (or 863,150 people) of the population in England and Wales reported not being able to speak English well or at all. Of those who reported a language other than English to be their ‘main language’, 79\% said they spoke English very well or well.
Why are there so many English speakers?
The first, and most obvious reason that English became widespread in the first place is because of the British Empire. So English then became an elitist language of sorts, spoken by those who were educated in literature, philosophy and poetry, much like French was back when it was the most widely spoken language.
How many people in the UK speak a language other than English?
Of residents of England and Wales aged over three, 4.2 million, or 8\% of the total, had a main language other than English.
What is the second language in the UK?
Polish becomes England’s second language. After English, Welsh and Polish, the next biggest languages in England and Wales were the Indian and Pakistani languages of Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali (including Sylheti and Chatgaya) and Gujarati which taken together account for close to a million people.
How many people can speak French in the UK?
23\% of the UK population can speak French, 9\% German and 8\% Spanish. Polish is the main language for 1\% of the population. There are 15 other foreign languages that are spoken as the main language by smaller numbers of the population. So, about 22 languages with at least 60,000 people speaking each as a first language. 2011 Census data.
Where are people least likely to be able to speak any foreign language?
Countries where people are least likely to be able to speak any foreign language are Hungary (65\%), Italy (62\%), the UK and Portugal (61\% in each), and Ireland (60\%).