My Mother Language and Foreign Languages

There are about 8300 languages in the world. In Europe alone their number is approximatively 200. Multilingualism allows people to better communicate in their personal lives and in business. Let’s talk about languages !

Language Days of International Organisations

There are several International Days for Languages, as for example the « International Mother Language Day » by the United Nations on the 21st february of each year.

Or the European Day of Languages by the Council of Europe, on each 26th september.  

These special days remind the importance of linguistic diversity and the positive impact of multilingualism for cultural, economic and diplomatic exchanges.

My mother tongue is German

As I grew up in Austria, my native language is German. But there are other official languages too in Austria.

The Sign Language, Croatian, Slovene and Hungarian are given a special status by the austrian constitution and the law for ethnical groups. These languages can be used in schools and in public administrations of certain regions.

The borders of Austria fluctuated over the course of history, as borders of other countries also do. When looking at the modern map, Slovenia and Hungary are direct neighbours. Croatia does not have a common border with Austria today. The ancestors of the current austrian Croats (Gradišćanski Hrvati) came already in the 16th century – as settlers. 

Do Germans only speak German ?

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) is ten times bigger than Austria. Which languages are spoken in Germany ?

There are four minority languages : Danish, Friesisch, Sorbian and Romanes.

Denmark is a direct neighbour country of Germany, so it’s not surprising that Danish is spoken there. Friesisch is a germanic language that can be found in parts of the Netherlands and on the islands and coastal regions of north-west Germany.

Sorbian is a slavic language that is used in some areas of eastern Germany.  Romanes (the Romany Language) is the language of the gypsies, the Roma and Sinti groups.

And then there is Niederdeutsch (Platt) – a regional language that exists in 8 of the 16 german regions. Nevertheless, not all Germans know that Niederdeutsch is an own language, many think that it’s “just” a dialect.     

Due to migration, both Germany and Austria have important communities of people that speak Turkish or the languages of the former Yugoslavia.

Latin is my lost language

When I was in high school, I learnt Latin, English and French. Latin is fine, because it’s the basis for all romance languages.

However, I have to admit that I would have preferred to learn Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or Russian instead of this old language that has no « practical use » in our modern society.

Don’t get me wrong : I’m a defender of all languages, but nobody would read my blog in Latin ! I would not be able to write my articles in Latin anymore, but had I learnt Spanish, then this blog could be available in Spanish too, and I could make even more readers happy with it.

French is my second language

Before I moved to France, my English was certainly better than my French. Now, my mastery of French is superior to my English.

When you live in a certain country, you have to deal with the real life stuff of the local people, and you have to do it in the local language.

The deeper your immersion is, the more delicious are the fruits you will harvest. Foreigners that have a true passion for the language of another country, can easily develop language skills that are equal to that of the regular local citizens, and some foreigners go even beyond it.

The american writer Paul Auster for example, who lived for four years in Paris (and about who I wrote a small portrait, spoke maybe a better French than many french nationals.

I observe the same thing as well with other foreigners who are not language professionals : when they have a strong affinity with a certain culture or language, they often know the history of the respective country better and speak the language better than the « indigenous » population.

Which languages are spoken in France ?  

Just a small reminder : French is not only spoken in metropolitan France and its overseas territories, but in many other countries too : Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Haiti, Madagascar, Mauritius, and of course in many african countries.

If we take a closer look on France, then there is – just as with most other countries – an impressive linguistic variety.

The Basque is an isolated language that is spoken in southwest France and in the neighbouring regions of Spain.

Breton is a celtic language. The breton word for Brittany is « Breizh », and Bretons love to give names that start with « Breizh « to many local products. Have you ever tried Breizh Cola ?

Then there are further Romance languages : Provençal (also called Occitan) and Catalan (which is spoken as well in the Northeast of Spain).  

Corsican (classified as an italo-romance language) is mentioned in the « UNESCO Atlas of the world’s languages in danger ».

Creole is a term for « mix languages » that are based on a european language. French Creole is spoken in countries such as Haiti and in french overseas territories such as Martinique and Guadeloupe.

France, with its long history of colonialism, has many citizens with roots in the Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and who speak Arab or Berber Languages such as for example the Kabyle language. Those who come from Sub-Saharan Africa bring countless african languages with them. Wolof (from Senegal) and Lingala (from the two Congo-States) are among the best-known ones.

English is the language everybody should speak

As English is a germanic language, all native speakers of other germanic languages can learn it rather easily. This explains, why people from countries like the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany have in general quite a good level in English.

My English is absolutely fluent and I use it on a daily base. Very often, I even write the first version of my website texts in English, before translating them to French and German.

People in latin countries such as France or Italy, are often not as much at ease with English as Germans and Scandinavians are.

In the European Union, there is a particular situation : After the Brexit of the UK, English is not a direct main language anymore. The remaining english-speaking countries of the EU are Ireland and Malta, with a total population of about 6 million (in 2025).

German is basically the most spoken language in the EU, with about 93 million native speakers (in 2025) that live in Germany and Austria. But is it realistic that EU citizens will agree on German as principal EU language ? I don’t think so.

English is not a direct main language in the EU anymore, but it is an indirect main language. With all the « germanic » countries in the EU and the other EU citizens that have a very good level in the language of Shakespeare, there are certainly at least 150 million EU citizens (a third of the 450 million EU citizens) that can use English on a professional level.

English is the modern « lingua franca » not only of the EU, but of the whole world. Everybody should be able to speak it – in my opinion.

The language I don’t speak fluently (yet) : Portuguese

As I have done internships in Portugal and Brazil, I speak as well Portuguese – at an intermediate level that allows me to hold a general conversation and to do – with some preparation – professional presentations.

It’s not possible to speak all languages with the same degree of perfection. In any way, the best mindset for language learning is that you do not think too much about grammatical errors and wrong words, but that you just jump into the cold water and practice the language.

Currently I consider my skills in the language of Camões not sufficient to write my blog articles in it. Maybe I’ll do it one day. In the meantime you can read this article as well in French and in German.

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