European Union National Languages
General Information
Languages in Europe
 Languages in Europe Europe concentrates the most popular languages in the world. Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, French, Italian, German, and English. Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family.

Maps of alphabets in Europe
Alphabets used in Europe
 Main alphabets used in Europe, Cyprus and Turkey:
     Latin alphabet      Cyrillic alphabet      Greek alphabet      Mainly Latin alphabet, but regional also Cyrillic alphabet      Greek and Latin alphabet


Hystoric Map or Europe, 1901
 Main alphabets used in the past in Europe (around 1900)


The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. They include the twenty-three official languages of the European Union along with a range of others. The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity and currently has a European Commissioner for Multilingualism, Androulla Vassiliou (European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth).

In the European Union, language policy is the responsibility of member states and EU does not have a common language policy; European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field, based on the principle of “subsidiarity.” Their role is to promote cooperation between the member states and to promote the European dimension in the member states language policies. The EU encourages all its citizens to be multilingual; specifically, it encourages them to be able to speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue. Though the EU has very limited influence in this area as the content of educational systems is the responsibility of individual member states, a number of EU funding programmes actively promote language learning and linguistic diversity.

Every country of the European Union have institution(s) who coordinate, advise and help develop policies concerning their official language or languages.

European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth
European Commission - Barroso Commission
Androulla Vassiliou
200 rue de la Loi
(BERL 10/110)
B-1049
androulla.vassiliou@ec.europa.eu

Austria

Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenz-Zentrum
Ulrike Haslinger
Hans-Sachs-Gasse 3/1, A-8010 Graz, Austria
+43-316-824150-18
haslinger@oesz.at

Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture
Muriel Warga-Fallenböck
Minoritenplatz 5, A-1014 Wien, Austria
tel.:+43-1-53120 2297
fax.: +43-1-53120 81 2297
Muriel.Warga@bmukk.gv.at

Belgium

Service de la langue française
Martine Garsou, Directrice Générale Adjointe
44 Boulevard Léopold II, 1080 Bruxelles, Belgium
+32-2-4132295
martine.garsou@cfwb.be

Bulgaria

Institut za Bulgarski Ezik - Institute for Bulgarian Language
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Vasil Rainov, Director
Yordanka Trifonova
52 Shipchenski prohod Blvd. Block 17
1113 Sofia
Bulgaria
+ 359-2-8722302
rainovv@inl.bas.bg

Czech Republic

Institute of the Czech National Corpus
Univerzita Karlova
František Čermák, Director
Námesti Jana Palacha 2
11638 Praha 1
Czech Republic
+420-224241490
frantisek.cermak@ff.cuni.cz

Denmark

Dansk Sprognævn
Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen, Director
Njalsgade 136, 2300 København S, Denmark
+45-38158973
sabine@dsn.dk

Estonia

Eesti Keele Instituut (EK) - Institute of the Estonian Language
Urmas Sutrop, Director
Roosikrants 6, 10119 Tallin, Estonia
+372-644 98 43 or +372-644 98 43
urmas.sutrop@eki.ee

Estonian Language Council
Birute Klaas, Chairperson
Munga 18, 50090 Tartu, Estonia
+372-7-735-0136
birute.klaas@ut.ee

Finland

Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus Forskningscentralen för de inhemska språken - Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
Pirkko Nuolijärvi, Director
Professor Anna Maria Gustafsson, Researcher
Vuorikatu 24, FI-00100 Helsinki, Finland
+358 20 781 3200
pirkko.nuolijarvi@kotus.fi
anna-maria.gustafsson@focis.fi

France

Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France
Xavier North, Délégué général
Jean-François Baldi, Délégue adjoint
6, rue des Pyramides, 75001 Paris, France
+33-1-40157300
xavier.north@culture.gouv.fr

Germany

Institut für Deutsche Sprache
Ludwig M. Eichinger, Direktor
Gerhard Stickel
Postfach 10 1621, D-69016 Mannheim, Germany
+49-621-1581126
eichinger@ids-mannheim.de
stickel@ids-mannheim.de

Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
Peter Eisenberg
Alexandraweg 23, 64287 Darmstadt,
Germany
+49-30-84313380
p.eisenberg@web.de

Greece

KENTPO EΛΛHNIKHΣ ΓΛΩΣΣAΣ (KEΓ)
Kentro Ellenikis Glossas

Maria Theodoropoulou
Vassiliki Dendrinou
Karamaouna 1, Platia Skra
GR - 551 32 Thessaloniki
Greece
+30-2310-459101-3
mtheod@lit.auth.gr
vdendrin@enl.uoa.gr

Hungary

Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Nyelvtudományi Intézet
István Kenesei, Director
P.O. Box 360, 1394 Budapest, Hungary
+36-1-321-48-30
linginst@nytud.hu

Oktatási és Kulturális Minisztérium
Márta Fischer, External expert
Szalay utca 10-14, H-1055 Budapest, Hungary
+36-1-4737514
marta.fischer1@gmail.com

Iceland

Íslensk málnefnd - Icelandic Language Council
c/o Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum frædum -
Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies

Gudrún Kvaran
Ari Páll Kristinsson
Neshaga 16, IS-107 Reykjavik,
Iceland
+354-525 4440
aripk@hi.is

Ireland

Foras na Gaeilge
Seán O' Cearnaigh, Programme manager
Pádraig Ó Riagáin
Teach an Gheata Thiar
BT1 6ED Béal Feirste
Ireland
+353-1-6398408
socearnaigh@forasnagaeilge.ie
padraig.o.riagain@tcd.ie

Italy

Accademia della Crusca
Nicoletta Maraschio, Presidente
via di Castello 46, 50141 Firenze, Italy
+39-055-45 42 77 (& 78)
segreteria@crusca.fi.it

CNR Opera del Vocabolario Italiano
Pietro Beltrami, Direttore
via di Castello 46, 50141 Firenze, Italy
+39-055-45 2841
ovi@ovi.cnr.it

Latvia

Valsts valodas komisija - State Language Commission
Ina Druviete
Chancery of the President of Latvia
LV-1900 Riga, Latvia
+371-729 21 89
ina.druviete@saeima.lv

Valsts valodas aģentūra - State Language Agency
Janis Valdmanis, Director
Lāčplēša iela 35-5, LV-1011 Riga,
Latvia
(+ 371) 67201680
janis.valdmanis@valoda.lv

Lithuania

Lietuviu Kalbos Institutas
Institute of the Lithuanian Language

Jolanta Zabarskaite, Director
P. Vileisio Gatve 5, 10308 Vilnius - 55
Lithuania
+370-5-234 66 21
jolanta.zabarskaite@lki.lt

Valstybine Lietuviu Kalbos Komisija
State Commission for the Lithuanian Language

Irena Smetoniene, Chairperson
Zveju gatve 14 - 09310 Vilnius
Lithuania
+370-5-272 33 58 (& 10)
irena.smetoniene@vlkk.lt; vlkk@vlkk.lt

Luxembourg

Institut Grand-Ducal
Guy Berg
Institut Grand-Ducal section de linguistique, d'ethnologie et d'onomastique
2a, rue Kalchesbruck L-1852 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Tel.: +352 247 88640
guy.berg@europarl.europa.eu

Malta

Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-llsien Malti
(National Council for the Maltese Language)
Il-Ministeru tal-Edukazzjoni
Uffiċċju 109, Triq l-Assedju l-Kbir
Il-Furjana VLT 2000
Malta
Manwel Mifsud, President (manwel.mifsud@um.edu.mt)
Ray Fabri, Representative Member (ray.fabri@um.edu.mt)
kunsilltalmalti@gov.mt

Netherlands / Belgium

Nederlandse Taalunie - Dutch Language Union
Linde van den Bosch, General Secretary
Johan Van Hoorde
Ellen Fernhout
Postbus 10595, 2501 HN Den Haag, Netherlands
+31-70-346 95 48
lvandenbosch@taalunie.org
jvanhoorde@taalunie.org
efernhout@taalunie.org

Norway

Norsk Språkrådet - Norwegian Language Council
Sylfest Lomheim, Director
Postboks 8107 Dep, 0032 Oslo
Norway
+47-22 54 19 50
syl@sprakradet.no

Poland

Rada Języka Polskiego
przy Prezydium Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Walery Pisarek
Krystyna Pisarkowa
00-330 Warszawa, Poland
+48-12-422 06 44 or +48-22-657 28 89
rjp@pan.pl
pisarkowa@interia.pl

Portugal

Instituto Camões
Ana Paula Laborinho, Presidente
Fernanda Barrocas
Rua Rodrigues Sampaio, 113
1700-279 Lisboa, Portugal
+351-21-310 91 24
secpres@instituto-camoes.pt
fbarrocas@instituto-camoes.pt

Romania

Academia Româna, Institutul de Lingvistica -
Romanian Academy, Institute of Linguistics

Marius Sala, director
Calea 13 Septembrie nr. 13
050711 Bucharest
Romania
+40-213182452
inst@lingv.ro

Academia de Studii Economice Bucuresti -
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies

Corina Cilianu-Lascu
Piaţa Romană 6
district 1, Bucharest
Romania
+40-213191900
lascu_corina@yahoo.fr

Slovakia

Ludovit Stúr Institute of Linguistics
Slovakian Academy of Science

Slavomir Ondrejovich, Director
Panská 26
813 64 Bratislava
Slovakia
+421-2-54431761
slavoo@juls.savba.sk

Slovenia

Sektor za slovenski jezik
pri Ministrstvu za kulturo

Mag. Velemir Gjurin, vodja sektorja
Maistrova 10
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Tel.: +386 (0)1 400 7959
E-pošta: velemir.gjurin@gov.si

Spain

Real Academia Española
Victor García de la Concha, Director
Darió Villanueva
Felipe IV, 4, 28071 Madrid
Spain
+34-91-420 1478
pllull@rae.es
dario@rae.es

Sweden

Språkrådet – Language Council of Sweden
Lena Ekberg, Head of Department
Birgitta Lindgren, International Secretary
P.O. Box 20057, SE-104 60 Stockholm
Sweden
+46-8-442 42 01
+46-8-442 42 06
Lena.Ekberg@sprakradet.se
Birgitta.Lindgren@sprakradet.se

United Kingdom

British Council
Tony Jones, Director
Research and Consultancy
English and Exams
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street , Manchester M1 6BB
United Kingdom
+44-161-957 7698
Tony.Jones@britishcouncil.org

Oxford English Dictionary
John Simpson, Chief Editor
Oxford English Dictionary
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
+44-1865-353728
john.simpson@oup.com
European Union National Institutions for Language
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom