There is a myth that Albanians know how to speak many foreign languages, but Eurostat figures refute that. Almost 60% of Albanians do not know any foreign languages, one of the highest percentages compared to European Union and candidate countries.
According to data published by Eurostat on the knowledge of citizens about foreign languages, it results that 35% of EU citizens do not know any foreign languages.
However, the record holds Turkey, where according to Eurostat about 82% of the population knows no language other than Turkish. The United Kingdom ranks behind Turkey. English has long been recognized as an international language, widely spoken in many countries around the world, and this is probably why the British have become "lazy" about learning foreign languages.
In third place are Romanians, where according to Eurostat database 64% of the population does not speak any foreign languages, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 61%, a very narrow margin with Albania.
Unlike Albania and Bosnia, the percentage of people who speak no foreign language is very low in Macedonia with only 32%, and in Serbia with only 21% of the population.
Even in Germany, only 21% of the population does not know any foreign languages.
The Nordics have the lowest percentage of the population who speaks no foreign language, ranging from 3% in Sweden, to 8% in Finland and Norway.
A quarter of Albanians speak a language other than mother tongue
About 26% of Albanians know one language other than their mother tongue, and nearly 11% of the country's population speaks two foreign languages, according to Eurostat. Even for the recognition of two foreign languages, Albanians rank fifth among EU countries and potential candidates for low knowledge of foreign languages.
Cyprus has the highest percentage, with 62.2%, as it is a country where two languages are spoken, Greek and Turkish, so citizens there are obliged to know the language other than their mother tongue.
In the European Union, almost 36% of the population knows only one language.
Only 3% of the population are polyglots
3.2% of the Albanian population knows 3 or more foreign languages, with the lowest percentages for this category.
In the EU countries whose citizens speak 3 or more foreign languages are: Luxembourg with 51.2%, Finland with 44.9%, Norway with 43%. Across the European Union, only 8.4% of citizens know more than 3 foreign languages.
Source: Monitor
