SS6G11a

DIVERSITY OF EUROPEANLANGUAGES

COMPARISON:GERMAN, ENGLISH, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN

Larger in landmass than U.S. Doubled in population than U.S. One dominant language in U.S. (English)

Europe: home to more than two hundred native languages

3 main categories: Germanic, Romance, and Slavic

GERMANIC:

• Has the most native speakers• Live mostly in northwest and central Europe• 20 percent of Europeans speak one or two

languages: English and German as their native language

• Learn English as second language in schools even if not at home.

ROMANCE

Includes French, Italian, and SpanishFound in the south and west of EuropeLanguages come from Latin, the language of

the ancient Roman EmpireRoman alphabet used to write both Romance

and Germanic languages

SLAVIC

Slavic languages include RussiaFound in central and eastern EuropeDo not always use Roman alphabetInstead written with Cyrillic alphabet

HAVING MANY LANGUAGES CAN BE CHALLENGING

Difficult to live, work, and trade with people who cannot communicate with each other

Europeans have worked hard to solve this problem: school children learn one or two other languages beside their own

European Union has twenty three “official” languages

THE LITERACY RATE AND STANDARD OF LIVING

o The ability to read and writeo Usually found in develop or industrialized

countrieso Standard of living is higho Increase wealth of countries allows them

to provide better education, healthcare, access to technology

SS6G11 Europe’s Languages1. Are there more or fewer language groups than you

expected? Explain.2. Within each language group, there are many dialects of each

language. So even within the groups there are differences. Do you think these divisions within groups are also important? Why or why not?

3. Why do you think language is important to groups and regions?

4. Is a common language necessary? Why or why not?5. What are the pros of increasing language diversity? 6. What are the cons? 7. How does ethnic diversity impact our state and our

community?