The languages of Europe

The languages of Europe are the languages spoken daily by the different peoples settled in the European geographical and cultural space.

Most languages in Europe belong to the Indo-European language family, the other large family being that of Finno-Ugric languages. The Turkish language family is also present, while the Abkhazo-Adygian, Nakho-Dagestanian and Kartvelian languages families play an important role in the Caucasus. Some languages spoken in a more marginal way (such as Basque) appear as isolates, while Maltese is the only national language in Europe which is of the Semitic language family.

In addition to current languages, there are many languages previously used in Europe which are now dead, while other languages are in danger.

The Council of Europe is explicitly committed to the protection and promotion of European languages, in particular those which are less widely used quantitatively, whether regional or minority, through the European Language Charter. regional or minority communities, which twenty-five states have signed and ratified.

Indo-European languages: The Indo-European languages spoken in Europe are mainly divided into four families: Germanic languages, Romance languages, Baltic languages and Slavic languages (the latter two being grouped into a Balto-Slavic group by most linguists), but there are also many languages spoken by a smaller population.