A recent Eurobarometer survey that looks into how citizens in the EU regard the use of foreign languages and multilingualism, has produced some interesting findings, with Slovakia among the top countries in favour of people having also a common language throughout Europe, i.e. English, but not so keen on watching films in their original language.
Europeans are more evenly divided on whether EU institutions should adopt a single language to communicate with European citizens, although the balance of opinion is in favour of this approach. Just over half of respondents (53%) agree that EU institutions should adopt a single language to communicate with European citizens, with just over one in five (22%) strongly agreeing with this view.
Opinions on whether or not European institutions should adopt a single language to communicate with citizens are broadly similar in EU15 and NMS12.
Overall agreement that the European institutions should adopt a single language to communicate with European citizens is highest in Slovakia (77%), followed by Spain and Cyprus (66%), and lowest in Finland (24%) and Estonia (32%).
The view that everyone in the EU should be able to speak a common language is most widespread in Italy (82%), Malta (79%), Portugal and Slovakia (77%) and Luxembourg (76%), and least widespread in Finland (40%), Latvia (46%) and Estonia (48%).
National variation is greatest in relation to preferences for watching foreign films and programmes, with respondents in Sweden (96%), Finland (95%), Denmark (93%) and the Netherlands (93%) particularly likely to favour subtitles and those in the Czech Republic (21%), Germany (22%), Spain (24%) and Slovakia (25%) least likely to do so.
For the full Eurobarometer report on Slovakia, click here