Languages in Europe

Just a few words to explain this linguistic map of Europe: By their nature, maps are simplified representations of the reality, in this case of the linguistic reality in Europe, which is very complex. This is why a linguistic situation might be very difficult to represent on a map.

On this map, we can see linguistic majorities with official recogniation and linguistic minorities with official recognition. Only the most important minorities are represented. Let us see an example:

In Spain, Spanish is the official language in the whole country, while other languages can be co-official in some territories (Comunidades Autónomas). The Catalan language is co-official in Catalonia and Valencia (valenciano), but only in Catalonia the majority of the population speaks Catalan as their mother tongue. In Valencia the majority speaks Spanish. Now, these demographics can be different depending on which part of the territory we are looking at. Spanish might be majoritarian in some parts of Barcelona for example (even if it is a minority if we take into account the whole territory of Catalonia). This is why Catalan is represented as a majority in Catalonia, with a Spanish minority. It should also be noted that most Catalan speakers also speak Spanish.

This is to say that this map can give a global view over the linguistic situation, but each situation can be different and would possibly need a lot of further explanation.

🇫🇷 Les langues parlées en Europe

🇩🇪 Die Sprachen Europas

Languages spoken in Europe

The abbreviations used in this map are ISO 639-2 codes. See a full list here.

Source (and further reading): L’aménagement linguistique dans le monde