Nuevos derechos y derechos de tercera generación en referencia a la

While the four statements presented here do obtain a mild degree of

agreement among some Europeans, the majority of European citizens in fact

disagree with them.

The first statement concerns the local supply of language courses. A slight

majority (51%) of Europeans agree with the view that language courses

are readily available in the area where they live. Slightly less than a third

(30%) thinks the opposite. It should be noted here that the non-response rate

reaches 19%, which may indicate a lack of knowledge of the actual

opportunities to study languages in the area of residence.

Even if in 22 out of 29 countries polled respondents evaluate the availability of

language courses to be rather good than bad, a wide disparity between countries

can be perceived. The level of agreement with this statement varies from 27% in

Lithuania to 80% in Greece.

Greeks (80%), Cypriots (78%) and Belgians (74%) assess the supply of language

courses in their respective areas to be good, whereas Lithuanians (51% against),

Hungarians and Slovaks (44% each) are the most likely to state the opposite

along with the citizens of the candidate country Turkey (52%).

QA11 Please tell me if you tend to agree or tend to disagree with the following statements.

The availability of

language courses

is good in the area

where I live

In my country,

people are good

at speaking

other

languages

I prefer to watch

foreign films and

programmes with

subtitles, rather

than dubbed

If there were a

language centre close

by, I would use it

EU25

51%

44%

37%

36%

BE

74%

70%

67%

40%

CZ

49%

32%

21%

35%

DK

69%

89%

94%

35%

DE

56%

56%

19%

29%

EE

39%

76%

63%

44%

EL

80%

70%

70%

20%

ES

50%

39%

27%

33%

FR

48%

27%

31%

39%

IE

29%

22%

43%

36%

IT

47%

42%

27%

42%

CY

78%

88%

83%

51%

LV

51%

52%

41%

48%

LT

27%

51%

26%

53%

LU

70%

88%

39%

40%

HU

44%

18%

15%

40%

MT

46%

94%

43%

52%

NL

70%

74%

90%

27%

AT

51%

56%

20%

27%

PL

50%

34%

28%

39%

PT

47%

77%

70%

26%

SI

56%

76%

77%

37%

SK

44%

26%

24%

35%

FI

67%

77%

93%

38%

SE

60%

92%

94%

28%

UK

40%

24%

48%

43%

BG

31%

51%

28%

19%

HR

50%

45%

72%

29%

RO

42%

60%

62%

35%

TR

34%

54%

26%

39%

Secondly, the Europeans were asked to evaluate whether their countrymen have

good language skills. 44% of Europeans think that people in their respective

countries are good at speaking other languages, whereas a slight

majority, 45%, indicate the opposite.

Again, respondents are greatly divided by this statement; in about half (15) of the

countries polled, a majority assesses that people of their country have good

language skills while the other half (14 countries) tends to disagree with this

statement.

The interesting aspect of this question is to see whether the observed language

skills correspond to the current distribution of language skills within Europe.

Respondents in Malta (94%), Sweden (92%) and Denmark (89%) most frequently

say that their fellow countrymen speak foreign languages well. Citizens of Hungary

(73%), the United Kingdom (68%) and Ireland (65%) tend to disagree with this

view.

These results appear to reflect the actual situations in the countries. In

those Member States where foreign languages are widely spoken, the citizens also

think that their fellow countrymen are good at speaking other languages. In

countries with a substantial number of residents who do not master any language

apart from their mother tongue also give a lower rating of language skills.

The third statement deals with the use of subtitles in films and TV programmes,

since research shows that using sub-titles can encourage and facilitate language

learning.

37% of Europeans prefer to hear the original language while watching

foreign films or programmes, but the majority (56%) would like to have their

films or TV programmes dubbed.

Respondents from the Scandinavian countries top the ranks of those who prefer

subtitles. 94% of Swedes and Danes and 93% of Finns like to hear the original

language with sub-titles in their respective languages.

A majority of respondents in 15 countries do not enjoy watching films and

programmes in the original language but prefer dubbing. Hungarians (84%),

citizens of the Czech Republic (78%) and Austrians as well as Germans (76%) are

most often against the use of sub-titles.

These results are in line with the actual use of subtitles over Europe. They

are common practice in the Nordic countries, whereas elsewhere in Europe films

and television programmes tend to be dubbed.

Widespread agreement in those countries where sub-titles are commonly used

could imply that, once this practice is introduced, people remain very satisfied

with it.

Finally, the majority of Europeans (54%) would not be encouraged to start

language learning if a language centre existed close by. On the other hand,

36% of respondents, still a substantial number, announce that if the opportunity

to study in a language learning centre located at a reasonable distance was

offered to them they would take it.

Once again, the variation between countries is wide. Citizens of 24 countries

disagree with the statement, this being in particular the case in Greece (77%), the

Netherlands (67%) and Portugal (61%). On the contrary, the majority of

Lithuanians (53%), Maltese (52%) and Cypriots (51%) state that a language

centre in the proximity would be an incentive for them to learn languages.

These results can be seen to reflect the level of motivation for language learning,

since respondents in countries where the majority would not be encouraged by a

language centre close by also tend to lack motivation and interest in learning

languages.

QA12 Please tell me to which extent do you agree or disagree with

each of the following - % EU

23%

25%

29%

38%

38%

38%

22%

21%

19%

8%

9%

9%

9%

8%

6%

0%

50%

100%

The choice of

languages offered by

(NATIONALITY) school

system is sufficiently

diverse

Regional and minority

languages should

receive greater

support

Languages’ teaching

should be a political

priority

Totally agree

Tend to agree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

DK

In document Alimentos modificados y Derechos Humanos (página 33-39)