Why do people in Europe often speak more than one language?

Answer 1

There are many different regions in Europe. Though, a lot of the languages have similair words. These are called indo-european languages, though they sound different, they have pretty much the same structure. Take please in Itialian and Spanish for example: Per Favore and Por Favor.

Answer 2

Because they are surrounded by many countries that speak different languages so in order to understand everyone they learn multiple languages.

Centuries ago, people lived in small communities that were isolated from one another. These people developed their own language that differed from all the other small communities. As the population of our planet grew, people formed nation states that had one or more of these languages within their borders.

Answer 3

There are probably several reasons. The most salient one is the fact that Europe has been colonized and invaded many times over the past 15,000 years -- and especially over the past 6,000 years -- by many different ethnicities coming mostly from Asia, the Caucusus (mountains) and the Russian Ukraine. Anthropologists believe that fair skin and blue eyes common among many northern Europeans originated in the Ukraine about 10,000 years ago.

The largest invasion of Europe, the Indo-European invasions seem to have sprung from the Ukraine beginning about 6,000 years ago. Prior to the Indo-European invasions, Europe appears to have been inhabited mostly by hunter-gather tribes related to the Finns, the Lapps (or Saami) and the Hungarians or sea peoples related to the Etruscans and the Basques.

Originally, many of these peoples spoke a common Indo-European, Finno - Ugrian or Etruro-Basque language of some kind but as the different tribes drifted apart from each other they gradually developed different languages correspondingly.

I was surprised to read recently that some of the largest numbers of languages in the world are found not in Europe but in New Guinea and the Amazon. Some linguists theorize that jungles are ideal environments for creating different languages since human groups are quickly isolated from each other in jungles.

Some linguists also claim that languages tend to be more homogeneous among nomadic peoples who live over wide expanses (or ranges) of terrirtory like the Arabs and the Eskimos. On the other hand, among peoples who live in settled farming communities like New Guinea or Europe peope can sometimes speak different languages in villages separated from each other by as little as ten miles. Yet, the exact reason for this is still not known. There are only some theories.

Answer 4

A wide variety of languages had led to cultural separation in Europe. In Europe, practically each ethnic group has their own country and own national language. However, because of this, it has also led to cultural infusion within Europe, where there are multiple poly-lingual countries that have more than one national language. This has also caused many Europeans to be poly-lingual.

Answer 5

It is good to speak some of the European languages like English, French, Spanish, Portuguese etc., because they are spoken in many countries around the world.

Answer 6

It is because of your ' mama