Welcome to the Europa languages portal!

This portal is your point of entry to information about languages from the European Union.

The European Union has 27 Member States and 23 official languages. Each Member State, when it joins the Union, stipulates which language or languages it wants to have declared official languages of the EU.

So the Union uses the languages chosen by its citizens’ own national governments, not a single language or a few languages chosen by itself and which many people in the Union might not understand.

Whatever you want to know about languages in the EU, from the Union’s policies to encourage language learning and linguistic diversity, by way of a review of language skills in the Union today, to the rules for the use of the EU's own official languages, you should find the answer here.

Our policy of official multilingualism as a deliberate tool of government is unique in the world. The EU sees the use of its citizens’ languages as one of the factors which make it more transparent, more legitimate and more efficient.

At the level of culture and of enhancing the quality of life, too, the EU works actively to promote the wider knowledge and use of all its official languages throughout the Union.

The European Union has recognised the importance of its special language policy by appointing a top official to champion the cause at the highest level. The portfolio of Leonard Orban includes responsibility for multilingualism.

The information in this portal is arranged by themes and views, to make it easy for you to find what you want without having to be familiar with the EU’s institutional structure.

 For a full account of the site structure, click on “About this site”.