Nearly every European agrees that speaking a second language is a valuable skill — but a recent survey suggests far fewer can actually do it, with fluency levels varying widely from one country to the next.
ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT According to a YouGov survey of adults in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, between 87% and 97% across all six countries say learning another language is useful.
Yet when respondents were asked whether they could actually speak a second language fluently, the numbers told a different story.
Denmark recorded the highest rate, with 74% of Danish adults saying they can speak another language fluently. Germany followed at 54%, Spain at 47%, France at 37%, and Italy at 28%.
Britain recorded the lowest rate of the six countries, with one in five adults — 21% — saying they are fluent in a second language.
The dominance of English as the global language likely plays a role in this. In fact, English is the most common second language spoken among Europeans: between 62% and 93% of those who speak more than one language say they can speak English fluently.
In Britain, a quarter of those who speak another language say they can speak French, foll...