do you want to learn a £áuropean language ? français / french ? español / spanish ? deutsch / german ? essayez donc ! * ! intEntalo ! * versuch' es mal ! * * give it a try!

Click on the language of your choice, ¡§Don¡¦t Know¡¨ or continue reading to get some suggestions on how to start¡K

EUROPE

What is Europe?

A political unit, a single currency, a linguistic mess, an idea or a dream?

Politics and economics

These 12 countries are part of the 15 countries of the European Union, which will increase to 25 next year (2004).

These 12 (¡§Euroland¡¨ ¡V the EU minus Britain, Denmark and Sweden) have been using the same currency since January last year (2002).

If you¡¦re interested in knowing more about the politics and economics of the European Union, click here

Languages

While it is true that the European Union has 11 official languages (thanks to Ireland for giving up theirs in favour of English!), some very small countries (like Singapore or Switzerland) have 4, and at least 3 of Europe¡¦s languages are considered to be world languages (¡§languages spoken and known in many countries, for international use¡¨).

French is spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland (and in 39 other countries worldwide); the only language apart from English spoken on every continent.

German is spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northern Italy (and in many Central and Eastern European countries); the language of the largest part of Europe.

Spanish is spoken in Spain (also in all Central and South American countries except Brazil, and in the United States); together with English, the language of the Americas.

Languages in Europe can be divided into three main groups (coloured dark blue, red and green on the map):Germanic, Romance and Slavic. Slavic languages (like Russian) are spoken mainly in Eastern Europe. English and German (with Dutch and the Scandinavian languages) are Germanic languages, originally from Northern Europe. French and Spanish (with Italian, Portuguese, Catalan and Rumanian) are Romance (or Italic, derived from Latin) languages, originally from Southern Europe.

If you¡¦re interested in knowing more about the languages of Europe, click here

A dream

If you¡¦re interested in knowing more about the idea of Europe, you can read former US President Clinton¡¦s June 2000 speech on the future of the New Europe here

A reality for one UST student?

In 2003 Edmund Lui Lung-sing graduated with a BBA from UST. Since 2000 he has been learning French and German independently. Read more about his experiences here.