Almost 50 per cent of the population cannot speak a second language and many do not see any reason to, a survey has found.
According to the research from Eurobarometer, 49.7 per cent of the population speak English only. This is the fifth worst rate in the EU. The survey of 1,000 people in each state reveals that Britain has the highest number of citizens unable to speak a second language (65.9 per cent), followed by Portugal (56.3 per cent), Spain (53.4 per cent) and France (50.7 per cent). The EU average is 47.3 per cent.
Almost 40 per cent of Irish people said it was not useful to know another language, with only 28 per cent holding this view in the EU. Ms Joan Williams, co-ordinator of the new campaign, European Year of Languages, in the Republic, said the large number of people who saw no use in learning another language was worrying. "It seems to imply a narrow, insular way of seeing the world and an unwillingness to engage with other cultures through the rich medium of their own languages," she said.
Of those who spoke a second language, almost 38 per cent were able to speak Irish and 25 per cent could speak French. Almost 8 per cent could speak German and almost 3 per cent Spanish.
After that a range of languages were spoken, including Italian (0.9 per cent) and Greek (0.6 per cent).
In Britain, French was by far the most popular second language (22.2) followed by German (9.8 per cent) and Spanish (6.3 per cent).
The main reasons for learning a second language among Irish people were: to use on holidays abroad, personal satisfaction and to be able to work abroad. The reasons for not learning one were: lack of motivation, not enough time to study and too few opportunities to use the language.
Across the EU, German is the most common first language, followed by French, Italian and English. English is the most widely spoken second language.
European Year of Languages, launched a fortnight ago, aims to promote linguistic diversity across EU states. Ms Williams said: "It's clear the campaign has a major job to do to bring our attitudes to language acquisition to a level comparable to our European neighbours."