For 57% of Bulgarians, knowledge of English is most useful for personal development, Russian is important for 10% of Bulgarians, German for 14% and French for 5%. This is evidenced by the Eurobarometer research presented by the European Commission.
By comparison, across the EU as a whole, 77% of respondents report using English, 14% indicate German, 3% Russian and 13% French.
Language for children
For their children, participants again indicate the choice of English as the first language (81% in Bulgaria and 85% in other EU countries), and Russian – 7% in Bulgaria and 2% in other EU countries.
Language for work and tourism
Most often, EU citizens say that knowledge of a foreign language helps them to work in another country (51%), find a better job (42-43%), understand people of other cultures (41% in Bulgaria and 45% in the EU). Differences are observed in the number of answers about what is needed for a holiday abroad (42% in the EU and 31% in Bulgaria), for business trips (40% in the EU and 31% in Bulgaria), for studying abroad (30% in Bulgaria and 37% in the EU).
Language proficiency
Every third Bulgarian and almost half (47%) of the rest of the EU say they can speak English. Only 14% in Bulgaria and 3% of the rest of the EU can communicate in Russian, 5% in German (10% in the EU), 3% in French (11% in the EU).
Language for leisure
Most often, Europeans use a foreign language on the Internet and to watch films, and every second EU resident (every third in Bulgaria) speaks a foreign language while on holiday abroad. The difference in the number of Bulgarians using a foreign language to read books and news (15% versus 28% in the EU) and for education (7% versus 12% in the EU) is almost twofold.
The majority (71% in Bulgaria and 60% in the EU) say they do not use machine translation. 39% of Bulgarians do not have sufficient grounds to learn a foreign language, and 28% say they do not have one at the moment. Every fifth Bulgarian says that learning a language is too expensive.
Europeans recognize the value of language learning, said Iliana Ivanova, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, quoted in EU statements. According to her, language learning is important for mutual understanding.
