What the Eurobarometer says about language learning in Austria

A small part of it anyway - this article in German ponders some of the results for Austria in the Eurobarometer. The results they reference are here, showing Austria compared to the European average.

One of the things the article notes is that Austria is much more interested in Italian than the European average: while only 2% of those in Europe think Italian is good to learn for their children's future, this number is 10% in Austria. "Most useful for personal development" also shows 5% for Europe and 10% for Austria. Not much of a surprise given that Austria borders Italy, although this doesn't benefit Slovak at all: the two capitals are just 80 km apart but Slovak doesn't even show up anywhere, so local environment isn't the only factor here.

Austrians are also more likely to use their languages on holidays abroad: 71% compared with the European average of 50%.

One other interesting number: the top advantage given in Europe to learning another language is "to be able to work in another country" at 61%. In Austria this is down a bit at 59%, and is overshadowed by two other advantages: "to use on holidays abroad" at 64%, and "to be able to understand people from other cultures" at 63%.