ss6g11a diversity of european languages. comparison: german, english, russian, french, italian ...
TRANSCRIPT
SS6G11a
DIVERSITY OF EUROPEANLANGUAGES
COMPARISON:GERMAN, ENGLISH, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN
Larger in landmass than U.S. Doubled in population than U.S. One dominant language in U.S. (English)
Europe: home to more than two hundred native languages
3 main categories: Germanic, Romance, and Slavic
GERMANIC:
• Has the most native speakers• Live mostly in northwest and central Europe• 20 percent of Europeans speak one or two
languages: English and German as their native language
• Learn English as second language in schools even if not at home.
ROMANCE
Includes French, Italian, and SpanishFound in the south and west of EuropeLanguages come from Latin, the language of
the ancient Roman EmpireRoman alphabet used to write both Romance
and Germanic languages
SLAVIC
Slavic languages include RussiaFound in central and eastern EuropeDo not always use Roman alphabetInstead written with Cyrillic alphabet
HAVING MANY LANGUAGES CAN BE CHALLENGING
Difficult to live, work, and trade with people who cannot communicate with each other
Europeans have worked hard to solve this problem: school children learn one or two other languages beside their own
European Union has twenty three “official” languages
THE LITERACY RATE AND STANDARD OF LIVING
o The ability to read and writeo Usually found in develop or industrialized
countrieso Standard of living is higho Increase wealth of countries allows them
to provide better education, healthcare, access to technology
SS6G11 Europe’s Languages1. Are there more or fewer language groups than you
expected? Explain.2. Within each language group, there are many dialects of each
language. So even within the groups there are differences. Do you think these divisions within groups are also important? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think language is important to groups and regions?
4. Is a common language necessary? Why or why not?5. What are the pros of increasing language diversity? 6. What are the cons? 7. How does ethnic diversity impact our state and our
community?