People in the 47 European countries speak about 50 languages and more than 100 dialects, which are the regional variations of a language.
Within the 15 countries of the European Union, the most widely spoken language is English.
About 16 percent speak English as a first language and another 31 percent speak it well enough to hold a conversation.
The next most widely spoken languages are German and French.
Almost half the people in the European Union countries can speak a language other than their mother tongue.
