More German students learning English FROM The Local

"Although the EU has 27 member states, it has 23 official languages and 3 different alphabets.

'Multilingualism is an issue for all of European society. It starts in school and goes much further, as we need to master an increasing number of languages to foster social cohesion and prosperity,' European Commissioner for Multilingualism Leonard Orban said in a statement.

German students are required to start learning English at the age of about 9, and can begin taking a third language later in their educational career. In comparison, students in Ireland and Scotland aren’t required to take a foreign language at all, according to Eurydice.

But the agency noted that most pupils in those areas learn a second language anyway. It didn’t count Irish or other rare and local tongues such as Welsh as a foreign language.

The study also showed that kids are learning languages at an earlier age. Children in Spain will begin learning a second language at the age of three beginning in 2009, while pupils in Portugal can begin taking English at the age of six.

After English, German and French are the two most popular foreign languages chosen by European students."