SS6G11 The student will describe the cultural characteristics of Europe.

Cultural Characteristics of Europe

1 200+ In the United States English is the one dominant language. In Europe there are over two hundred native languages.

Most languages of Europe can be categorized by its origin or where it started.

Language Chart Activity As you read through the following slides, use the chart provided in your activities document to organize each language into the correct language family. Include important details and facts about each language family (origin, alphabet etc.)

GERMANIC Example. English and German Largest group of native speakers Northwest & Central Europe Germanic languages use the Roman alphabet. That’s the alphabet you learned in preschool.

Germanic 162 Million European native speakers German phrases Guten Morgen goot-en mor-gen Good Morning Guten Tag goot-en tahk Hello/Good Day

ROMANCE Ex. French, Italian, and Spanish Comes from Latin (the language of the Ancient Roman Empire) South & West Europe Romance languages use the Roman alphabet.

Romance 130 Million European native speakers French greeting Latin is no longer spoken as a native language French greeting Bonjour Hello / Good day / Good morning Italian greeting Ciao Hi / Hello / Bye

SLAVIC Ex. Russian uses Cyrillic alphabet (not Roman alphabet) Central & Eastern Europe

Slavic 140 Million European native speakers Russian is the most common Slavic language До свидания duh-svee-dah-nya Good Bye Нет Nyet No

SIGNS USING THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET

with people who cannot communicate with each other. For Europe, having so many languages can be a problem. It makes it difficult to: Work Trade Live with people who cannot communicate with each other.

These are some of the things Europe is doing to try and solve the problem of having so many languages. 1. School children learn at least 2 languages. 2. The EU (European Union) has adopted 23 “official languages”. 3. There are special laws to protect all languages.

Write the question and correct answer in your activities document. How are the languages of French and Italian similar? The two countries are close to each other. Both languages are Romance Languages. They share roots of Germanic languages.

Which major European language origin has the largest number of speakers? A. Germanic B. Romance C. Slavic

3. What have Europeans done to solve the problems presented by so many different languages? A. They do not trade with people who do not speak the same language. B. Made laws that proclaim English is the only official language of the EU. C. Require students in school to learn at least two languages.

4. Which language(s) come from the ancient Roman Empire. A 4. Which language(s) come from the ancient Roman Empire? A. English and Dutch B. Russian and Polish C. Latin D. French, Italian, Spanish

Languages Map Using the following map, create a map key and color the language families on the blank map provided in your activity sheet. Use light colors in order to see which language family is dominant in each country.

Green- Germanic languages Yellow- Romance languages Orange- Slavic languages