'Social glue': Why it's no surprise European states are toughening language requirements
Several European countries require the knowledge of the local language to obtain permanent residence or citizenship, and more are introducing such policies or toughening up the level required.
In 2024, France passed a law requiring French language tests for certain types of residency card.
Sweden is currently moving ahead with language requirements for citizenship. Italy also started to demand a language test when applying for naturalisations by marriage in 2018.
And across the Atlantic, President Donald Trump has just signed into law that English is to be the US official language. Why are languages becoming such an important factor in residence and citizenship policies?
Carmen Silvestri, a linguist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Reading in the UK, says 'this trend is not surprising in current times given the rise of nationalist parties'.
Languages as an element of national identity and belonging are historically linked to the birth of the nation-state, in 1700-1800, she says.
'Nationalism remains the foundation of the nation-state. There is no nationalism without 'social glue', and language is the most obvious one,' Dr Silvestri argues.
National identity
According to a recent report by the Pew Research Centre, a US-based think tank, many people say that speaking the local language is what makes someone 'truly' belong in a country, followed by sharing its customs and traditions, and being born there.
Views vary by country, age, education and ideology. Younger and educated people are less likely to see the language as important for belonging, while supporters of right-wing populist parties are more likely to consider it essential.
In Europe, Hungary has the largest share of respondents (74 percent) saying that speaking the local language is key for national identity.
France and the Netherlands follow with 64 percent. Greece stands at 63 percent, Germany at 62 and Poland at 60 percent. In Italy and the UK the share was 58 percent and in Sweden 52, although it reached 83 percent for supporters of the hard-right party Sweden Democrats.
Silvestri says: "Before the nation-state, religion was the identity marker or the 'social glue' linking diverse communities by a shared sacred message and spiritual tradition.
"The birth of the nation-state created a new social construct using other tools to imagine people as one community, and the language was the most immediate one.
"This process was accelerated by the invention of print and the advent of newspapers, which started to spread information using a common language, and the secularisation process after the French Revolution."
Today in Europe, the Pew research reveals, being part of the predominant religion of a country is the least important factor for the perception of identity, with the highest rates recorded in Greece and Poland (19 percent), followed by Italy (15 percent), the Netherlands (12), Hungary (8), Germany and Spain (6), France (5), and Sweden (3).
Multicultural societies
Compared to Europe, in Canada and the US only 49 and 48 percent respectively of participants in the Pew survey said that language is an important factor of belonging.
Dr Silvestri explains the different attitude saying that 'both Canada and the US have an important history of migration and they started as multicultural societies, so there are other factors at play to determine the national identity'.
On the other hand, 38 and 34 percent respectively said it is 'very important to follow local customs in order to truly belong', a share as high as 62 and 60 percent in Hungary and Greece, 42 percent for Italy and Spain, but declines to 39 percent in France, 25 percent in Germany and 17 percent in Sweden.
This can also be explained through a nationalist lens as people access local customs and traditions 'through the knowledge of the language,' Dr Silvestri says.
Multilingualism
In such a context, and with nationalist parties on the rise across Europe, what is the role of multilingualism?
Dr Silvestri says 'multilingualism has no correspondence with national identity'.
'If national identity has correspondence with the language, multilingualism is not a factor of identity or belonging. It is a tool to access texts and to communicate," she said.
"It helps to connect social groups, and while it is important to have a socio-linguistic root in the native language, multilingualism helps to connect, collaborate, share, and also understand otherness developing a wider view of communities beyond the boundaries of national identity.'
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