Editing Europe (section)

===Languages===
{{Main|Languages of Europe}}
[[File:Simplified Languages of Europe map.svg|thumb|right|Distribution of major [[languages of Europe]]|222x222px]]{{See also|List of European languages by number of speakers}}
Europe has about 225 indigenous languages,<ref>[http://edl.ecml.at/LanguageFun/LanguageFacts/tabid/1859/Default.aspx Language facts – European day of languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002010444/http://edl.ecml.at/LanguageFun/LanguageFacts/tabid/1859/Default.aspx |date=2 October 2015 }}, Council of Europe. Retrieved 30 July 2015</ref> mostly falling within three [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language groups: the [[Romance languages]], derived from the [[Latin language|Latin]] of the [[Roman Empire]]; the [[Germanic languages]], whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia; and the [[Slavic languages]].<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/> Slavic languages are mostly spoken in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. Romance languages are spoken primarily in Western and Southern Europe, as well as in [[Switzerland]] in Central Europe and [[Romania]] and [[Moldova]] in Eastern Europe. Germanic languages are spoken in Western, Northern and Central Europe as well as in [[Gibraltar]] and [[Malta]] in Southern Europe.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/> Languages in adjacent areas show significant overlaps (such as in [[English (language)|English]], for example). Other Indo-European languages outside the three main groups include the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] group ([[Latvian language|Latvian]] and [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]), the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] group ([[Irish language|Irish]], [[Scottish Gaelic]], [[Manx language|Manx]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Cornish language|Cornish]] and [[Breton language|Breton]]<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica"/>), [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and [[Albanian language|Albanian]].

A distinct non-Indo-European family of [[Uralic languages]] ([[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Erzya language|Erzya]], [[Komi language|Komi]], [[Mari language|Mari]], [[Moksha language|Moksha]] and [[Udmurt language|Udmurt]]) is spoken mainly in [[Estonia]], [[Finland]], [[Hungary]] and parts of Russia. [[Turkic languages]] include [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] and [[Turkish language|Turkish]], in addition to smaller languages in Eastern and Southeast Europe ([[Balkan Gagauz Turkish]], [[Bashkir language|Bashkir]], [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]], [[Karachay-Balkar language|Karachay-Balkar]], [[Kumyk language|Kumyk]], [[Nogai language|Nogai]] and [[Tatar language|Tatar]]). [[Kartvelian languages]] ([[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]] and [[Svan language|Svan]]) are spoken primarily in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. Two other language families reside in the North Caucasus (termed [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]], most notably including [[Chechen language|Chechen]], [[Avar language|Avar]] and [[Lezgian language|Lezgin]]; and [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian]], most notably including [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]]). [[Maltese language|Maltese]] is the only [[Semitic language]] that is official within the EU, while [[Basque language|Basque]] is the only European [[language isolate]].

Multilingualism and the protection of regional and minority languages are recognised political goals in Europe today. The [[Council of Europe]] [[Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities]] and the Council of Europe's [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]] set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe.