The eighteenth century was a period of intense economic and cultural exchange and a time during which new forms of sociability and corporate culture were emerging everywhere in Europe. The rampant nationalism of the past three centuries has made the nations of Europe to our minds much more monolingual than they used to be in real life. In fact, the linguistic situation in many countries was characterized by multilingualism, various languages being used in different contexts and having different functions. The same holds more specifically for many social and professional milieux. The linguistic needs of social, religious, and professional groups also had an impact on education, and on its provisions and institutions. Language learning underwent serious changes throughout the century, and different didactic traditions often clashed. In northern Europe, the need to speak the vernacular language(s), particularly for trade purposes, often contrasted with the tradition of studying Latin in the field of learning and scholarship. While in the course of the eighteenth century French had become a lingua franca in social life for most of the European elites, German, English, Italian, and a few other languages were also used extensively by non-native speakers in different parts of Europe and in various contexts. In some cases, the choice of a language was the sign of an emerging economic interest, or of a changing political preference; in others it could be explained by the circulation of knowledge, by a desire for innovation, or by existing networks. Multilingual states such as the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian Empire, or the short-lived Napoleonic Empire, or countries without a strong unitary policy in matters of language and culture, such as the Netherlands, are particularly interesting from the point of view of language choice.

This broad, multinational collection of essays challenges the traditional image of the monolingual character of the world of the Ancien Régime by showing the unexpected riches of multi- and plurilingualism, the competition between languages and the impact of languages on national consciousness and vice versa. It insists on the important role played by selective language use in the social life of the prenationalist world; it also considers the educational provisions made during the preparation and early constitution of modern society in the Enlightenment.