It is a basic argument behind this chapter that all human languages are objects of wonder, and all languages and dialects deserve respect, regardless of who they are spoken by. The chapter is a plea for more linguistic tolerance and less linguistic prejudice.

This chapter focusses on the different vowel and consonant systems in European languages, and the representation of these speech sounds in writing.

Languages can differ from one another in their grammatical structures to a remarkable extent. And in spite of being the most centrally linguistic and least societal of all the facets of language, grammar can often be linked in intriguing ways to different aspects of particular societies and cultures.

This chapter deals with the stories of the different peoples of Europe and their relationships to their languages

How many names a particular city has, and in which languages, can tell us many things. Some of the stories which city names can tell us are narrated in this section.

English is very much a European language, as the story of its origins shows. These origins lie rather long ago chronologically, but not particularly far away geographically. It was more than 1,500 years ago that boatloads of Germanic people started crossing the North Sea to the eastern shores of Britain. But they had not come from very far away. The Germanic people who arrived were mostly members of the tribal groupings we now refer to as the Jutes, Angles, Saxons and Frisians, who had resided mainly in coastal districts just across the North Sea from Britain.

In the preparation of these columns, the first of which appeared in print in July 2016, my remit from the New European newspaper has been to write about language and languages in Europe. This has not at all meant that I have never written about other parts of the world, but it does mean that each column has at least some connection with at least one language of European origin. Although the focus is very much on Europe, the columns have been written by an Englishman who lives in England and is a native speaker of English; so when I write ‘we’, I often mean English speakers; and when I write ‘in this country’, I mean England, or Great Britain, or the United Kingdom.

This chapter looks at a selection of words from English, as well as words from many other languages, and discusses their origins and relationships.

Language is by no means only, or even mainly, for communication. But communication is obviously one of its functions. It is also a very complex phenomenon, and in this chapter we examine interesting examples and analyses of the complexities of human communication.

How did Churchill and Roosevelt communicate with Stalin?In this chapter, we examine the linguistic histories and abilities of a number of prominent figures, both historical and not so historical.

It is common to think of languages and countries as simply matching up, but this is by no means always so. Most people in England do speak English; the citizens of France mainly speak French; the language of Germany is German; people in Spain speak Spanish; and in Italy they use Italian. But things are actually much more complicated than that.

In this chapter, we look at a range of place-names and personal names, not from the point of view of controversies associated with them, as earlier in the book, but of the fascinating stories they can tell us about their history, origins and cultural associations.

In this chapter we discuss not only languages of Europe but also those which are no longer entirely European, because they have spread to other parts of the world, like Canadian French and Chilean Spanish. We also mention one language which used to be European but no longer is, namely Arabic. And we also discuss European languages which are, sadly, no longer spoken, such as Prussian and Ubykh, and other languages which are severely endangered, such as Sorbian and Ladino.

English is full of words which have come from other languages. This chapter tells the stories of some of our words for food and drink.

In this chapter, we examine a number ofinteresting words, names and usages which are linked to and can be exemplified through sporting activities, sporting institutions and sportspeople.

Geographical and linguistic factors are intimately connected with one another. In this chapter we shall be examining some of these fascinating geolinguistic issues.