European languages mostly fall within three Indo-European language groups: The Romance languages, derived from the Latin of the Roman Empire; the Germanic languages, whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia; and the Slavic languages.
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. Whilst each country has its own official language(s), English is spoken widely as a second language in Europe.