Foreign Language Proficiency of Intra-European Migrants: A Multilevel Analysis

Previous studies on the determinants of migrants' foreign language proficiency converge in attributing importance to the same set of variables. These variables can be integrated in a rational choice framework, and it is likely that processes are at work which apply to different contexts. This study aims to make three contributions to the existing literature. First, it provides a further test of the generality of findings using survey data on intra-European adult migrants as a specific context. Intra-European migrants differ in many respects from hitherto analysed migrant groups. High-skilled labour, study, and 'quality-of-life' migration are well represented alongside low-skilled labour migration. Second, several variables are added which are not available in the official data on which analyses are usually based. These include retrospective information on migrants' previous sojourns abroad, migration motives, language proficiency at the time of migration, and the number of friends from their own and other ethnicities. Third, the study analyses the differential impact of initial language proficiency as well as structural and social integration for groups that differ with regard to a group-specific likelihood of familiarity with the foreign language.