CULTURES OF
EUROPE
SS6G11 The student will
describe the cultural
characteristics of Europe
ELEMENTS
O Explain the diversity of European
culture as seen in a comparison of
German, English, Russian, French,
and Italian.
O Describe the major religions in
Europe; include Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam.
O Explain how the literacy rate affects
the standard of living in Europe
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
O How does the diversity of languages in
Europe (German, English, Russian, French,
Italian) reflect its unique cultural
characteristics?
O How do the people of Europe overcome the
barriers created by the diversity of cultures?
O What are the characteristics of the three
major religions in Europe (Judaism,
Christianity, Islam)?
O What is the relationship between literacy
rate and standard of living?
LANGUAGES IN EUROPE
O Germanic
O The most commonly used language in the world
O Examples are German and English
O Used in countries like England, Germany, Austria, Romania and
Switzerland
O Romance
O Language that is based on the ancient Romans
O Examples are French and Italian
O Used in countries like France, Italy, and Belgium
O Slavic
O One of the oldest languages in Europe
O Uses a Cyrillic alphabet
O Examples are Russian
O Used in Eastern European countries like Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus
RELIGIONS OF EUROPE
O There are three major
religious groups in Europe
O All three religions are based
around monotheism
O Means that there is only one
God
Practicing Islam and
Judaism
EUROPE AND THE
STANDARD OF LIVING
O The continent of Europe has a very high literacy
rate
O Percentage of adults who can read and write
O Most of the countries have 90% percent or higher
literacy rates
O France, Norway, Germany have the highest
O Standard of living in Europe is also high
O Measure of a country’s quality of life
O Most western European countries have high
standards of living, while Eastern European countries
like Russia have unemployment and economic issues