At a time when the European Community is coming together, the former Soviet Empire is breaking apart, and countries of the Eastern block are shaken with upheavals, what is happening to languages? What does the future hold for European tongues? C. Hagège, professor at the Collège de France, speaks of these monumental changes from the angle of linguistics; their multiplicity and complex relationship with nationalism and federalism. Paradoxically, the variety of languages calls for a unity which, according to Hagège, can only prevail through the preservation of their differences.