24 February 2013
Should English be the EU's official language?
That's what the president of Germany is suggesting, probably as a way of trying to reduce opposition to the EU in the United Kingdom. (Notice the president's many flattering remarks about the "poetry" of English, about Britain as Europe's oldest democracy with much to teach the others, about how it made modern Europe possible by winning World War II, etc.) I'm not sure what the practical effect would be of making English "the" official EU language, since it's already one of the official languages, although the president seems to think that one "common language" would be helpful and is an ultimately feasible goal. Of course, it would be convenient for American tourists like myself! I'm not sure that's the best argument for it, though. ;-)
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Also can't see the point. It is just as you say. English already is one of the official languages anyway. Moreover it seems to be a natural process and sooner or later English will become the dominant language. If it is not already.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, It must be the Frenchman's ultimate nightmare :-)
Oh that's a funny article! Since last fall it seems that the EU has been weakening. I don't understand why Germany tries to save it at all costs..
ReplyDeleteThe statement of Joachim Gauck has really suprised me, because I thought that there were quite the opposite tendencies these days and that there were calls rather for strenghtening the position of individual "minor" languages within the EU. For example, there was a demand for employing more specialized interpreters who would interpret during EU conferences and meetings not only into English (as it used to be) but also to every other language of participating attenders so that no one has an advantage.
ReplyDeleteI think that EU does not have money for that anymore. However nice the idea of strengthening the position of individual languages might seem, it is not very practical and would be rather costly.
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