Jump to content

Joachim Gauck endorses English as ‘lingua franca’ of EU


just john
 Share

Recommended Posts

I was under the impression that English has been for several years now the official second language of the EU. This was after 65% of the EU parliament voted in favour and only some 12 to 14% voted for French which for some reason p*ssed off the French speaking Belgians, why they were getting so stroppy about it I have no idea. Nearly all (the exception perhaps is Belgium) EU countries now make children study English as a compulsory language.

What Joachim Gauck says is of course true, the EU does need an official language, centralised taxation system and an elected president although I did rather think the issue of language was dealt with years ago and we would all be speaking English. Still at least the EU has a national anthem (yes I know its "Ode an die Freude" and its German but then what would one expect?), is a start in the right direction towards EU federalism. Mind you I did at one time think we would all be jabbering away in Esperanto by now. [;-)]

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="idun"]You depict a nightmare Quillan, the United States of Europe, I hope the notion of it withers before it goes any further.
[/quote]

Go further it will. Will we be alive to see it, well possibly but only just if we are. It is the only logical way to go even if your heart says not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For many years big business in Germany (Siemens etc.) have operated in English and it has been a compulsory subject in state schools. Since Germany is about the only economy in the EU not on it's knees or teetering on bankruptcy go figure !

Like it or not English IS the language of Europe - if not the world, accept it. Maybe the French would feel less aggrieved if it were anything BUT.

It always amazed me that the French gave up the Franc for the Euro, I don't think they were against a common currency in principal but I fully expected them to dig in and say 'non' unless it was the French franc !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Certainly not everyone wants to learn the French regional languages as quite rightly they tie one to the region if they are the only language spoken and what Europe needs is greater flexibility of movement for young people. So, definitely English.

This does not mean that one has a single European state, as in the US where there is huge variety or customs and laws between the different parts. But they do speak some sort of English, even if one would like to teach them how it is spoken proper.

http://www.lexpress.fr/region/langues-regionales-l-avenir-ne-mes-enfants-ne-passera-pas-par-le-berrichon_1223933.html

(English translation: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lexpress.fr%2Fregion%2Flangues-regionales-l-avenir-ne-mes-enfants-ne-passera-pas-par-le-berrichon_1223933.html  )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...