European Union Forums

[Andrewz]

The member-countries of the EU are facing big changes within their societies. It's about the languages they speak everyday. Times when one language used to be heard in public places have long time ago passed. Today the Europeans change their places of living/working so fast, that the population gets more and more mixed everyday. Some are not satisfied that they have to hear foreign languages inside their country everyday and everywhere they go. Others, on the contrary, like it.
What is your position in this sense?

[Hakan G]

I know that if I speak english, I'll have no problem in EU

[Karl.in.eu]

Don't be so sure. I've been to italy and English seems to be a problem not a solution for the locals

[PATKO]

I was in Italy few years ago, and many people were speaking english...

[Terry]

Inside Western European countries we can hear almost any language in the world. That makes these countries lose their culture, since their language is a part of their culture.

[Nicholas]

Globalisation is already a fact of our days so we should get used to it.

[Big_Becka]

I've noticed that western Europe is becoming more alike than it used to. Partly, this is because everywhere is becoming Americanised - I don't think it's the fault of the EU. Over the last year, I have noticed there is a campaign in Germany to stop German becoming full of English words.

I like different languages and cultures: I know it is convenient if business is conducted in the same language, but people should be proud of their language and heritage.

Which reminds me: what happened to Espiranto? And why don't we just communicate in Latin - that's how clergy and academics communicated for centuries!

Only 100 years ago, you could travel around western europe, and each small region had it's own language, customs and dress. You still sometimes meet old people who only speak Welsh or Breton (instead of English or French). The national identities we have now are an invention! It is a big debate in Wales: some towns have both Welsh and English schools, because people disagree over whether to keep their children Welsh (in which case they will only ever work in Wales) or teach them in English and other modern languages (so that they can work in more prosperous areas).

[Yalta1945]

I used to work for a big "pan-European" company all of the EU languages being presented there. In my office the language for our common meetings was English - everybody could understand it. English is the most often used working language in academic and other fields of international cooperation. But in my company I experienced how it can be useful in learning other languages. As everybody knew English, we could use it as an intermediate language in teaching and learning other languages.

[Andrewz]

By the way, did you know that the most spoken language in the world is the Chinese one? It's because the population size is the biggest

[Yalta1945]

By the way, did you know that the most spoken language in the world is the Chinese one? It's because the population size is the biggest

Not sure. The most spoken language may be Airport English.

[Big_Becka]

I heard it was Mandarin Chinese (as opposed to Cantonese, and all the other Chinese languages )

[Terry]

OK, now let me make this clear. The Chinese, Mandarin language is the most spoken in the world, no "Airport English" surpasses it. Thus, about 1,120 MILLION people speak Chinese. You will be surprised to find out that it is not only China where this language is used. Chinese is spoken as well in Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, S. Africa, Taiwan, Thailand.
English takes the second place, with an estimated number of speakers - 480 million. Yes, it's about 2.5 times less than Chinese.
Now let's get back to the topic. To me, the European society is divided in opinions at 50/50. Many of them admit the English language in normal order to be used inside their countries, others don't. Citizens who don't like to use English are usually the citizens of Western countries, such as Spain, France, Germany etc. That's because (especially in France), their native language is becoming inferior to English, and normally they don't like it. Instead, Eastern countries, which are mainly former socialist countries, do like English. The point is that it's too early for them to get sick of it. But, as the time passes, their prefferences might change as well.

[Big_Becka]

Now let's get back to the topic. To me, the European society is divided in opinions at 50/50. Many of them admit the English language in normal order to be used inside their countries, others don't. Citizens who don't like to use English are usually the citizens of Western countries, such as Spain, France, Germany etc. That's because (especially in France), their native language is becoming inferior to English, and normally they don't like it. Instead, Eastern countries, which are mainly former socialist countries, do like English. The point is that it's too early for them to get sick of it. But, as the time passes, their prefferences might change as well.

Yes I've found some resistance to speaking English among other western European countries. I have heard that French is the language of international diplomacy (also ballet) - so some people find it more beneficial to learn French than English. Italian is the language of music, German is the language of technology, and Spanish is necessary to communicate with most of Latin America!

I am surprised eastern european countries like English! Don't you all learn Russian at school? I remember durng the cold war, there was some debate in schools over whether Russian should be taught - quite a few of us thought Russian would be useful

It is also imprtant to note that most people in non-English countries (and younger people in England!) speak Americanised (Americanized ) English. So even the English are worried about their language becoming lost!

[Yalta1945]

Eastern countries, which are mainly former socialist countries, do like English. The point is that it's too early for them to get sick of it. But, as the time passes, their prefferences might change as well.

I'll tell you the secret: their preferences have already changed. There is a strong underground movement in Eastern Europe (inspired by success of Sarkozy) in support of Hungarian language. Eastern Europeans are going to propose Hungarian as the only official language of the EU.