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EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

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Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#111

Post by etaioinshrdlu »

s_dev wrote: post #72
rofo1 wrote: post #29

The language of our time is English. There's just no disputing that. You can argue that it's because US won the cold war, and then indoctrinated the world via music and movies, and so on, and so on, but it doesn't change that fact. We should adopt English and move on; majority of people know it and study it. Why regress? The point of using a language in the first place is to understand each other. Everyone learning a…

It's vital small languages are preserved and that the world doesn't become monolingual. Communication is a funny word -- we often mean it to commuincate with others but often we communicate with ourselves in the present -- and to our furture selves -- e.g. code comments are often for your future self as well as other programmers. People who speak different lanaguges litteraly "think differently" and diversity of thou…

That's a fine opinion to have but I happen to have the opposite opinion. A thought has the same meaning in any language. And we actually waste energy in translation and slow humanities' progress with language barriers. I really do wish we all spoke the same language. I feel like I gain nothing by not being able to communicate effectively with some subset of people.

This is obviously not a very popular opinion of mine...

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#112

Post by r3bl »

s_dev wrote: post #72
rofo1 wrote: post #29

The language of our time is English. There's just no disputing that. You can argue that it's because US won the cold war, and then indoctrinated the world via music and movies, and so on, and so on, but it doesn't change that fact. We should adopt English and move on; majority of people know it and study it. Why regress? The point of using a language in the first place is to understand each other. Everyone learning a…

It's vital small languages are preserved and that the world doesn't become monolingual. Communication is a funny word -- we often mean it to commuincate with others but often we communicate with ourselves in the present -- and to our furture selves -- e.g. code comments are often for your future self as well as other programmers. People who speak different lanaguges litteraly "think differently" and diversity of thou…

We could all cherish and love our own native languages internally while relying on English abroad (and online). Those things aren't mutually exclusive.

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#113

Post by pvaldes »

rwmj wrote: post #35

What problem is this trying to solve? Is it the cost of language interpreters? That will probably soon be solved by technology. Is it the lack of a "demos"? That would only be solved if everyone in the European demos also learned English and all local politicians only spoke English, which is, ahem, unlikely to happen ever.

> What problem is this trying to solve?

Being able to classify europeans in first class (allowed to work), and second class EU citizens (PIGs, yellow jackets,... etc), probably.

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#114

Post by sgift »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #100

And make official the EU being just an USA colony (see IT companies), just as the American Empire itself is waning. Such a wise move ! Meanwhile, Macron's proposal is impressively hypocritical(/real-political?), considering how much he has done to pump up English and diminish French...

Using a common language in the EU makes the EU a US colony ..? Because we share the same language as the US then?

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#115

Post by isolli »

peteretep wrote: post #7

> It will rid the French or the Germans of the temptation try to make their language the dominant one in the post-Brexit EU It really won't, especially the French.

It reminds me of this anecdote [0]: "Outraged by English, Chirac storms out of summit"

> After a brief introduction in French, M. Seillière, the [French] president of the EU employers' federation, said he would speak in English because it was the international business language. Without saying a word, the French President left with the French foreign minister and finance minister. He only returned when the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, began speaking in French.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/outraged-by-...

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#116

Post by jacquesm »

Majestic121 wrote: post #88
kayoone wrote: post #61

Living in working in the Berlin tech world, English is already the official working language in most companies. Even as I german i have no problem with this, my only gripe is that it makes it very hard for my non-german colleagues to learn german.

I have the same issue in Paris, I know some coworkers who have been living in France for more than 8 years, and still can't speak a reasonable French : barely able to order at a restaurant for exemple, definitely not able to hold a conversation. I'm not sure it is actually an issue, it just feels weird as a French person to discover that French is not even required in your own country.

> it just feels weird as a French person to discover that French is not even required in your own country.

And why should it be? In big cities people tend to be more adaptive towards this than outside. If you go outside to the country side the situation will rapidly change.

But in every major European capital it is most likely possible to get around on just English.

I always make an effort when in France, Germany and Poland to speak the local language but more often than not the locals speak English much better than I speak their language and after a sentence or two the switch is made. Of course making an effort is appreciated anyway but there definitely is no expectation of being able to hold a full conversation in the language of the place you visit.

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#117

Post by nabla9 »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #47

I don't think English will stop being EU's lingua franca any time soon. Agreeing on a replacement would be politically impossible (the Germans wouldn't accept French, the French wouldn't accept German, the Spanish would have good arguments to make in any of both cases); and having several languages in equal status would just be not practical (you cannot realistically expect every EU citizen to know their native langu…

I think EU should adopt "Rally English" some Finns speak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AtDEbHOcd8&t=12

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#118

Post by isolli »

DanBC wrote: post #96
rusk wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that it has so lany dialects that are frequently explored in popular media too means its a language that can be spoken poorly and still be understood. The listener bears some of the cognitive load and many other languages arent as advanced in this regard.

A Scottish accent in Parliament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4k8dR04TzA A Geordie accent on a British broadcast tv show ( Auf Wiedersehen Pet ) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY4TT3VtR8o

It took me two years of working with a Scottish colleague to fully understand them.

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#119

Post by Chris2048 »

sgift wrote: post #82
peteretep wrote: post #6

> the rest of the EU will be freed of the British veto and able to get as integrated as it wishes Anyone who thinks that EU skepticism is exclusive to the Brits is in for a nasty nasty surprise.

The British position was special for at least three reasons: - British state doctrine has always been: We are the empire, the natural rulers of the world. We only live by chance near the rest of Europe, so we have to interact with the continent at bit more - Britain was a net payer. We may strive for that to not be relevant, but if you pay you have influence - Britain got many exceptions to the usual rules that allow…

> Britain got many exceptions to the usual rules that allowed them to further their position

Can you explain what you mean?

Re: EU must adopt ‘EU English’ as its official working language after Brexit (2017)

#120

Post by jacquesm »

flexie wrote: post #33
peteretep wrote: post #6

> the rest of the EU will be freed of the British veto and able to get as integrated as it wishes Anyone who thinks that EU skepticism is exclusive to the Brits is in for a nasty nasty surprise.

I think that by now everyone realizes that there are EU skeptics in all member countries. There will always be. Around 25 percent of Americans want their state to secede (1). A lot of Italians want Northern Italy to part with Southern Italy. Spain has Catalan and Basque separatists. The UK has Scotland, and perhaps even Northern Ireland. There are many people in many places that think they would be better off in a mo…

Once upon a time Amsterdam was at war with other cities. What those people do not realize is that the only alternative to further European integration is another war, the more and the smaller the slices are the more certain that future becomes. Just the UK seceding from the EU increases the chances of such a thing happening tremendously.
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