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French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

independent.co.uk

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Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#91

Post by MomoXenosaga »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #19

The sane thing to do after the Brexit, was to embrace English as main language, since it has not become neutral ground! According to Wikipedia we have: * Germany: 56% English speakers, 14.5% French speakers * Italy: 34% English vs. 19.43% French * Spain: 22% English vs. 11.73% French * Sweden: 89% English vs. 8% French I can't get over how bad this decision is. How can you ignore these kinds of discrepancies? [1] htt…

If you give Dutch politicians the choice of speaking French or Dutch with translators in an international meeting they will use English.

But I don't think the French really care about how other cultures work. It's all nationalist nonsense and living in the glorious past for them. See Strasbourg.

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#92

Post by WalterBright »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #19

The sane thing to do after the Brexit, was to embrace English as main language, since it has not become neutral ground! According to Wikipedia we have: * Germany: 56% English speakers, 14.5% French speakers * Italy: 34% English vs. 19.43% French * Spain: 22% English vs. 11.73% French * Sweden: 89% English vs. 8% French I can't get over how bad this decision is. How can you ignore these kinds of discrepancies? [1] htt…

Isn't it ironic that English is the Lingua Franca?

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#93

Post by Hamuko »

dang wrote: post #89
Hamuko wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How can you ignore these kinds of discrepancies? The French are (pardon my French) assholes, that's how. Even when the jury votes were announced in the 2021 Eurovision, all of the national representatives held their commentary English, except for the French representative, who did it almost entirely in French. It's also the reason why the European Parliament can never ever abandon Strasbourg even though it makes ab…

Nationalistic flamewar will get you banned on HN. No more of this, please. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I don't see it as a "nationalistic flamewar" as much as "calling spade a spade".

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#94

Post by Aissen »

moomin wrote: post #24

This is a non-story. There are three working languages of the EU: English, French and German. Everyone in Brussels will roll their eyes, use French for six months and then revert to English because it’s the one most people speak. Would they have done this if Brexit hadn’t happened? Yes, they would. France has a chip on its shoulder about French being replaced as the world’s lingua franca, but stunts like this aren’t…

Indeed, it's mostly a non issue. There are so many translators working for EU institutions, that I don't see how it would change much.

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#95

Post by kergonath »

mannerheim wrote: post #56
Apocryphon wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shame there's no real-world interest in the powers that be to officialize Esperanto.

What would be the point? Might as well make Klingon an official language.

Quenya would be a much better sounding option.

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#96

Post by KaiserPro »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #19

The sane thing to do after the Brexit, was to embrace English as main language, since it has not become neutral ground! According to Wikipedia we have: * Germany: 56% English speakers, 14.5% French speakers * Italy: 34% English vs. 19.43% French * Spain: 22% English vs. 11.73% French * Sweden: 89% English vs. 8% French I can't get over how bad this decision is. How can you ignore these kinds of discrepancies? [1] htt…

Its the most French thing I've seen in a long time, and it make me inordinately happy.

The french political class: "It eez time to stick eet to ze germans and ze eengleesh"

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#98

Post by mumblemumble »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #19

The sane thing to do after the Brexit, was to embrace English as main language, since it has not become neutral ground! According to Wikipedia we have: * Germany: 56% English speakers, 14.5% French speakers * Italy: 34% English vs. 19.43% French * Spain: 22% English vs. 11.73% French * Sweden: 89% English vs. 8% French I can't get over how bad this decision is. How can you ignore these kinds of discrepancies? [1] htt…

It looks even worse outside of Western Europe. Bulgaria, Hungary, and Lithuania are more like 1 or 2% francophone, but at least 1/5 anglophone.

I'm no expert on international politics, but it seems like that would severely disadvantage these countries, wouldn't it? With a smaller pool of politicians and technocrats who are proficient in the working language of the EU, they'll have to rely more on translation, and will consequently be less able to communicate efficiently when representing their respective countries.

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#99

Post by ggggtez »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #19

The sane thing to do after the Brexit, was to embrace English as main language, since it has not become neutral ground! According to Wikipedia we have: * Germany: 56% English speakers, 14.5% French speakers * Italy: 34% English vs. 19.43% French * Spain: 22% English vs. 11.73% French * Sweden: 89% English vs. 8% French I can't get over how bad this decision is. How can you ignore these kinds of discrepancies? [1] htt…

This is just a nationalist policy. Even the French don't think it's actually practical. It's just "see, France can push other countries around too".

Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’

#100

Post by kergonath »

nextlevelwizard wrote: post #23

I can see the logic, since UK isn't part of the EU anymore, but considering over all amount of people who can speak and understand English vs France EU wide this is pretty silly show of power. After all even if EU matters were done purely in french it wouldn't be "the killer feature" to make french be taught much more in schools since english is the universal business language. And even if EU states decided that they…

> After all even if EU matters were done purely in french

That is not going to happen. Nothing is done purely in one language in the EU. The language rules are deeply embedded in the treaties; changing this would require quite a lot of countries to agree formally. The three work languages of the Commission are English, French, and German, and that’s not going to change. What can change is which one of these is used the most.

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