Apparently we can now add an infantility problem to the list.
French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
221–230 of 392 posts
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#222But French is even worse. To hell with these non-phonetical languages. I am serious. I'd take Latin over these unpredictable monstrosities any day of the week
Literary French is quite phonetic, at least outside proper names. What are some examples where you feel that French writing is not in a one to one relation with pronunciation?
Sorry for being blunt but pronouncing 50% of the letters is extremely non phonetical. There's just no other way of putting it
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#223Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#224Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Esperanto is the Linux of languages.
That's way too generous. Linux at least dominates in servers and smartphones.
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#226The 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…
I think embracing english as the main language of the EU is the worst idea since Brexit. It’s anything but neutral. It’s a concession made to the brits and a trojan for the Americans. They left, they can f right off and take their piss poor excuse of a language with them. It works for programming, insults and not much else. If they hadn’t joined the EU to sabotage it, maybe english wouldn’t be as popular in the EU. L…
The irony.
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#227I’d have thought they would have kept English as it’s effectively a neutral language at that point - it would be convenient to avoid accusations of German or French dominance should either push for their’s in English’s place
Are the Irish a joke to you?
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't it ironic that English is the Lingua Franca?
No, because "lingua franca" derives from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca which has nothing to do with French, apart from people who didn't understand it mistook it for "French".
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#229I'm currently reading a book about the Congress of Vienna and it's amazing that the Russian Tsar argued with the English ambassador in French. Here were all the rich and powerful men of Europe dividing up the continent and there wasn't a single translator needed.
Re: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
#230Ah, a return to the diplomatic norms of the 178th century. Literally a lingua franca, after all.
In turn, the use of the term Frank to refer to western europeans was in relation to the Frankish Empire, a confederation of germanic tribes. France is one descendant of the Frankish Empire, Germany being another. The Franks themselves spoke a germanic language.