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Thought experiment, or maybe just a crazy thought: what if the European Union would prefer to stop using English after a hard Brexit and starts looking for an a

Thought experiment, or maybe just a crazy thought: what if the European Union would prefer to stop using English after a hard Brexit and starts looking for an alternative lingua franca. What if a EU directive was then issued, mandating Esperanto as a de jure national language in each of the member states, in addition to the existing national languages. Schools all over the EU start to offer it as the first choice for a second language to learn. Cultural works in Esperanto are subsidized. Having established a big base of speakers and being constructed to be very easy to learn, the language then spreads virally and becomes the new global lingua franca. Plausible?

sudosteph 8y ago
I say not plausible at all, and I'm a fan of Esperanto. If Esperanto is going to get adopted anywhere, it would have to start in the far east (China mostly). The fact that Esperanto has phonetic pronunciation that matches the spelling of words, strongly regular grammar, and latin roots that make learning French or English easier makes it more plausible that it would mostly appeal to a nation which needs to improve literacy and communication quickly for economic reasons, and doesn't want the cultural baggage of another nation's language would choose it. Also, Esperanto has some socialist roots to it that could appeal to China. Europe had a chance to embrace esperanto back in the day, gave it a heck no. And without English, the default lingua franca, would definitely be French.
raverbashing 8y ago
Not plausible, they would still have 2 members where English plays an important role: Ireland (though not the 1st official language) and Malta
- albertgoeswoof 8y ago
  Most people in Ireland don’t speak Irish, English is just not the official language for political reasons
  - dorchadas 8y ago
    And you can be damn certain they wouldn't have picked Irish as their official language if the UK hadn't already selected English (same with Malta and Maltese). It was because they didn't have to choose between Irish and English that they were able to pick it at all.
- danieltillett 8y ago
  I have always found the Irish approach to Gaelic amusing - you have a whole country that can speak a language that almost nobody actually does.
  - raverbashing 8y ago
    "you have a whole country that can speak a language" Yeah, not really (for both parts) But there are small parts that are (natively) Irish speaking, called Gaeltacht
    - dorchadas 8y ago
      > But there are small parts that are (natively) Irish speaking, called Gaeltacht Unfortunately they're likely to be gone within 50 years or so. The government really doesn't care about them, and just pays lipservice to the language.
jcranmer 8y ago
The EU leaning on English even more heavily after Brexit is already likely, since there's no longer a large country that would benefit from having the core language. Note that EU working English isn't exactly the same English as we're used to--there's a tendency to use some false cognates that are common across Romance (e.g., using "assist" where native English speakers would mean "attend").
kzrdude 8y ago
There's no point to that, more than insulting the UK? And indirectly everyone else that already speaks a working english in the remaining EU.
toasterlovin 8y ago
If that happened, it would basically tell you that Brexiters made the right choice.

sudosteph 8y ago

I say not plausible at all, and I'm a fan of Esperanto. If Esperanto is going to get adopted anywhere, it would have to start in the far east (China mostly). The fact that Esperanto has phonetic pronunciation that matches the spelling of words, strongly regular grammar, and latin roots that make learning French or English easier makes it more plausible that it would mostly appeal to a nation which needs to improve literacy and communication quickly for economic reasons, and doesn't want the cultural baggage of another nation's language would choose it. Also, Esperanto has some socialist roots to it that could appeal to China. Europe had a chance to embrace esperanto back in the day, gave it a heck no. And without English, the default lingua franca, would definitely be French.

raverbashing 8y ago

Not plausible, they would still have 2 members where English plays an important role: Ireland (though not the 1st official language) and Malta

albertgoeswoof 8y ago
Most people in Ireland don’t speak Irish, English is just not the official language for political reasons
- dorchadas 8y ago
  And you can be damn certain they wouldn't have picked Irish as their official language if the UK hadn't already selected English (same with Malta and Maltese). It was because they didn't have to choose between Irish and English that they were able to pick it at all.
danieltillett 8y ago
I have always found the Irish approach to Gaelic amusing - you have a whole country that can speak a language that almost nobody actually does.
- raverbashing 8y ago
  "you have a whole country that can speak a language" Yeah, not really (for both parts) But there are small parts that are (natively) Irish speaking, called Gaeltacht
  - dorchadas 8y ago
    > But there are small parts that are (natively) Irish speaking, called Gaeltacht Unfortunately they're likely to be gone within 50 years or so. The government really doesn't care about them, and just pays lipservice to the language.

jcranmer 8y ago

The EU leaning on English even more heavily after Brexit is already likely, since there's no longer a large country that would benefit from having the core language. Note that EU working English isn't exactly the same English as we're used to--there's a tendency to use some false cognates that are common across Romance (e.g., using "assist" where native English speakers would mean "attend").

kzrdude 8y ago

There's no point to that, more than insulting the UK? And indirectly everyone else that already speaks a working english in the remaining EU.

toasterlovin 8y ago

If that happened, it would basically tell you that Brexiters made the right choice.