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Yeah, it feels like gradually transitioning to English as the primary language would be the one of the best ways to improve the economy in most EU countries (as

by devit 8y ago

Yeah, it feels like gradually transitioning to English as the primary language would be the one of the best ways to improve the economy in most EU countries (as well as non-EU countries to some extent) since it would dramatically boost skilled immigration, and also make their citizens more educated and make communication with foreigner easier.

bdamm 8y ago
Boosting immigration isn't necessarily a desired outcome. Also, why would speaking English specifically make anyone more educated? Compared to, say, German or Chinese? I agree with the benefit of English as the contemporary lingua franca, but these two reasons given don't make sense to me as a driver for "transitioning to English".
- zokier 8y ago
  > Also, why would speaking English specifically make anyone more educated? Because there is huge amount of content in English compared to any other language, starting from the majority of academic papers.
briandear 8y ago
The French would lose their mind if they read your comment. It seems like France has a very strong linguistic inferiority complex compared to all other EU countries. English proficiency in France is among the lowest in the EU. I blame mandatory dubbing. I found it very difficult to find English movies in English, while in countries where subtitling is standard, English proficiency is higher.
- KozmoNau7 8y ago
  I've noticed this in Germany as well. Most people over the age of 40-50 have quite poor English skills, at least outside of the largest cities. Even young people in their 20s are markedly worse at English compared to young people in Denmark or Sweden, where dubbing is only used for cartoons and movies aimed at kids. Maybe dubbing is the reason, or maybe it's simply due to living in a country of ~85 million people with one language. When you have so much content and research in your native language, you can get quite far without having to learn any foreign languages.
- sametmax 8y ago
  French here. It's true and it's a huge problem. People confuse accepting another language in your life and abandoning yours. They are very attached to their language, it's part of their identity. Some part of france even still have a few people trying to protect a local dialect like the nissart or the breton. All in all, the ability to speak english is pretty low in france, and I think it hurts the country more than it helps it. We have our own world for computer... So what ? It's time for europe to make english an official second language for all countries. People can speak theit own language as much as they want, but they should all be able to communicate together. Vote together, build together, fill the same forms and share cooking receipes in an easy way. Having a democracy in 25 languages is too much of a challenge.
  - PoachedSausage 8y ago
    Ha, I can see the headlines now... "EU to make English official language, Brexit called off" Language preservation is alive and well here too, parts of Wales are very keen on preserving the language, which interestingly is similar to the Breton language. Whilst living in Wales I once knew a French guy from Breton, he was able to pick up Welsh fairly quickly.

by devit 8y ago

bdamm 8y ago

Boosting immigration isn't necessarily a desired outcome. Also, why would speaking English specifically make anyone more educated? Compared to, say, German or Chinese? I agree with the benefit of English as the contemporary lingua franca, but these two reasons given don't make sense to me as a driver for "transitioning to English".

zokier 8y ago
> Also, why would speaking English specifically make anyone more educated? Because there is huge amount of content in English compared to any other language, starting from the majority of academic papers.

briandear 8y ago

The French would lose their mind if they read your comment. It seems like France has a very strong linguistic inferiority complex compared to all other EU countries. English proficiency in France is among the lowest in the EU. I blame mandatory dubbing. I found it very difficult to find English movies in English, while in countries where subtitling is standard, English proficiency is higher.

KozmoNau7 8y ago
I've noticed this in Germany as well. Most people over the age of 40-50 have quite poor English skills, at least outside of the largest cities. Even young people in their 20s are markedly worse at English compared to young people in Denmark or Sweden, where dubbing is only used for cartoons and movies aimed at kids. Maybe dubbing is the reason, or maybe it's simply due to living in a country of ~85 million people with one language. When you have so much content and research in your native language, you can get quite far without having to learn any foreign languages.
sametmax 8y ago
French here. It's true and it's a huge problem. People confuse accepting another language in your life and abandoning yours. They are very attached to their language, it's part of their identity. Some part of france even still have a few people trying to protect a local dialect like the nissart or the breton. All in all, the ability to speak english is pretty low in france, and I think it hurts the country more than it helps it. We have our own world for computer... So what ? It's time for europe to make english an official second language for all countries. People can speak theit own language as much as they want, but they should all be able to communicate together. Vote together, build together, fill the same forms and share cooking receipes in an easy way. Having a democracy in 25 languages is too much of a challenge.
- PoachedSausage 8y ago
  Ha, I can see the headlines now... "EU to make English official language, Brexit called off" Language preservation is alive and well here too, parts of Wales are very keen on preserving the language, which interestingly is similar to the Breton language. Whilst living in Wales I once knew a French guy from Breton, he was able to pick up Welsh fairly quickly.