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> the EU should adopt English as the main language I don't see it happening officially, but this is more and more becoming the case de-facto isn't it? Especial
by mjn 7y ago
> the EU should adopt English as the main language
I don't see it happening officially, but this is more and more becoming the case de-facto isn't it? Especially anytime things are done cross-border, English is the default language for a lot of situations, whether business or government or education. I was at a scientific meeting at the European Commission last year, for example, and not a single piece of written information, or spoken talk, was given in a language besides English, and as far as I can tell nobody even considered that a question. Even seems increasingly true in France, which has been politically one of the strongest opponents of de-facto English. French politicians still give their talks at the EU in French on principle, but French companies use a lot of English when doing business with other countries.
- solarkraft 7y agoSo isn't it time to establish it officially? I have virtually 0 positive feelings towards the current regimes of GB and US, but the language sure seems like a useful thing to standardize on.
- hombre_fatal 7y agoI feel sad for the likely future where you can't go anywhere without seeing English. It's one of the reasons tourist traps feel so grotesque. Easy for me to say when I'm already fluent in it, but one of the most novel, equalizing experiences of travel is being in a new place and not having the crutch of your native language. Of course, also easy for me to say when none of the downsides of EU fragmentation affect me.
- asdffdsa 7y agoI mean, as a romantic I identify with that dreamy fantastical novelty of immersion in a foreign culture, but pragmatically (and less solipsistically) it will bring immense utility to decide on one language to use as we approach globalization.
- adventured 7y agoIn Europe it certainly seems persistent as a growth standardization language everywhere except for Russia (~5% English adoption) and a select few other nations. I have a bunch of friends from Romania and Ukraine, English is a status symbol, a point of pride if you know the language, and in many cases it can be a considerable boost to job prospects if you can put it on your resume. Sweden pretty well leads Europe when it comes to highest adoption of English as a second language. I've always thought that was a valuable asset for them as a nation when it comes to competing in global tech and business generally. Being able to build an Internet company in Sweden and have no language barrier (and less of a cultural understanding barrier as well) to then go and push into the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand markets ($27 trillion in economy via one primary language, twice the size of China's economy). In terms of adoption you also get the Netherlands at over 90%, the Phillipines at over 90%, Denmark at 86%, Israel at 85%. Another two trillion dollars in economy that has English in fluent-level standard use. In total you get half the global economy with English.
- pbalau 7y agoAs a Romanian, I didn't learn English because I wanted a higher status, but because of necessity. All the things I wanted to learn about were written in English.
- dontbenebby 7y agoI've noticed that outside France and Germany it seems to be the defacto second language. Smaller countries that speak languages like Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic etc just don't have the network effect so they also learn English. Then people in the larger countries like France and Germany tend to want to converse with the most people. The UK is large, and all the smaller countries have ESL speakers, so they learn it to, and so on and so forth. Weirdly despite a lot of global speakers I didn't meet many Spanish speakers in Europe (outside Spain). (Though it is funny to have someone chastise you for only speaking English then blank out when you start speaking Spanish back at them.)