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Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:21 am
by EGP
Le Baron wrote:EGP wrote:eleven countries in the European Union adopted the Euro as a common currency as the dream of monetary union became reality.
which shows they are not immune to daft ideas. 20-odd countries all using an essentially 'foreign' currency and trashing monetary sovereignty. Worst EU policy ever.
I don't believe you understood the intention of my post.
Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:00 pm
This is a very timely topic, but I do believe it would be very foolish for many in Europe to denounce English in such a way this month or at least not today since it is today
....
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:31 am
by Le Baron
I did. I was merely quoting it to vent about monetary union.
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 1:27 am
by Faust
Le Baron wrote:April fool's joke? In any case the chit-chat around this usually comes from the French who are singularly obsessed with the old fact of being dethroned as the global lingua franca. But the same criticism can be reversed: why French? That too was only spread through the same colonialism or dominance. Just this evening I saw a comment on You Tube stating 'French is the language of the future, everyone will be speaking it!' The delusion around this is heavy indeed.
A strange position to take when you consider that most of these crackpot cheerleaders are usually also the ones moaning about the destruction of French because of Verlan and 'immigrants' and claiming 'real' French is disappearing! Even the official bodies have a somewhat inflated view of the future of French.
English as the de facto EU auxiliary language has never been ideal, but let's see how pleased everyone will be if they have to learn French or German. Even in Belgium where you don't have to cross a national border to find French there are people who barely speak it (or likewise are ignorant of Dutch/Vlaams). I'm willing to wager that the major players in the EU are more willing to speak English than adopt one of the other 'official' languages. How could it ever be a fair decision anyway because we all know only about 5 countries actually hold power in the EU.
Do you think there is another language that is ascendant and maybe more on the upswing than its cheerleaders may think?
I am just imagining maybe there is a corollary to how you view French, but going the other way. Maybe Spanish?
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:45 am
by antstronaut
ah i did not realise it was supposed to be an April Fools' joke. I thought it was just a mistyped link or something. So I ended up doing some searching and stumbled across this:
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/frenc ... uage-44961Plus there has been debate since Brexit as to whether English will lose its dominance or not
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:00 pm
by Raconteur
antstronaut wrote:Plus there has been debate since Brexit as to whether English will lose its dominance or not
Yup, that's true. The less-than-true part was that Germany and France are now jointly going after this aim on EU level.
A kernel of truth is something each good prank needs
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:10 pm
by David27
This is fantastic! In solidarity with this move to phase out English from international dominance on the world scene, we shall henceforth refrain from any English posts in the general forum, and only use French or German as our modus operandi (with the exception of this announcement, of course, which must be in English so all our multinational community members can see and understand the new rule).
And apologies for extending to April 2nd. I missed this on the 1st.
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:15 pm
by Raconteur
This would have been a
fantastic April fools' prank. Admin and mods take note for 2022, we need an official announcement on April 1st next year
On a more serious note, this actually got me thinking: are there currently any online LL communities (forums, etc.) that could match HTLAL/LLORG in terms of scope/longevity? Any such sites in German, French, Chinese?
I once looked for Polish equivalents, but didn't find anything (not that surprising). Naturally, there are some language learning forums, but nothing close to HTLAL's quality.
David27 wrote:This is fantastic! In solidarity with this move to phase out English from international dominance on the world scene, we shall henceforth refrain from any English posts in the general forum, and only use French or German as our modus operandi (with the exception of this announcement, of course, which must be in English so all our multinational community members can see and understand the new rule).
And apologies for extending to April 2nd. I missed this on the 1st.
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:25 pm
by lysi
Raconteur wrote:On a more serious note, this actually got me thinking: are there currently any online LL communities (forums, etc.) that could match HTLAL/LLORG in terms of scope/longevity? Any such sites in German, French, Chinese?
Anyone really into language learning and who's not an English native has already learned English though. So I don't think there would be many not in English.
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:00 am
by EGP
For those still discussing the topics because they hope that English dies out in the EU,
would it be possible to say that the UK is outside of Europe? Therefore not a European language anymore? I don't know how, but maybe call it a detached Atlantic state?
Sorry, I'm just spitting out stupid ideas to appease for no reason. I have no UK blood in me at all. I don't think most native or expert users of the language do either.
The lingua Franca will not change soon (as in centuries) unless China possibly Russia pull a no go on US currency or who knows what...
Anyways just thinking out loud too long.
Re: France and Germany call to phase out English as EU’s working language (Prima Aprilis)
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:27 am
by Le Baron
I don't think it would be possible to fully place the UK outside of Europe; there's way too much history of interaction. Even though Britain is an island and has its funny island ways it has only ever been influential by bringing it outside of the island. Also the language is not insular and can't be divorced from its largely continental origins.
I think we all know that the UK's position in or out of the EU actually has little bearing on the widespread use of English as an auxiliary language these days. It was a factor in empire days, but the main driver and promoter of the language now is the U.S. (if only they would just speak it properly...I'm joking!
).