I've got the answer: english is the language of European Union

I found out some article in the french newspaper Le Monde. I'm sorry, it's written in french but it clearly says that, with nowadays more than 20 official languages in "theory", the only "de facto" vector of communication between europeans and inside the european institutions is english.

L'élargissement renforce la domination de l'anglais au sein de l'Union
LE MONDE | 17.04.04 | 12h30
Avec l'adhésion, le 1er mai, de dix nouveaux Etats, l'Europe doit désormais travailler en vingt idiomes différents. Cette situation, qui grippe la machine communautaire, conduit de nombreux acteurs à privilégier l'usage de la "langue-pivot" la plus répandue dans les pays de l'UE.
Bruxelles de notre bureau européen

Sandra Kalniete, fébrile, reprend son souffle. "J'ai des problèmes, car je ne parle pas dans ma langue maternelle", s'excuse-t-elle. Auditionnée par les députés européens, mardi 13 avril, la commissaire désignée par la Lettonie avait commencé par s'exprimer en letton. Officiellement, rien de plus normal : le Parlement européen a fait sien le mot d'Umberto Eco - "la langue de l'Europe, c'est la traduction" - et a prévu d'interpréter les débats dans les vingt langues officielles de l'Union élargie.

Pourtant, dès le début, on pressent les difficultés. "Nous travaillons désormais en vingt langues. Je vous demande de ne pas intervenir trop vite, pour permettre l'interprétation", prévient le président de séance, le Français Joseph Daul. Au bout de quelques minutes, la belle machine s'enraye. Les questions des eurodéputés ne sont pas traduites directement de langue à langue, ce qui exigerait d'avoir 380 combinaisons (finno-portugais, italo-tchèque, polono-slovène, etc.), mais par l'intermédiaire d'une langue "pivot", en général l'anglais ou le français. Et, au fil des traductions, on perd de la substance sur un sujet très technique : la politique agricole et de la pêche. En tout cas, cela va trop vite pour Mme Kalniete, et l'on demande à plusieurs orateurs de répéter lentement leur question. "Je ne suis pas certaine d'avoir saisi toute la traduction", lâche la Lettone, qui finit par jeter l'éponge. Après avoir prononcé deux mots en français, elle passe définitivement à l'anglais.

Dans la foulée, plusieurs eurodéputés renoncent, eux aussi, à s'exprimer dans leur langue maternelle, à l'instar de l'Autrichien Hannes Swoboda, pour dialoguer directement en anglais. La solution n'est pas la panacée, comme le révèle la peine qu'éprouve Mme Kalniete à s'exprimer avec précision dans cet espéranto appauvri qui n'a plus qu'un lointain rapport avec la langue de Shakespeare. Ainsi est faite, en tout cas, la démonstration que l'Europe aura les plus grandes difficultés à fonctionner avec vingt langues.

"Il faut s'en féliciter : on ne peut pas travailler comme cela. Soit on a le courage de dire qu'il faut travailler avec cinq ou six langues, et c'est le seul moyen de sauver le français. Sinon, l'anglais s'imposera partout", a commenté, dans l'Hémicycle, l'eurodéputé français Alain Lamassoure. Cette position a été défendue de facto par le commissaire hongrois Peter Balazs. Auditionné après Mme Kalniete, il a veillé, après s'être exprimé dans sa langue maternelle, à utiliser à la perfection les trois langues de travail de la Commission et des ambassadeurs à Bruxelles : l'anglais, le français et l'allemand.

Ce régime trilingue est aussi celui qui prévaut lors des rencontres informelles des ministres européens, mais il est en sursis. Bien sûr, les règles ont été respectées lors de la réunion informelle des ministres des affaires européennes en Irlande, du 6 au 8 avril, consacrée à la communication en Europe et à laquelle quelques journalistes avaient été conviés. Dans la salle du conseil, isolés dans trois cabines, les interprètes traduisaient... mais personne ou presque n'utilisait leurs services : bien seule, la ministre française Claudie Haigneré avait des écouteurs sur les oreilles, alors que se succédaient des orateurs qui ne s'exprimaient qu'en anglais.

Lorsque, en fin de journée, le représentant du Monde, invité pour l'occasion, s'aventure à intervenir dans sa langue, il contraint la majorité des membres de l'assemblée à saisir leurs écouteurs. Le militantisme de la langue a ses limites et lorsque s'engage la discussion générale, le Français bascule, comme tout le monde, à l'anglais. Le lendemain, le commissaire français, Pascal Lamy, n'a pas d'états d'âme : des écoliers irlandais ayant été conviés à écouter les débats, il choisit l'anglais.

Dès qu'on quitte la salle de réunion des ministres, l'anglais s'impose avec encore plus de force. Certes, les eurocrates et autres diplomates, qui multiplient les mariages mixtes et sont ouverts sur les cultures européennes, sont très souvent d'admirables polyglottes. Mais, avec l'élargissement, ils n'ont plus guère que l'anglais en commun. Ainsi, au cours du dîner offert par la présidence irlandaise, les convives français, britannique et allemand d'une des tables parlent tous français, allemand, anglais, ce qui devrait leur permettre de s'exprimer dans leur langue ou, par courtoisie, dans la langue de leur interlocuteur. Mais des Macédoniens ont été aussi conviés, et la conversation bascule d'autorité vers l'anglais.

Enfin, à la Commission, l'élargissement est en passe de faire tomber les derniers bastions non anglophones. L'allemand, parlé par 100 millions d'Européens, est une langue trop difficile pour être véhiculaire. Le français, qui bénéficie de l'environnement francophone bruxellois, est en perte de vitesse depuis l'élargissement de l'Union, en 1995, à la Suède, à l'Autriche et à la Finlande, dont les ressortissants ont largement refusé de se mettre au français. Ainsi, en 1997, 40 % des documents étaient rédigés originellement en français. Ce taux est aujourd'hui inférieur à 30 %.

Les jeunes générations de l'Europe méditerranéenne privilégient de plus en plus l'anglais. Les fonctionnaires venus d'Europe de l'Est ont davantage été formés à Harvard ou à Oxford qu'à la Sorbonne. Et le basculement définitif se prépare. Les nouveaux commissaires ont du mal à trouver des porte-parole parlant leur langue, le français et l'anglais, comme c'est la règle. Le cabinet de Pascal Lamy, qui travaillait en français, utilisera désormais l'anglais, la commissaire qu'il est censé chaperonner, la Polonaise Danuta Hübner, ne maîtrisant pas la langue de Molière.

Les Français de la Commission ont leur part de responsabilité dans ce déclin. Une partie a cru que la position dominante du français serait éternelle, et s'est permis, pendant des années, de parler, en réunion, vite et dans un langage familier difficile à comprendre, sans faire la moindre place à l'italien et à l'espagnol. L'autre partie s'est entichée du modèle anglo-saxon, à l'instar de ce jeune fonctionnaire qui avait cru utile de faire une conférence de presse en anglais sur la réforme de la politique agricole commune (PAC), alors que l'usage eût voulu qu'il parlât sa langue maternelle. "Les Français font exprès de ne pas utiliser le français, car ils sont fiers de montrer qu'ils peuvent écrire directement en anglais et sans faute", accuse un fonctionnaire français.

Aujourd'hui, défendre le français à la Commission, c'est être "ringard". Ainsi, ce haut fonctionnaire francophone belge de la Commission souhaite soutenir, face au modèle anglo-saxon, les concepts français associés à la langue française, en particulier le modèle social européen, mais refuse d'être cité pour ne pas être catalogué avec les "ayatollahs" de la francophonie.

Dans ce contexte, l'Europe élargie ne sera pas Babel. Elle a trouvé le don des langues : c'est l'anglais.

Arnaud Leparmentier

Vincent:

So all that condensed into 8 words is: "English is the only realistic official EU lingo".

That is what I said in a posting some wee while back actually. So where does that leave our plans for the new Super Europish?

Are there some frenchman or frenchwoman to traduce this text? My english skills are too weak.

Aye Damian, ye were right. I think we can forget the new super Europish, at least for a while.

Here is the Google translation of the newspaper article:

"With adhesion, May 1, of ten new States, Europe must from now on work in twenty different idioms. This situation, which seizes up the Community machine, led many actors to privilege the use of the "language-pivot" most widespread in the countries of the UE. Brussels of our European Sandra Kalniete, feverish office, takes again its breath. "I have problems, because I do not speak in my mother tongue", excuses myself it. Auditioned by the European deputies, Tuesday April 13, the police chief indicated by Latvia had started by being expressed in letton. Officially, nothing more normal: the European Parliament endorsed the word of Umberto Eco - "the language of Europe, it is the translation" - and envisaged to interpret the debates in the twenty official languages of the widened Union. However, from the very start, one has a presentiment of the difficulties. "We work from now on in twenty languages. I ask you not to intervene too quickly, to allow interpretation ", warns the Chairman, the French Joseph Daul. At the end of a few minutes, the beautiful machine is stopped. The questions of eurodéputés are not directly translated a language with language, which would require to have 380 combinations (finno-Portuguese, italo-Czech, polono-slovene, etc), but by the intermediary of a language "pivot", in general English or French. And, with the wire of the translations, one loses substance on a very technical subject: the agricultural policy and of fishing. In any case, that goes too quickly for Mrs. Kalniete, and one asks several speakers to repeat their question slowly. "I am not certain to have seized all the translation", releases Lettone, which ends up throwing sponge. After having pronounced two French words, it passes definitively to English. In the tread, several eurodéputés give up, them also, to express itself in their mother tongue, following the example Austrian Hannes Swoboda, to dialogue directly in English. The solution is not the panacea, as the sorrow reveals it which tests Mrs. Kalniete to express with precision in this impoverished Esperanto which has nothing any more but one distance relationship with the language of Shakespeare. Thus is made, in any case, the demonstration that Europe will have the greatest difficulties in function with twenty languages. "It is necessary to be pleased some: one cannot work like that. Either there is courage to say that it is necessary to work with five or six languages, and it is the only means of saving French. If not, English will assert itself everywhere ", commented on, in the Hemicycle, eurodéputé French Alain Lamassoure. This position was defended de facto by the Hungarian police chief Peter Balazs. Auditioned after Mrs. Kalniete, it took care, after having been expressed in its mother tongue, to use to perfection the three working languages of the Commission and the ambassadors in Brussels: English, French and German. This trilingual mode is also that which prevails at the time of the abstract meetings of the European ministers, but it is in deferment. Of course, the rules were complied with during the informal meeting of the Ministers for the European businesses in Ireland, from the 6 to April 8, devoted to the communication in Europe and to which some journalists had been invited. In the room of the council, isolated in three cabins, the interpreters translated... but nobody or almost used their services: well only, the minister Frenchwoman Claudie Haigneré had ear-phones on the ears, whereas followed one another of the speakers who expressed themselves only in English. When, at the end of the day, the representative of the World, invited for the occasion, ventures to intervene in his language, it constrained majority of the members of the assembly to seize their ear-phones. The militancy of the language has its limits and when starts the general discussion, the French rocks, like everyone, with English. The following day, the French police chief, Pascal Lamy, does not have states of heart: Irish schoolboys having been invited to listen to the debates, it chooses English. As soon as the conference room of the ministers is left, English asserts itself with even more force. Admittedly, the eurocrats and other diplomats, who multiply the mixed marriages and are open on the European cultures, are very often of admirable polyglots. But, with widening, they have hardly than joint English. Thus, during the dinner offered by the Irish presidency, the guests French, British and German of one of the tables speak all French, German, English, which should enable them to be expressed in their language or, by courtesy, in the language of their interlocutor. But of the Macedonians were also invited, and the conversation rocks of authority into English. Lastly, at the Commission, widening is on the way to make fall the last nonanglophone bastions. German, spoken by 100 million Europeans, is a too difficult language to be vehicular. French, who profits from the French-speaking environment of Brussels, is in loss speed since widening of the Union, in 1995, in Sweden, in Austria and Finland, whose nationals largely refused to put themselves at French. Thus, in 1997, 40 % of the documents were written originally in French. This rate is lower than 30 % today. the younger generations of Mediterranean Europe privilege English more and more. The civils servant from Eastern Europe were more trained in Harvard or Oxford that in the Sorbonne. And the final swing prepares. The new police chiefs have evil to find of the spokesman speaking their language, French and English, as it is the rule. The cabinet of Pascal Lamy, who worked in French, will use from now on English, the police chief who it is supposed chaperonner, Polonaise Danuta Hübner, not having a command of the language of Molière. The French of the Commission have their share of responsibility in this decline. A part believed that the dominant position of French would be eternal, and allowed itself, during years, speech, in meeting, quickly and in a familiar language difficult to include/understand, without making the least place with Italian and Spanish. The other part entichée Anglo-Saxon model, following the example this young civil servant who had believed useful to make an English press conference on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP), whereas the use had wanted that it spoke his mother tongue. "the French purposely make not use French, because they are proud to show that they can write directly in English and without fault", shows a French civil servant. Today, to defend French at the Commission, it is to be "ringard". Thus, this Belgian French-speaking senior official of the Commission wishes to support, vis-a-vis the Anglo-Saxon model, the French concepts associated the French language, in particular the European social model, but refuses to be quoted not to be catalogued with the "ayatollahs" of the francophonie. In this context, widened Europe will not be Babel. It found the gift of the languages: it is English."

Vincent,

Just to let you know...in English "traduce" means to malign or humiliate. The word you were looking for is "translate."

Thanks MJD, I made some confusion with the spanish word.

I am in floods of tears........ :-( Devastated! I have started to make a collection of Celtic Europish words!!! I'm sick and tired of English....I hear it all around me every day and I find myself speaking it all the time...I'm bored with it! I demand EUROPISH! LOL

englisch will never be our language! there are in europe more german speakers than english ones.

Perhaps there are more native German speakers than there are native English speakers, but I am certain that, overall, more people in Europe understand English than understand German.

But I think English is boring, too. So I will happily vote for German as the EU language.

Dulcinea:

You are quite right....in the 25 countries that now make up the EU English is without doubt the prime language and the one that most people of my age group want to learn and master. They see it as the future. You may think it is boring but facts are facts.

I have first hand experience of this new development in Europe...where I live and am very, very happy to do so...Europe is a VERY exciting place in my mind. In 3 years I have learned so much about what is going on around us...I met people from other countries for the first time.... students from other EU countries eager to use English. Even Germans. What amazed me initially was the fantastic level of competence they have in my language.

I also have a part time job where I meet more young people (mostly students) from Continental Europe (mostly Eastern Europe) over here working on summer jobs on short term visas and they help the UK economy a lot while they have a chance to practice the one language they want to learn..English. When I go to work later today if I see any of them I will ask them if they find it English boring. It depends how busy I am as we are not supposed to dally with customers! I will let you know if I get any interesting responses. Maybe you find it boring because English is relatively easy to learn? At least the grammar is when compared with say German and all its difficult declensions. Anyay, surely the irregularities in English pronunciations may relieve the boredom a wee bit? :-)

btw.....you are in the USA are you not? Would you personally have any vote or influence at all in what official language is adopted in far away Europe? :-)

Damian, Dulcinea


english is not borring guys, look at art! Some of them are scottish and wrote excellent books, look at Robert Louis Stevenson!

Damian, I live in the Pacific Northwest - in Washington state. So, my only method of influence would be in charming those in the antimoon readership (some who may be EU officials :-) ) through my words to choose a nice language such as Italian or Portuguese rather than English.

However, I do not think English is either easier or more difficult for Europeans to learn than if they were to learn some other European language. What English simplifies in grammar, it compensates for in other areas. As linguists say "all languages have the same job to do". So, although we lose declensions and verb forms, we add a rigid word order, particles, phrasal verbs, and so on.

I think the hardest transition to make, is to go from a European language to an Asian one and vice-versa. The pronunciation, intonation, grammars are so different, and there are rarely any comparable idiomatic expressions. Not even the vocabulary serves as go-between, whereas in European languages where Latin roots are abundant, an educated guess is almost always valid. The same consonants are common to most European languages, so it's only the pronunciation of vowels that cause any real issues. E.g. continental Europeans always have problems with diphthongs in English, rarely consonants (except the "r"). Yet many Asians who learn a European language consistently have problems pronouncing clusters of consonants.

Anyway it doesn't look like the EU will be adopting an Asian language any time in the near future :)