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Should English be the only official language of the EU?

de dbob, 15 de abril de 2015

Mensagens: 29

Idioma: English

Bemused (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 09:23:50

Hell no.
“When you consider the damning statistic that English speaking children take up to two years longer to acquire basic literacy skills than their counterparts in some other European countries and that 1 in 6 people in the UK are functionally illiterate with children no better at spelling than their parents’ generation, then there is a very strong case for re-evaluating English spelling.” Source
And that's just the spelling. Then you have all the idioms and irregularities.
Why would you inflict that on anyone if you could possibly avoid it?
When native speakers have so much difficulty mastering a language then that language is a terrible choice as an IAL.

Leke (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 16:38:41

I voted yes because I think English is currently very popular in the EU and the rest of the world. This trend is also increasing in young people.

However, a decision to define a single official EU language should not be a permanent one. Esperanto is extremely well suited, but it does need to establish an accepted popularity through educational funding. Only after it achieves wide acceptance, can it be considered the new official language for the EU.

Tempodivalse (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 16:44:50

bryku:"What level do you point to? What level is necessary?"

The level of freely expressing yourself.
My thoughts exactly.

I don't consider being able to mumble broken English to a waiter or concierge enough - yet that is about the extent to which many people (especially the less-privileged) in Europe know English.

English is not easy, and many people will simply never be able to attain an articulate level in it. Let's acknowledge that, at least.

robbkvasnak (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 17:16:44

Suzumiya:I could agree on making English the official lingua franca provided that people don't forget their culture and mother tongue. English is already a very powerful language, all you need to do is change the approach, don't shove American and British culture down people's throats, speaking English doens't mean you're licking the US's ass; it's a language, it's a tool for communication and it can be seen as that without nationalism and linking it to the US, England or any other Anglophone country, Australia, Ireland, Kiwiland, etc.
You may have a good knowledge of English grammar, but the way you write and the words you use are proof that you are lacking in pragmatics and discourse construction in English - grossly.

robbkvasnak (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 17:24:28

According to a study carried out by the University of Texas for the US government, approx 20% of Americans are not literate enough to read a daily newspaper. This is probably due to the difficulties of spelling and vocabulary acquisition in academic English. I teach English as a foreign language to immigrants (all of my students are college grads in the countries they come from) and i have taught English to such groups and at the university since 1999. I find English extremely difficult for nuanced expression on the part of non-native speakers. Just take a critical look at the English written in these fora by non-native speakers - I mean a truly critical look. The results are not too encouraging. I don't mean to offend anyone, but true native fluency with highly fluent accuracy is extremely rare.

Noddy (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 17:31:35

No, and I say that as a British English speaker. I'm sure you've all seen the petition on Avaaz.org. I've signed it so my views are fairly clear.

For me the most disappointing thing about this view is that even the European Federalist Party (who I think will start to gain some traction in the next few years) have adopted the following policy:

Language: The EFP aims to establish English as the vehicular language of the European Federation.

Tempodivalse (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 17:53:33

robbkvasnak:I don't mean to offend anyone, but true native fluency with highly fluent accuracy is extremely rare.
Seconded! I think even many native speakers of English would fall short of this standard.

I have sometimes even discovered that it is easier for me to express the desired nuance of meaning in Esperanto than in English (or Russian). Surely this would normally be impossible for a non-native speaker of any other language ...

KStef (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 18:03:29

I am a Polish native-speaker. I am 17. I started lerning English while i had 6 years old. I also think that the English isn't pretty easy to lern. Now you see the results of my English skills (Maybe A2, maybe B1 level). As a polish man i will teach my children only Polish. If they will want to lern English - they will lern English. If they will want to lern Esperanto - they will lern Esperanto. If not - why i have to force them?

Kirilo81 (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 18:18:50

According to Eurostat, besides the 13% English native speakers in the EU only 8% of the population speak English at a high level. Making English the only official language of the EU would mean to exclude 79% of its inhabitants from social and political participation...

robbkvasnak (Mostrar o perfil) 16 de abril de 2015 18:21:17

Kirilo81:According to Eurostat, besides the 13% English native speakers in the EU only 8% of the population speak English at a high level. Making English the only official language of the EU would mean to exclude 79% of its inhabitants from social and political participation...
Excellent point, Kirilo! Thanks

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