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EU & Languages: Policies and your view?

  Tags: Europe | Multilingual
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
66 messages over 9 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 7 ... 8 9 Next >>
cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5837 days ago
1473 posts - 2176 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 49 of 66
20 July 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged 
John Smith wrote:
You do realize that if Esperanto ever became important it would start "behaving" like a "normal" language don't you? Just like English and Spanish Esperanto would become a threat to lesser used languages.

Just like English it would become a source of loan words.

You might not like the idea of your native language borrowing English words but Esperanto is not going to save your language. In fact it could destroy it.


Well, the problem is: My language is ALREADY being destroyed by English. The imports of German and French words during the centuries has been a small trickle; the onslaught of English, starting after WW2 has escalated into a tsunami! You only need to open a Swedish paper or watch some Swedish TV to notice this.

I think it might be inevitable that smaller European languages reduce in importance and may eventually be confined to peoples private sphere.....
There are plenty of examples of this happening to languages across the globe, across the centuries.

If my language was to meet this fate, I'd rather it was knocked out by Esperanto which stands for ideals that I support, and is a "neutral" language (does not belong to one country, continent ideology) ---- instead of English.
2 persons have voted this message useful



johntm93
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5326 days ago
587 posts - 746 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 50 of 66
20 July 2010 at 10:28pm | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:

If my language was to meet this fate, I'd rather it was knocked out by Esperanto which stands for ideals that I support, and is a "neutral" language (does not belong to one country, continent ideology) ---- instead of English.
Since when does English belong to one country or continent ideology? What is the ideology of English, or Esperanto for that matter?
2 persons have voted this message useful



darkwhispersdal
Senior Member
Wales
Joined 6039 days ago
294 posts - 363 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Ancient Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Latin

 
 Message 51 of 66
20 July 2010 at 11:07pm | IP Logged 
Sennin wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:
What actual language policies does it have that are recommended or stipulated across the area? Does anyone know?


The official "target" is that every European citizen should speak 3 EU languages fluently. There is a deadline for achieving this, 2020 or something. I can't remember exactly.

There won't ever be a single "official" language, be it English, German, Russian or French. Esperanto is also out of the question, 'cause it sucks ^_^. The effort is to promote multilingualism.

The EU is having some trouble with the translation of legal documents, with so many member states and official langs. That's why there is a lot of funding for automated machine translation; a lot of smart people are doing PhDs in machine translation, and suchlike :).



Several companies from the EU who buy from the company I work for now require that all quality documents and communications sent to them must be in their official language(s) this is currently causing a panic among the bosses.
3 persons have voted this message useful



aarontp
Groupie
United States
Joined 5266 days ago
94 posts - 139 votes 

 
 Message 52 of 66
20 July 2010 at 11:37pm | IP Logged 
I think learning three languages for the college bound segment of the population sounds
reasonable. I've never understood why "every" student or citizen must be able to do
something for a program of study to be useful. Try to suggest that U.S. students learn
three languages, and you'll get a response such as "American kids can't even learn
basic English, and you're worried about foreign language." This is utter stupidity,
IMO. We have segments of the population that are struggling, of course; but many
American students are doing just fine by global standards. How about the kids who
would benefit? Or should we wait for 100% proficiency in algebra before teaching
calculus? And the benefits of learning foreign languages exceed just becoming fluent
in a foreign language. There are also salutary effects on reading comprehension,
memorization, logic, pronunciation, ect. I'm not, however, in favor of putting kids in
special ed for failing to master a third language. I would like to see U.S. colleges
start favoring proficiency in multiple languages for admission; and hopefully that
would improve the culture here.
1 person has voted this message useful



cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5837 days ago
1473 posts - 2176 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 53 of 66
21 July 2010 at 12:00am | IP Logged 
johntm93 wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:

If my language was to meet this fate, I'd rather it was knocked out by Esperanto which stands for ideals that I support, and is a "neutral" language (does not belong to one country, continent ideology) ---- instead of English.
Since when does English belong to one country or continent ideology? What is the ideology of English?

If you give that some thought, I think you can work it out yourself. If not, then never mind.
1 person has voted this message useful



johntm93
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5326 days ago
587 posts - 746 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 54 of 66
21 July 2010 at 6:02am | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:
johntm93 wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:

If my language was to meet this fate, I'd rather it was knocked out by Esperanto which stands for ideals that I support, and is a "neutral" language (does not belong to one country, continent ideology) ---- instead of English.
Since when does English belong to one country or continent ideology? What is the ideology of English?

If you give that some thought, I think you can work it out yourself. If not, then never mind.
Well I suppose the ideology of Esperanto is to bring people together, but could you shed some light on the ideology of English (and Spanish and German, since I'm learning those)? And since when do natural languages have ideologies, I thought language was about communication, not sharing ideologies.
1 person has voted this message useful



Andy E
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 7102 days ago
1651 posts - 1939 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

 
 Message 55 of 66
21 July 2010 at 9:20am | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:
If my language was to meet this fate, I'd rather it was knocked out by Esperanto which stands for ideals that I support, and is a "neutral" language (does not belong to one country, continent ideology) ---- instead of English.


Yes - Having a bit of a problem with this myself as well . Does English belong to one country, one continent, possess an ideology of and within itself? Can't see it myself.

...it's got crap spelling though.


1 person has voted this message useful



johntm93
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5326 days ago
587 posts - 746 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 56 of 66
21 July 2010 at 9:52am | IP Logged 
Andy E wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:
If my language was to meet this fate, I'd rather it was knocked out by Esperanto which stands for ideals that I support, and is a "neutral" language (does not belong to one country, continent ideology) ---- instead of English.


Yes - Having a bit of a problem with this myself as well . Does English belong to one country, one continent, possess an ideology of and within itself? Can't see it myself.

...it's got crap spelling though.

It does have crap spelling. I'd also hate to see get languages knocked out by any language, not just English.

I still don't understand...how the hell does a language have an ideology?


1 person has voted this message useful



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