Do you think that the European Union could be a unified country in the future?

[stormbind]

The official EU language should be classic Latin, and I'm serious. It should be the language used for all official EU correspondents. It's neutral, ain't it?

 

[stormbind]

Umm, shouldn't that be 'New England' vs. 'Old England'?

You gonna make Scotland enter by themselves? They have only something like 4 medium-sized cities (Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow) ...

In either event... first game, Rugby!

 

[PantheraTigris2]

That would be interesting... our NFL freakish-behemoths taking their pads off, (given say, a few weeks to practice rugby), going up against your players. The NFL players would probably just grasp eachothers hands, form a giant line, charge forward at the whistle/yell (or whatever starts the play), and just clothes-line the entire English team into the mud with a show of sheer overwhelming force of strength.

 

[Mise]

The official EU language should be classic Latin, and I'm serious. It should be the language used for all official EU correspondents. It's neutral, ain't it?

I think it should be English, because it's pretty much a bastardisation of every other language in Europe.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Latin was the language that linked Europe back in Medieval times. Going from (what is today) Germany, to France, Italy, etc.... if you spoke Latin, you could manage your way around towns. It was the 'English' of the time, I guess you could say.

But, that's the point - it IS English, today. Latin is obsolete.

 

[stormbind]

Latin was also used by the British elite, for official communications, with native languages (including English) being left for the common man. I have a feeling other European powers had the same policy.

 

[Lord_Sidious]

I think it should be English, because it's pretty much a bastardisation of every other language in Europe.

English why? It is only spoked in the UK & Ireland. Why not French or German, or Italian, or Spanish, or Greek, or Portuguese, or Dutch,or Polish, or Latvian, or...
It should be the language of the President of European Comission's country or maybe "revive" Latin. Why not? Most of the European Languages have origins (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian..)or bases in Latin.

 

[Lord_Sidious]

Now if turkey joins the EU do you think that Turks would accept this?

 

[Britannia]

Originally Posted by Rolo Master
English why? It is only spoked in the UK & Ireland. Why not French or German, or Italian, or Spanish, or Greek, or Portuguese, or Dutch,or Polish, or Latvian, or...
It should be the language of the President of European Comission's country or maybe "revive" Latin. Why not? Most of the European Languages have origins (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian..)or bases in Latin.

English is the logical choice imho, a lot of Europeans use English as their second language and it is widely spoken around the world. If not English then surely it would have to be German, as it is the language that is the first language of more Europeans than any other.

And please, please dont revive Latin I still have nightmares trying to learn that in school!

 

[stormbind]

English or Latin. Anything else will cause severe problems. There's no way the British, or even the French, would accept German as the first language.

Or how about, no official language. The UK has no official language, and the system works well enough there.

 

[Britannia]

Originally posted by Stormbind
English or Latin. Anything else will cause severe problems. There's no way the British, or even the French, would accept German as the first language.

Why do you think the British wouldn't accept German, its probably the easiest langauge for a Briton to learn.
I would like English to be the language of Europe but I can't see the French accepting English, anymore than we would accept French.

If Europe is to be a united country then I think we need a common language or things would be very complicated, imagine listening to the leader of your country and not being able to understand what he's saying, he would not feel like your leader.

 

[stormbind]

German would be shunned in the UK and France because of what it symbolises and the World Wars, if nothing else, but it's also one of the least romantic languages and thus a culture clash for much of Europe.

 

[Britannia]

I see what you mean, I've always hated the sound of the southern European countries like France, Italy, Spain etc. they're just too "soft" sounding for me which is why I would prefer something like Germanic or even a Scandanavian language.

 

[Smaasnekje]

I can see the European union becoming a nation sometime in the future. Making what they before strived to do by the help of military power possible without sacrificing so many lives.

But as long as I have a saying[not that I do] my nation will never succumb to the European Union.

 

[Lord_Sidious]

English and French, the most widely spoken languages in EU German is a little bit hard to learn.

 

[Marla_Singer]

You should get rid of that silly idea there should be only one language in a country so that this country works. There are tons of multilingual countries all over the world.

There will be 20 official languages in Europe, and that will still be true in 2100 or 2200. No one is saying that multilinguism is harming China, India, Russia, Indonesia or Iran. I hardly see any reason why it would harm Europe.

 

[BasketCase]

Actually, a LOT of people say multilingualism is harmful. And I'm one of them.

I run afoul of the problem at work all the time: I'm trying to get service out to some poor guy whose monitor exploded, and the dispatch guy I'm talking to on the phone speaks with such a thick accent nobody on my shift can understand him.

A country cannot function if its members can't understand each other. And the citizens of the world cannot all learn 273 different languages. True unity is only possible with ONE official language. Speak Outer Mongolian at your local block party if you darn well please, but when you step into work at 9 in the morning, SWITCH TO SOMETHING EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS!!!

 

[Marla_Singer]

Actually, a LOT of people say multilingualism is harmful. And I'm one of them.

I run afoul of the problem at work all the time: I'm trying to get service out to some poor guy whose monitor exploded, and the dispatch guy I'm talking to on the phone speaks with such a thick accent nobody on my shift can understand him.

A country cannot function if its members can't understand each other. And the citizens of the world cannot all learn 273 different languages. True unity is only possible with ONE official language. Speak Outer Mongolian at your local block party if you darn well please, but when you step into work at 9 in the morning, SWITCH TO SOMETHING EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS!!!

Do you know that it is possible to learn a second language without forgetting its own native language ?

 

[Fetus4188]

I think he is saying that everyone should learn the same official language, wether is be first, second, third language, so everyone can communicate with eachother.

 

[Marla_Singer]

I think he is saying that everyone should learn the same official language, wether is be first, second, third language, so everyone can communicate with eachother.

People are enough grown up to learn foreign languages. They don't need a Big Brother telling them which language they are forced to learn.

The European Union has been built over the respect of each culture. This is something truely fundamental when we talk about the EU. I hardly see how it would help anyone if the EU would say that tomorrow the only official languages would be English, German, French, Spanish and that's it. This is something absolutely unnecessary.

When a Dutch meet a Greek and none of them speak the mother languages of the other, they don't think : "Damn' ! what's the official language of the EU ?"