Language planning and lots of it..

I am a European citizen and I also feel like one. On the other hand, I also feel Dutch. Should I then speak Dutch, French, German or English, or should I speak all of them. It is quite hard to make one rule out of it. Is the feeling where you belong connected to what language you have to speak or is language just something we learn and use?

I believe these are the underlying thoughts and questions when we come to the debate on the language policy of the European Union. The European Language Policy is vast and varying. Overall, the European languages are the supported by the European Language Policy. Multilingualism is in general seen as the only possible answer to the all the different languages that are spoken within the European Union.

This is of course not the only option. In the current situation in the European Union every national language is allowed. The delegates speak with each other in their own language while a translator translates. This has been the case for all the years in the past. What is however happening in every level of politics in the European Union, is that English is becoming a more used language. Documents are becoming mostly printed in English and delegates tend to use English in informal meetings. Outside of the supranational institution, European citizens are getting more used to speak English. This raised the overall question on what to do with languages within the European Union.

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European language policies; adequate answer?

As a final blog assignment for the After Babel course of 2014-2015, this post dedicates its attention to the ongoing debate about the European language policies. The European Union consists of 28 countries, hence multiculturalism and multilingualism are inevitable in my opinion. The main objective of the 2008 communication published by the EU Commission (2008) was “to raise awareness of the value and opportunities of the EU’s linguistic diversity and encourage the removal of barriers to intercultural dialogue” (p.5).  Continue reading European language policies; adequate answer?

European Language Policies

20131211-european-union-flagDuring the past few weeks of this After Babel course many topics regarding sociolinguistics and multilingualism have passed. The end of this course built up to the topic of European language policies and the practical success of these policies. In this final blog entry for the course, I will reflect on these policies and try to determine whether these policies are successful and lasting for the future.

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Languages in the EU institutions

 

From the creation of European Steel and Coal Community until now, the European integration has always been, by ideal a multilingual process. At the beginning the multilingual ideal was relatively realistic in practice as the number of members and official languages were relatively low. However, following the successive enlargement waves of 2004, 2007 and 2013, the number of Member States grew from 15 to 28. Consequently, the European Union (EU) has now 450 million habitants and a mosaic of language composed of 24 official languages. This diversity is truly unique and the EU embraces it. Nevertheless, having an efficient language policy including that number of languages can also represent a challenge. In this post, I will have a look at the European language policy and more specifically within the European institutions.

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Is the European Language Policy and adequate answer to the challenges it tries to tackle?

The answer to this question is not easy. Of course one can say that with the Charta for Regional and Minority Languages, Europe has given official recognition to its minority languages and hence given a solid basis for protection of minorities. However, the linguistic landscape of Europe is by far bigger than the entity of its languages as within one language many dialects can be spoken. The diversity is what unites Europe and sets it apart from other institutions that chose one or few languages as their working language(s).

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Who am I and what languages do I speak- my language identity

Dear visitor, Geachte bezoeker, Lieber Besucher, Cher visiteur,……

My name is Damian Benedikt Plien and I am a 3rd year European Studies bachelor student at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. I was born on January 29th 1993 in Cologne, Germany or how the locals call it “Kölle”. Even though I don´t remember, I was born early enough to enjoy “Fastelovend” and get acquainted with the first and most obvious feature that makes my home unique. Many travels with my parents and my brother to France in the following years  gave my upbringing a special twist again. While my “normal” German counterparts increased their language skills in the language of Goethe and Schiller, I went to la boulangerie with my parents and ordered des pains au chocolat et une banette and occasionally going to la plage playing in the sable. As you can guess by the picture, I am an explorer of the world in the making and languages have already opened many doors for me to explore new realms. Continue reading Who am I and what languages do I speak- my language identity