Tag: English

Is the European language policy an adequate answer?

The European Union today is situated in a world that has undergone rapid change. As our world becomes ever more globalized, so do our markets, thus leading to the creation of large markets spanning over oceans and across the globe. Reaching a large market presupposes the ability to communicate. In Europe, English has become the lingua franca of trade and commerce, and an increasing number of Member States are integrating English language teaching into school curricula. The drive to upgrade English however runs parallel to the drive to maintain Europe’s linguistic diversity and the states of the EU are thus faced with the seemingly incompatibility of the two policy initiatives. Is the European language policy as it stands now adequate for our time? Where is the EU heading with this policy? Should it be altered, and with that the EU’s position in the global market?

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European Language Policies: An ugly duckling?

Europe- the Multilingual Melting Pot?

Yes right? I mean that is what this continent is known for all around the world, that is what creates the magic that unifies this landmass and the people that live in it . Consequently it can be expected that the reigning government will assure the continuity of this phenomenon. It is the logical element that can connect  the so-so different states into one: “Being equal by being different and acknowledging it.” But does the European Union actually undertake the necessary actions to provide our continent with the adequate policies to assert our poly-cultural and -lingual existence? This post will investigate exactly that question, in order to determine whether the current policy-landscape is able to continue the unique cultural and linguistic paradigm of the European Union and its continent. In other words will the European language  landscape persist or will we soon all resort to English and witness the extinction of national languages?

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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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An Assessment of EU Language Policy

Multilingualism is in the genetic code of the Union.– Leonard Orban, former Commissioner for multilingualism

Institutions_europeennes_IMG_4300From the very beginning, multilingualism has been at the core of the European integration project. The European continent is characterized by huge linguistic diversity, and the importance of protecting this diversity has been recognized by the relevant European institutions from early onwards. However, given the complexities of the current age of globalisation and the rise of English as a lingua franca, European language policies face ever more difficulties.

In this blog entry, I want to focus especially on the European Union and how it applies multilingualism in its institutions. The principle of multilingualism is crucial for the EU setting and should be maintained as far as possible. However, restricting the use of languages at certain levels is reasonable and the benefits of English as a lingua franca should be explored.

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The governance of our language

It seems obvious that every person should be able to choose whether to learn a new language or not, however, it is also clear that knowing another language gives people several advantages such as understanding other cultures, getting new job possibilities and simply giving more training to our brain. Therefore, it is interesting to find out how in this moving environment where technology is being advanced every single day, language is still a problem. How and with what measures should the language issues be dealt with?  Continue reading The governance of our language

Linguistic Landscapes in ING and the Municipality in Maastricht

Grace and I investigated linguistic landscapes in ING and the Municipality in Maastricht to see how both employ languages in their communication with customers. What message can we deduce from their language policy behaviour? Well, please follow our journey . . .

RECHTSTRAAT’S RESTAURANTS & LANGUAGES

Finally! After blood, sweat, tears and a few beers, we are proud to present you with our insight on Linguistic Landscape in Maastricht.

As you will see, we  decided to focus on restaurants and bars, much to our enjoyment! Our first day of filming, we  had a lovely pizza at the Ristorante Quattro Mori, followed by a refreshing Guinness in John Mullins. The second day, we enjoyed typical Thai Noodles in Tasty Thai!

We hope you enjoy this video, don’t hesitate to ask your questions in the comments!
Cheers,

Benjamin & Céline

 

 

 

Linguistic Landscape at the Drielandenpunt

Last week Lia, Luca and me went to the Drielandenpunt in Vaals, where the borders of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium coincide. We looked at the linguistic landscape and wanted to find out what languages are used in signs, maps, cafes, and the like. This video shows what we discovered. Enjoy it!