The future of multilingualism in European institutions

Résumé du document

The progressive enlargement of the European Union brings about many questions, among which linguistic diversity deserves to be explored. In light of the changes brought about by globalization and the resulting emergence of a so-called "global" language, the relevance of cultural identity is now being questioned in a context of liberalization of exchanges to maximize economic benefit. How is the European Union to integrate all of these tendencies into a model it can subsequently defend in front of its civil servants, in front of the world and more importantly, in front of its increasing number of citizens?
1. International Linguistic Tendencies
English is quickly becoming the common denominator among populations of various origins. This part will seek to explain how the global linguistic system is structured to then both quantify and justify the increasing use of English in International as well as Economic Relations.
1.1.International Communication
The links existing among the world's languages can be imagined as part of a gravitational model within which concentric levels of languages form around one hyper-central language . This language is then linked to a dozen super-central languages through bilingual systems. These languages in turn are linked to approximately two hundred central languages, who themselves are the pivots of thousands of peripheral languages. In the current global context, English seems to be the main language around which the world's other main languages (French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, etc.) center. French could then be considered the pivot of such languages as Corsican, Canadian, and Creole, each of which presents itself in a series of dialects.

Extraits

[...] 273-286. Heusse, Marie-Pascale. Le multilinguisme ou le défi caché de l'Union européenne. Revue du Marché commun et de l'Union européenne, n°426, mars 1999, p. 202-207. Yasue, Noriko. Le multilinguisme dans l'Union européenne et la politique linguistique des États membres. Revue du Marché commun et de l'Union européenne, n°427, avril 1999, p. 277-283. Soriano, Mercedes Candela. [...]

[...] A proposal will then be advanced as to a possible outcome of the situation that could be envisaged by the European Union Brief History The treaty of Rome established all the official languages of each state as official languages of the Union in 1958, and all the official languages of the Union as working languages, although the distinction between the two was never that clear. The first languages of the European Union were German, French, Italian and Dutch. This was subsequently enlarged by adding Danish and English in 1973, Greek in 1981, Swedish and Finnish in 1985, and Portuguese and Spanish in 1986. The European Union now counts 23 official languages, which by extension are also working languages. [...]

[...] People under 40 speak English in much larger numbers than the rest of the population[4]. German is largely spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. French is spoken mostly in Western and Southern Europe. These languages can therefore be considered languages of wider communication since they allow citizens of numerous countries to communicate. Another language worth mentioning is Russian, spoken by approximately of the population of Europe, although it is not an official language of the Union. Some regional languages are more widely spoken than some of the official languages and can hardly be considered minority languages. [...]

[...] The Enlarged EU and the Status of French as an EU language. Perspectives Summer 2005, p. 61-68. Chaudenson, Robert. L'Europe parlera-t-elle anglais demain? Actes du Colloque international de Bordeaux organisé par le Goethe Institut et l'INTIF mars 2001). Institut de la Francophonie, L'Harmattan. Sabourin, Paul. Langues et Union européenne. Colloque du 6 novembre 2003 à l'Assemblée nationale française. [...]

[...] The second one authorizes each State to demand such translation, which is the case for cosmetics, dangerous preparations, toys and textiles, and the third one simply requires the use of language that is easily understood by the final consumer, which is only applicable to food products. These standards obviously lead to ambiguities that are not easily overcome. One of the solutions would be to apply one rule to all products in order to simplify the process. Another issue pertains to patents. [...]