France pushes to make French the official language of the EU

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-10-28 01:44pm

France looks to the law to save the language of Molière
By Colin Randall in Paris
(Filed: 25/10/2004)

A campaign to make French the official language of European law has been launched in an attempt to show the world that France will not bow to the ascendancy of English without a fight.

Maurice Druon, a well-known academic and writer, says the French version of any EU text should be seen as legally binding.

"Our language reduces the risk of different interpretations," said Mr Druon, whose manifesto sent to the European Council was co-signed by the procurator-general of the French supreme court, Jean-Francois Burgelin, and the president of the Paris Bar, Jean-Marie Burguburu.

The campaign touches on a sensitive topic for the French establishment, which has been concerned for some time about the declining international clout of "the language of Molière". In less than 20 years, the proportion of EU documents originating in French has been more than halved.

Teaching unions and politicians have reacted with indignation to a report calling for English to be obligatory in the school curriculum, while one of President Jacques Chirac's objections to Peter Mandelson as an EU commissioner was that his French was not up to scratch.

The foreign ministry has called for a spirited campaign for the language in Brussels while the Académie Française, which campaigns relentlessly for pure French, says defence of the language should be "the major national cause of the 21st century".

Mr Druon, 86, is a natural choice as the campaign figurehead. He has a long association with the Académie Française, including spells as chairman and permanent secretary, and is a former cultural affairs minister and distinguished author.

Despite his robust advocacy of his mother tongue, he is also a committed anglophile and was made an honorary knight for his work with Gen de Gaulle's London-based Free French. He wrote the lyrics of Chant des Partisans, the anthem of the French Resistance, with his uncle, the writer Joseph Kessel, in a Surrey hotel.

Mr Druon's campaign has won several non-French supporters, including the former Portuguese president, Mario Soarés, a former Polish foreign minister, Bronislaw Geremek, and the Albanian writer Ismail Kadaré.

"The variety and renown of those who wished to associate themselves with our initiative shows that French can become the judicial language of Europe, provided the will is there," said Mr Druon.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2004-10-28 01:49pm

Well, if it can be shown that one can more clearly express himself in French than any other EU language, then they might have a case. Otherwise, this is just grandstanding for its own sake.

IIRC, German is the most common language within the EU now, that is, more people in the EU natively speak German than any other language.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-10-28 01:54pm

When will the French get it? English has been widely recognized as the international language of trade and air travel. What makes more sense, a language that is only growing in popularity and status (backed by the US, Britain and other Western powers) or a langauge that has been in steady decline since WWII??

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-10-28 01:56pm

Stravo wrote:or a langauge that has been in steady decline since WWI??

Off by a single World War there stravo.

If WWI had never happened,
France would still be a major player; but since they bled themselves dry at
Verdun, they've been in decline.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-10-28 01:59pm

MKSheppard wrote:
Stravo wrote:or a langauge that has been in steady decline since WWI??
Off by a single World War there stravo. If WWI had never happened,
France would still be a major player; but since they bled themselves dry at
Verdun, they've been in decline.

Point conceded there Shep. I try to be kind to the frogs every now and then.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-10-28 01:59pm

He's talking about the language, Shep. The influence of France, if not their military power, could have recovered after WW1.

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2004-10-28 02:06pm

MKSheppard wrote:
Stravo wrote:or a langauge that has been in steady decline since WWI??
Off by a single World War there stravo. If WWI had never happened,
France would still be a major player; but since they bled themselves dry at
Verdun, they've been in decline.

Even then, French was in decline relative to English as an international lingua franca. English had a big boost from being the language of the then world-spanning British Empire, and the world's fastest growing industrial power, the United States.

The French just seem to be unable to come to terms with the fact that France had its day as a great power. Now they're like a ham actor who won't get off the stage, even though his part is over. Economically, they've been eclipsed ever since Germany unified in 1870, and militarily, they were eclipsed even farther back.

I think what John J. Miller and Mark Molesky said about France is pretty close to the mark:

French national decline began in the middle of the eighteenth century and has progressed almost without interruption. The single exception came during the reign of Napoleon, when the French made an audacious and bloody bid for European dominance. Their failure has haunted them ever since. Time and again in the last two centuries, France has refused to come to grips with its diminished status as a country whose greatest general was a foreigner, whose greatest warrior was a teenage girl, and whose last great military victory came on the plains of Wagram in 1809.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2004-10-28 02:14pm

They won't get through with it.

The Brits will try everything to block it, Ther Germans want equality for everyone (meaning that they are against it too), the Italians maybe will make a counter-law and the small countries will have a common political enemy.

So the only thing the paper of this thing is worth is to wipe off the butt.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2004-10-28 02:16pm

so they want to make a language which less people are able to understand the official eu language, huh. bah, english is by far the better choice.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-10-28 02:25pm

Fuck the French. English is a much easier language to communicate in because it lends itself to computers more readily, not to mention the fact that more people speak it and it's already used for air travel and navigation. Do they not realize that over 70% of asset-moving business deals are made in English? Do they not realize that if French becomes an official language of the EU, then German almost necessarily should become another official language? Do they not understand the massive costs they risk incurring?

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2004-10-28 02:28pm

Well, let's make a list of the major languages in the EU:

German:
Spoken in: Germany, Austria, parts of Belgium and the Luxembourg.
Spoken by:91 million

English:
Spoken in: Great Britain, Ireland.
Spoken by:65 million

French:
Spoken in: France, half of Belgium and parts of Luxembourg.
Spoken by:65 million

Spanish:
Spoken in: Spain.
Spoken by:40 million

Italian:
Spoken in: Italy.
Spoken by:58 million

Polish:
Spoken in: Poland.
Spoken by:38 million

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-10-28 02:29pm

l'arrogance, c'est magnifique!

Seriously, does France think they own the EU or something? They always act like they have a big chip on their shoulder, like the world owes them something (kind of like the US, but without the power to back itself up). They are like the short guy with the big mouth and tough attitude hoping no one will notice how short he is.

tharkûn · Post by **tharkûn** » 2004-10-28 02:32pm

What idiots. German has the most native speakers in the EU and English has the most speakers globally. Remember this is not only about people within the EU, but people who do business with and in the EU. Most non-anglophone companies that would do business with the EU already do business with the US, therefore English would represent no additional translation costs to do business in the EU. How many euros is Paris willing to burn for the sake of Gallic pride?

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2004-10-28 02:33pm

Tribun wrote:Well, let's make a list of the major languages in the EU:

German:
Spoken in: Germany, Austria, parts of Belgium and the Luxembourg.
Spoken by:91 million

English:
Spoken in: Great Britain, Ireland.
Spoken by:65 million

French:
Spoken in: France, half of Belgium and parts of Luxembourg.
Spoken by:65 million

Spanish:
Spoken in: Spain.
Spoken by:40 million

Italian:
Spoken in: Italy.
Spoken by:58 million

Polish:
Spoken in: Poland.
Spoken by:38 million

But what these numbers don't tell is that English is spoken as a second language by more people inside and outside of Europe than any of these other languages. As an official language then, Enlish makes the most sense, because is requires the fewest people to learn a language they don't already know.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-10-28 02:34pm

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:Seriously, does France think they own the EU or something?

They do. They were absolutely mortified to see that England, Germany, and other countries were slowly eroding French control of the EU as the newly admitted nations began voting for increased trans-Atlantic contact people.

They always act like they have a big chip on their shoulder, like the world owes them something (kind of like the US, but without the power to back itself up). They are like the short guy with the big mouth and tough attitude hoping no one will notice how short he is.

Except that the short guy recognizes that he's short. I'm not sure the French realize how badly they suck.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2004-10-28 02:37pm

Well, French is really not very popular in Germany.

While English is a must-learn in school here, French is only voltunary after 2 years you can decide to drop it. I was VERY glad to get rid of it at 9th grade, because I already was at "E" in French.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-10-28 02:39pm

I'm curious about the must learn English curriculum, do German students find English easier to learn than other languages like French or Italian because of the Germanic roots and influences in English?

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-10-28 02:43pm

Ve vill have a Deutsch-speaking Europe after all!

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2004-10-28 02:44pm

Stravo wrote:I'm curious about the must learn English curriculum, do German students find English easier to learn than other languages like French or Italian because of the Germanic roots and influences in English?

Wel, English and German come from the same source, that makes it easier for us to learn English. While romanic languages like French are much more difficult to learn, because the roots are different.

Good that our schools knew that English is the number one international language, and made it a must-learn.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2004-10-28 02:47pm

Stravo wrote:I'm curious about the must learn English curriculum, do German students find English easier to learn than other languages like French or Italian because of the Germanic roots and influences in English?

Relatively speaking german is an easy language to learn for the english, if how that translates for germans i don't know. but every german i've met has spoke fluent english. Same with the dutch and belgians.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2004-10-28 02:52pm

Stravo wrote:I'm curious about the must learn English curriculum, do German students find English easier to learn than other languages like French or Italian because of the Germanic roots and influences in English?

english is considered easier by a lot of people, first because it IS easier and second because english influences german everywhere and all the time. we have english commercial slogans, english names of parties in discos english, lots of english songs of course, here english there. you walk around town, you´re going to hear or see english somewhere.

lots of english words are assimilated over time. common english words used in german are for example: event, location, chill, cool, fuck, handy (that´s a cell phone here), abchecken (english word mixed with german pre- and suffix), shit......

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-10-28 02:58pm

salm wrote: english is considered easier by a lot of people, first because it IS easier and second because english influences german everywhere and all the time. we have english commercial slogans, english names of parties in discos english, lots of english songs of course, here english there. you walk around town, you´re going to hear or see english somewhere.

lots of english words are assimilated over time. common english words used in german are for example: event, location, chill, cool, fuck, handy (that´s a cell phone here), abchecken (english word mixed with german pre- and suffix), shit......

kind of amusing how many english words are getting mixed into other european languages, considering that english itself is just a bastardization of the same european languages in question.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-10-28 03:01pm

Darth_Zod wrote:kind of amusing how many english words are getting mixed into other european languages, considering that english itself is just a bastardization of the same european languages in question.

Except in France, where assimilation of English words doesn't happen much at all due to their rediculous language-protection laws. Couriel, anyone?

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-10-28 03:03pm

Ma Deuce wrote:
Darth_Zod wrote:kind of amusing how many english words are getting mixed into other european languages, considering that english itself is just a bastardization of the same european languages in question.
Except in France, where assimilation of English words doesn't happen much at all due to their rediculous language-protection laws. Couriel, anyone?

Don;t they also have French words for MicroWave and TV? All of it touched off by some miffed Frenchmen that took a moment away from their cheese and wine to be offended by hearing other Frenchmen say "Le Car." It's pretty damned sad actually to see a nation collectively putting their fingers in their ears and going "Nah Nah, I can't hear that English Nah Nah."

Post by **Beowulf** » 2004-10-28 03:05pm

Stravo wrote:Don't they also have French words for MicroWave and TV? All of it touched off by some miffed Frenchmen that took a moment away from their cheese and wine to be offended by hearing other Frenchmen say "Le Car." It's pretty damned sad actually to see a nation collectively putting their fingers in their ears and going "Nah Nah, I can't hear that English Nah Nah."

Don't know about microwaves and TVs, but computers are l'ordinateurs.