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Stop using so much English

Jean-s

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French journalists covering the European Union have complained to the bloc's chiefs about the increasing use of English in their communication which they say gives un "competitive advantage" to the anglophone press. The French section of the Association of European Journalists reminded Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel in a letter dated September 23 that the use of several European languages in the communication of any EU institution is a legal obligation enshrined in founding treaties.
https://www.euronews.com/2020/09/25/stop-using-so-much-english-french-journalists-tell-eu-commission

English enjoys a sort of lingua franca status in the modern world but with Britain having left the Union, Ireland with a population of under five millions remains the only English-speaking member of the EU with a population of 446 millions. It could have been predicted that the use of English within the EU will lose importance. French was once the preferred diplomatic language and the French journalists are speaking up for less English si vous plait.
 
French journalists covering the European Union have complained to the bloc's chiefs about the increasing use of English in their communication which they say gives un "competitive advantage" to the anglophone press. The French section of the Association of European Journalists reminded Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel in a letter dated September 23 that the use of several European languages in the communication of any EU institution is a legal obligation enshrined in founding treaties.
https://www.euronews.com/2020/09/25/stop-using-so-much-english-french-journalists-tell-eu-commission

English enjoys a sort of lingua franca status in the modern world but with Britain having left the Union, Ireland with a population of under five millions remains the only English-speaking member of the EU with a population of 446 millions. It could have been predicted that the use of English within the EU will lose importance. French was once the preferred diplomatic language and the French journalists are speaking up for less English si vous plait.

I've usually seen this rendered as s’il vous plaît. Yes?
 
English is the language of most of the World insofar as it is the first or second language of all those places that really matter...French is the language of France and some backwaters...bits of Canada excepted.
 
If we should change the joint communication language in EU from English, now that Britain has left, I vote for German or Spanish. French is simple to grammatically complicated for being a second language to most people.
 
French journalists covering the European Union have complained to the bloc's chiefs about the increasing use of English in their communication which they say gives un "competitive advantage" to the anglophone press.

The French should be happy they aren't all speaking "Hun" (German).
 
English is the language of most of the World insofar as it is the first or second language of all those places that really matter...French is the language of France and some backwaters...bits of Canada excepted.
Well, hate to crush your illusions but Spanish is in fact bigger (number 2 in the world after Mandarin. English is number 3). French doesn't even make it to the top 10.
 
Well, hate to crush your illusions but Spanish is in fact bigger (number 2 in the world after Mandarin. English is number 3)
Yeah ,but in terms of important countries....
 
Yeah ,but in terms of important countries....
Well, I see you are from Britain. With your logic I would say everyone should speak Swedish or even more Mandarino_O
 
Well, I see you are from Britain. With your logic I would say everyone should speak Swedish or even more Mandarino_O
Mandarin is only spoken by Chinese people and business people that are going to go bankrupt when the Chinese economy tanks.

Swedes speak better English than the English lol.:p
 
The have trouble pronouncing Ale though lol....
 
Ahh, Les pauve gens du France, c'est tellement triste. (Oh, the poor folks of France, it's so sad.) English has become the global language of finance, trade, academia, entertainment, travel, tourism, air-traffic control and diplomacy in the 21st Century. Maybe if France works very hard for the next century or so its own version of German can become globally dominant as the lingua Franca of the future. But they better watch out for Mandarin Chinese or Arabic which are far more globally relevant than French. Vive la Francophonie!
 
I’m old enough to remember when the only second language was French. Now Spanish has been added.

I can’t find a link, but I think at one point the secondary language was changed to one of those made up languages, Esperanto maybe? I have held a US Passport for a long time.......
 
English is the language of most of the World insofar as it is the first or second language of all those places that really matter...French is the language of France and some backwaters...bits of Canada excepted.
when Scotland leaves the UK i am hoping we revert back to our own language (Gàidhlig) over time ..... instead of the one imposed on us (English) ... no doubt French will be spoken commonly in Scotland within 25 years after rejoining the EU due to our past links with France "Vieille Alliance" that ran from 1296 AD to which Scotland has never renounced to this day and fulfilled it in 1940 when the 51st Highland Division fought alone with French forces (under the command of De Gaulle) to try and hold back the Nazis and were finally defeated at St. Valery and in 1944 when Scottish troops landed in Normandy it was the 51st that retook St Valery
 
Si vous plait. = If you please.
S'il vous plaît. = If it pleases you. (using the article il for it.)

Good to know, thanks. The accent on plaît isn't required? (I thought it was.)
 
English is the language of most of the World insofar as it is the first or second language of all those places that really matter...French is the language of France and some backwaters...bits of Canada excepted.

English - As long as English remains the leading leading language for science, math, technology, engineering. (That's endangered by making foreign student attendance @ US universities more & more difficult. Lots of those students wind up staying in the US, & contributing to the US economy.)

France was also an empire, they were everywhere - Africa, Caribbean, Pacific, N. America. French is still an official language in lots of places.
 
English - As long as English remains the leading leading language for science, math, technology, engineering. (That's endangered by making foreign student attendance @ US universities more & more difficult. Lots of those students wind up staying in the US, & contributing to the US economy.)

Only three French institutions or universities are ranked within the Top 100 in the world, which is around the same level as Australian universities. Academically or culturally, France is just as relevant as Australia nowadays. France has lost its academic clout because of the breakup of elite universities in the 1960s.

 
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when Scotland leaves the UK i am hoping we revert back to our own language (Gàidhlig) over time ..... instead of the one imposed on us (English) ... no doubt French will be spoken commonly in Scotland within 25 years after rejoining the EU due to our past links with France "Vieille Alliance" that ran from 1296 AD to which Scotland has never renounced to this day and fulfilled it in 1940 when the 51st Highland Division fought alone with French forces (under the command of De Gaulle) to try and hold back the Nazis and were finally defeated at St. Valery and in 1944 when Scottish troops landed in Normandy it was the 51st that retook St Valery

You do know the 51st Highland Division that took St. Valery shared little more than a name with the 51st Highland Division that surrendered at St. Valery.
 
Get rid of all languages, and everyone should just speak English.

lol
 
You do know the 51st Highland Division that took St. Valery shared little more than a name with the 51st Highland Division that surrendered at St. Valery.
yes i know the real 51st surrendered at St Valery because the government deemed them as extendible ... the 1944 51st was the reformed Division it got reformed after 1940 and took heavy casualties North Africa which lead to the division having to take large numbers of new recruits again and replacement equipment that was destroyed in North Africa
 
French journalists covering the European Union have complained to the bloc's chiefs about the increasing use of English in their communication which they say gives un "competitive advantage" to the anglophone press. The French section of the Association of European Journalists reminded Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel in a letter dated September 23 that the use of several European languages in the communication of any EU institution is a legal obligation enshrined in founding treaties.
https://www.euronews.com/2020/09/25/stop-using-so-much-english-french-journalists-tell-eu-commission

English enjoys a sort of lingua franca status in the modern world but with Britain having left the Union, Ireland with a population of under five millions remains the only English-speaking member of the EU with a population of 446 millions. It could have been predicted that the use of English within the EU will lose importance. French was once the preferred diplomatic language and the French journalists are speaking up for less English si vous plait.
Didn't Babel fall because of miscommunication?
 
Since Germany is now the leader of the free world and only Angela Merkel stands up to Vladimir Putin, maybe we should consider the complaint made by the French. Not that it affects me. I am in the United States. But it seems only fair to stick to the original rules. I think I just saw that the three main languages into which all official EU pronouncements had to be translated were English, French, and German. I quite like Angela Merkel. Now that President Macron isn't holding hands with Trump, I do not mind him, either.
 
Get rid of all languages, and everyone should just speak English.

lol

Isn't English a language? So wouldn't it be included in all the languages gotten rid of?

I think your major premise has a problem.
 
Good to know, thanks. The accent on plaît isn't required? (I thought it was.)
I do not have a circumflex on my keyboard and I need to go into a character map to find one.
 
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