Before the EU referendum in the United Kingdom last summer, professional linguists discussed the possible impact of the UK leaving the EU, in The Linguist:
http://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/665992-the-linguist-55-2/17 (The Linguist Vol/55 No/2 2016, April/May 2016, pp 18 and 19).
http://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/665992-the-linguist-55-2/17 (The Linguist Vol/55 No/2 2016, April/May 2016, pp 18 and 19).
The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government and technology. It is the bimonthly journal of the UK's Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIoL), of which I have been a member since January 2008.
Of course, Brexit will have an impact on the language-related industries and businesses in the UK and in the EU. And how about the risk for the English language itself at the EU level? There is an ever-increasing gap between British English and Eurojargon. English words and expressions in EU publications are more and more misused. Currently working in Brussels and always trying to brush up my rusty English, I only had the chance to speak English -- and English should be clearly distinguished from Eurospeak -- with British, American or Irish expats working either in EU institutions, embassies, multinational companies, lobbies or professional federations in the capital of Belgium. The use of Eurospeak (also sometimes called EU-Speak) has been applauded by young Members of the European Parliament for several years but some linguists including Jeremy Gardner, a senior translator at the European Court of Auditors, do not agree with this. The senior translator is very skeptical about this transformation of English language. In September 2013, Gardner wrote and assembled a document which can be considered as a memo reflecting years of frustration at the use of English in EU documents. The latest version of this memo is available for free at:
What if this pent-up frustration at the wrong use of English words in EU documents and talks had been one of the reasons for the people of Britain to vote for Brexit (and therefore for the rejection of globalism)?
The risk of seeing English become Esperanto in Brussels or elsewhere in the EU (besides Ireland and Malta maybe) is real. An interesting article in The Economist published on 2016-04-23 revealed that "a sort of Euro-English, influenced by foreign languages, is already in use. Many Europeans use control to mean monitor because contrôler has that meaning in French... [Euro-English] is becoming a dialect fluently spoken by a large group of people who understand each other perfectly well... Britain may be a polarising, unusual EU member, but English has become neutral, utilitarian; it is useful because others understand it." Its association with Britain is weak and will most probably weaken even more since Brexit has come to pass. Read the full article here: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21697210-institutions-european-union-will-still-speak-kind-english-if-britain
Another major newspaper, the Financial Times, had a very long article about Brexit possibly being an entrée for the French: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e70b5042-3c65-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0.html#axzz4DXfFaFAK
It is of course another story but I am not quite sure Germans, Spaniards and others would really appreciate such a rise of the French language at the EU level... It seems that the EU desperately seeks a lingua franca anyway?
It is of course another story but I am not quite sure Germans, Spaniards and others would really appreciate such a rise of the French language at the EU level... It seems that the EU desperately seeks a lingua franca anyway?
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