Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mithridates]

I had an article about this but I have no idea where it went. Actually I might have posted on this but maybe it was a dream. Anyway, this time it's a poll. The EU has 22 languages and spends about $750 million Euros a year on translators, and still hasn't found enough translators for small languages like Maltese-Estonian and so on. It costs each European about E2.5 a year but it's going to keep going up especially with Romania and Bulgaria coming in, and maybe even Turkey later on. It's not just an extra two or three because you need translators for every possible combination of languages.
What to do?

Maybe I almost made a post before and forgot to click the button? This is confusing. I wrote down all the ideas I've heard before in no particular order. Hopefully I covered them all.

[Links]

Every country��s representative should be fluent in English. Or at least in French or German. The general population should keep their own languages but it is crazy to try and translate all 22 languages at meetings. English is the language that pilots have to speak and that��s working out okay.

[keithinkorea]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I personally would vote for Basque being the language of commerce and diplomacy. It's the oldest language in Europe (I think).

[joe_doufu]

I vote for French. Imagine if everybody over there spoke English... Europe would lose all of its charm as a tourist attraction. And then what good would Europe be?

[some waygug-in]

Hey, why not Korean?

Of course they "should" use English, as it makes the most sense, since more people already study English for business communication. But knowing the way Europeans are and their unwillingness to change........it may be a long time coming. In the mean time, think of all those jobs that are created by having all those languages.

[matthewwoodford]

I think they should use English as an official language and promote polyglot education throughout the EU. Everyone wants to learn English anyway, and everyone wants to preserve their own language too.

It'd be nice if they improved second language teaching in the UK too.

[rapier]

Its irrelevant, as they will all be speaking arabic within 50 years.


In any case, the EU has little chance of real economic and cultural integration so long as the stubborn nations of the continent drag their heels at learning english. France and italy for example probably have fewer english speakers than my hagwon.

[Radioactive]

[rapier]

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

Esperanto.

[tomato]

Mith, why are you asking specifically about Europe?

The proponents of Esperanto claim that there is greater similarity in language in Europe than there is in any comparable area anywhere in Africa and Asia.

Whenever a prospective Esperantist asks why Esperanto is so Euro-chauvinistic, that's the answer they give.

[ed4444]

Have you ever been to the Sweden or Denmark? If you have you can see how two languages (English and their own) can co-exist at the same time without either suffering. Thats the way forward.

The problem is that too many counties are insecure about their language and culture fearing that they are going to be assimilated into some evil monoculture. And the best thing to combat that is to stop going to MacDonalds and Burgerking.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[mithridates]