Post-Brexit, it was perhaps no surprise that France’s Europe minister, Clement Beaune, raised the idea of the EU dropping English as one of its two working language. While not advocating a return to French as the only working language, he suggested that each country should speak its own language in an effort to maintain “linguistic diversity”.
He might have a hard row to hoe to get his way. What Beaune referred to as “broken English” when he spoke to reporters last week, is a form described as English as a lingua franca (ELF) by linguists which is widely used and understood by those for whom English is not their first language. Further, in an effort to simplify their operations, many EU institutions now try to operate exclusively in English and in many member countries, even the newer ones, English is almost a second language. In Croatia, for instance, the EU’s most recent member, over 80% of its population can speak English.
So, while the EU has reluctantly said au revoir to the UK, it may still be choosing to say how do you do in its language.
