But what instead? Spanish? German? Esperanto?
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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I root for Spanish! Creating a bridge with my Latino friends and thus upsetting the US at the same time.
Yes. It's easy and already established. There is no reason to change it.
Esperanto is a nice variant: it is much more adequate that any of those chaotically evolved "natural" languages plus nobody would have an unfair advantage just because of being lucky to be born in the English speaking country.
I like the idea. My only issue with esperanto are its heavy influence by romance languages
A substantial majority of its vocabulary (approximately 80%) derives from Romance languages, but it also contains elements derived from Germanic, Greek, and Slavic languages
That gives Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and probably a few other countries quite a leg up. But, with influence from other languages, it would probably diversify its vocabulary (at least I hope so).
Almost all languages have a very big number of words derived from Latin or French. For example Polish, which is a slavic language, has so many of Latin or French rooted words.
Esperanto apart, I think that German should be the language od Europe, because is it simply the biggest language of the EU. It is also precise. Ofc it could get simplified, because for many der/die/das is too complicated or it is too much of a hustle to remember. German could get more logical with them and then it should be no problem for everyone.
We could also think about regianal lingua-francas. For example, it could be this way that in the region of romance languages, everyone would speak French, in the region of germanic - German and in the region of slavic - Polish. Simply the biggest languages in a given region.
The funniest one but also kind of interesting would be Latin. #useLatin
English is Germanic, so it's a pointless change. Latin would be cool I guess, but English is mostly derived from it anyway, just simplified.
English isn't going anywhere. It's too embedded now.
English isn't going anywhere. It's too embedded now.
That's what French was until the second world war changed everything.
Look at how we are communicating. This is why it won't change again. The world wasnt connected like it is now.
Never say never. Many things can change. English became the lingua franca in a single generation. Someone born in the 50s is old enough to remember a different lingua franca.
The US could align itself with Russia and create such animosity that people not only eschew its products but also the language. Right-wingers could get so much power and become so radical that they demand English be abolished as it tarnishes their own language. China could swoop in, nuke Western powers, and establish a new world order with Mandarin as the world language. An unexpected geological event could pollute the skies and seas in and around Europe, force massive emigration to Africa and Asia, and African governments could unite to declare Arabic, Swahili, and Zulu as the main languages of Africa for all to learn. Brain to computer interfaces might become so widespread that an intermediate and more practical, universal brainwave language is used instead of English (see Gibberlink for inspiration).
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but English is mostly derived from it anyway
IMO English is more Germanic than Latin. There's certainly a lot of latin/french loanwords, but that's true for all other Germanic languages, too (even if to a somewhat lesser degree). Romance languages like French and Italian are actually derived from Latin and they are a lot different from English but fairly similar to each other (especially Italian, Spanish and Portuguese).
This is not such a big advantage because of the way words are constructed, by gluing words together. So there are fewer words to learn to have the same vocabulary.
We will probably see another language become the lingua franca
That's gonna take a while. Chinese is an unlikely candidate due to how difficult it is to learn to speak and especially read and write, despite the rising international influence of the Chinese state. And I rather doubt that Europe's Germanic-speaking countries will stop using English as a lingua franca anytime soon, it's just too easy to learn for them compared to any other possible candidate.
Let's hope it's not going to be Russian anytime soon.
Something like Esperanto would be a nice alternative for the EU, though. Maybe there's other artificial languages that are even better? I'm not well-versed in this topic.
That's gonna take a while
French was replaced within 60-80 years. Such change isn't fast, unless forced. However, I don't know how it could be forced. We aren't in a feudalistic system anymore and EU interests are heavily influenced by an English-speaking upper class.
And I rather doubt that Europe's Germanic-speaking countries will stop using English as a lingua franca anytime soon, it's just too easy to learn for them compared to any other possible candidate.
Try this.
Let's hope it's not going to be Russian anytime soon.
One can only hope, not only because of the implications, but also because the language is very complicated IMO. Their case system is horrific.
Their case system is horrific.
More so than German?
Depends. They have six cases, which is standard for a lot of indogermanic languages, and their declension is mostly consistent. I never learned German as L2, but I imagine the fact that in German cases are not clearly marked on the noun but by the combination of article and noun and that we use two different but very similar marking systems depending on context as utter nightmarish for L2 learners.
English is good for the reasons pointed out. Also: It's no language of the EU (at least for now) so no country gets an edge over the others which should be considered too. (I'm a native German speaker)
Ireland?
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They should just stick with speaking American.
/Dodges shoes and runs away
Two views on what language to chose: The language most spoken in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_speakers_in_Europe The language most spoken worldwide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers
So it looks like it might be either German, Spanish or French, depending on how you would assess it. No surprises there. Now to convert everybody, not so easy ;-)
As a German, I would not want German to become a language of communication within Europe. The comparative political power of Germany within the EU is already too high, smaller Eastern and Southeastern EU members already have had to form alliances like Visegrad.
Ireland being the only country with English as major language within the EU makes English actually a more neutral language than languages of the populous countries. One could call it European English.
Maybe Sรกmi languages, Basque and Maltese could come together and form the most distinct language that is most neutral? /s
Germany, Spain, and France didn't get it done in the 70 some years since the WWII, so my estimation of that changing is quite low. I think France is too chauvinistic to accept German due to its history and what the language sounds like. Spanish and French are too similar and France would again consider its language superior once again ๐
Now to convert everybody, not so easy ;-)
It could be done with heavy investments in education across the EU. It would have to be for all citizens and not just schools for <20. Adding it to every EU country's list of national languages would also help adoption, as government media would have to be broadcast in them all. If the EU were serious, it could happen within 20 years, I reckon.
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It depends on what Europe wants to be. The language is in some ways connected to the culture. Would Europe get a more Mediterranean savoir vivre if everybody spoke Spanish or French? I think so.
An ambitious and interesting option for Europe could be Arabic as the lingua franca. If Europe commits, other countries like Iran or India could also be interested in joining. That could create a huge area with a single language as long as it doesn't splinter into dialects like the current Arabic.
This suggestion is at least original :p
But I think we should make our new lingua franca a generous gesture to the world: we should find some language only still spoken by one old woman in some remote village, give her a list of words to translate and have that be the basis for our new federal European conlingua franca!
Nobody in Europe wants Iran or India to join.
Also, most Iranians apeak Persian, not Arabic.
The point of speaking Arabic would be to have the same language as North Africa and Arabia. And once Europe speaks Arabic, neighboring countries like Turkye, Iran or Pakistan and India could see the benefit in joining.
This doesn't mean that those countries become part of the EU. It would just create a huge zone with a single language which has its own advantages.
What exactly is the point? Most people in Europe speak at least a little English, a ton of people in India speak English, Arabic is completely alien to Europe. There is no advantage to Arabic over English.
The point is having a common language and thus economic and cultural advantages. English is a secondary language for most people. In the US, it's probably replaced with Spanish.
With Arabic, you have many more primary language speakers. Thanks to immigration, the transition to Arabic can be made easy. Then it's possible to sell products in one packaging from Portugal to India.
I am not arguing that this should happen. It's just an opportunity that is not obvious because Arabic is not a traditional European language. Though I would assume that there are now more Arabic than Basque speakers.
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