Linguae Europaeae

Source: Wikimedia Commons by Bridget Handley Bridget Handley  is a Senior majoring in Accountancy and minoring in Political Science at the University of Illinois. Bridget is passionate about travel, having been to around 45 countries and recently studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark over the summer of 2022. Bridget recently was accepted into the Masters of Accountancy Science program, and aspires to be a corporate attorney.   She  wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023. Denmark, a Scandinavian Country with a rich history and culture, is in a position of increasing globalization. Welcoming millions of tourists annually, and, according to Statista data, facing increasing amounts of immigration from 2020-2023 (with a notable 71% increase in immigration from 2021-2022), Denmark has been adjusting to various changes, practices, and cultures foreigners bring.  One of the largest impacts tourism, immigration and globaliza...

by Giovana Mete Giovana Mete is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois and majored in Psychology and Spanish. Giovana is currently working as an addiction’s counselor at Nicasa Behavioral Health Services. Her plans include attending Trinity International University this fall for a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling. Her goal is to become a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. She wrote this blog post in 418 'Language and Minorities in Europe' in Fall 2021. In this blog, I will explore the motivations for Russian citizens to learn the English language in their home country. I will focus on the lack of English usage in Russia with an emphasis on the barriers to learning English in comparison to other countries - the barriers to learning English include a variety of historical and social factors. I will be asking the questions, “Why do most Russians (81%) only speak their mother tongue while the rest of Europe seems to be learning English (BBC, 2014)? What are the...

by Bryan Lu Bryan Lu was a senior in Computer Science when he wrote this blog post in 418 ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’ in spring 2019. Source:  Wikimedia Commons When someone asks you to talk with a British accent, what do you sound like? Chances are, you are trying to imitate the sound of BBC News broadcasters or 19th century Victorian era nobility. You might even throw in some cliché phrases like, “Jolly good show, old chap!” or “pip pip, cheerio!” While these phrases certainly are very stereotypically English, the British Isles contain much more diversity in accents and dialects of the English language than most people would realize. Just take a look at this list , for example. There are quite a few varieties within England itself, including one known as Received Pronunciation (or RP), which is the accent you were most likely trying to mimic earlier. Furthermore, there are the kinds of English spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, all of which have their own quirks and ...

By Gwyneth Dixon Gwyneth Dixon is a junior in Global Studies and Political Science at The University of Illinois. Gwyneth’s future plans include pursuing a JD. Gwyneth wrote this blog post in the 418 ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’ course in spring 2019. Source: Pxhere With 300 million speakers worldwide (BENCHMARKS), French owes most of its popularity to France’s history. In the seventeenth century, the nation-state benefitted from an influential role in the arts, a strong economy, and a powerful, successful military (“Studies on translation,” 2010, p. 13). Combined, these factors ultimately resulted in the nation’s prominent role as one of “the main political powers” of the world (“Studies on translation”, 2010, p 13). With this influence and power, French soon became the language of commerce, arts, and academics, and as more and more people recognized the benefits of learning French, the language became a global lingua franca (Wright, 2016). With France’s continued domi...

by James Warning Joseph Conrad ( source ) The British novelist Joseph Conrad, a man of Polish origins who did not set foot in England until his early 20s, is today considered to have been one of the greatest English prose writers of his time. 1 In his novella, Heart of Darkness, Conrad’s narrator Marlow sits on the deck of a ship coming to port in London and meditates on the Roman conquest of Britain and the idea of racism and empire: “The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea—something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to....” 2 With the United Kingdom’s 2016 decision to exit the European Union, a decision in part motivated by the racial anxieties of native ...

By Victoria Bauer and Zsuzsanna Fagyal-Le Mentec At first glance, the European Union has the most liberal language regime in the world: all twenty-four of its official languages are considered equal and can be used by EU citizens to communicate with their institutions. The EU’s strong commitment to multilingualism holds despite the formidable costs associated with the enormous translation flow. Consider, for instance, that the European Commission's Directorate General reportedly spends over 330 million euros per year on translation ( Translation in the EU ) and the total costs of language services within the Union are estimated to be close to a billion euros. However, EU language regimes are much more constrained than they might appear. Source: Wikipedia In principle, the Council of Europe determines the rules governing language use (Article 342, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ), but EU institutions “may stipulate in their rules of procedure which of the la...

by Kirsten Vold Wikipedia Eurovision: where European nations compete through song, dance, costumes, pyrotechnics, and light shows every summer to an audience of over 200 million people worldwide-compared to the 30 million global viewers drawn to the 2016 Rio Olympic opening ceremonies (O’Connell 1). This summertime tradition has reflected not only Europe’s taste in music, but also language. Previous to 1999, countries generally sang in their mother tongues; then a rule change allowed them to choose any language for their entry (Rosell-Aguilar 2). The effect of this change was seen almost immediately, both the percentage of entries and the percentage of winners who performed in English increased dramatically (Eurovision 1). The Eurovision Song Contest was created in 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union to mend and unify the continent after the previous two World Wars. Since then, Eurovision has been a reflection of political and cultural changes in Europe. Each country sends ...

Image Link Understanding the French Who Refuse to Speak English By Raphaela Berding Raphaela Berding is a second year graduate student in European Union Studies. Her interests are in sociology, and she plans to complete a PhD in this field. Her research focuses on European culture and identity. She is from Germany and received her Bachelor’s degree in Multilingual Communication and Translational Studies. Berding has made her entry available in English and German as well. Most non-French speaking travelers who have visited France might have experienced that some French do not answer in English when tourists ask them for directions. Since the overall attitude in France towards English is that it is “the most desirable language to possess in one’s linguistic repertoire” (Costa and Lambert 2009, 19), one can assume that these French might not have sufficient knowledge of English, and that it is not part of the French curriculum. However, this is not the case. In the French educati...