How do other Europeans feel about the dominance of English in Europe and the world? (country, people)
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Now that English is the unofficial common language among Europeans who speak different languages (say if a Spaniard and a Pole want to speak, they usually go to English), I'm wondering how many Europeans feel about it? Particularly say the French and the Germans? French in particular was the unofficial language of diplomacy in Europe (when did English overtake it) and if history had gone differently French might have been the unofficial global lingua franca. The British Empire and the US combined seem to have successful entrenched English as the language of trade, politics, science, media for a long time now.
Is there some jealousy/resentment? Or do most not really care too much? I heard in some countries young people are even speaking English among themselves, is there a lot of fear that some might even start speaking English instead of say Dutch or German or Swedish? Do some young people sort of admire English or see it as superior/cool? I heard in Norway there was anger at advertisements in English.
It seems Southern Europeans are less open to English though, especially in Italy and Spain.
English is the most popular foreign language in all but 5 European countries, and all of those are small nations that use the language of their larger neighbors.
French is common language only in the offices of European institutions. It is one of the three working languages of the European Commission in Brussels, alongside English and German.
Almost 100% HS students in the EU learn English as a primary foreign language. About 2/3 of adults speak and understand some English, and 1/3 speaks it fairly well.
I think the dominance of English is likely to become even greater in the future.
Now that English is the unofficial common language among Europeans who speak different languages (say if a Spaniard and a Pole want to speak, they usually go to English), I'm wondering how many Europeans feel about it? Particularly say the French and the Germans? French in particular was the unofficial language of diplomacy in Europe (when did English overtake it) and if history had gone differently French might have been the unofficial global lingua franca. The British Empire and the US combined seem to have successful entrenched English as the language of trade, politics, science, media for a long time now.
Is there some jealousy/resentment? Or do most not really care too much? I heard in some countries young people are even speaking English among themselves, is there a lot of fear that some might even start speaking English instead of say Dutch or German or Swedish? Do some young people sort of admire English or see it as superior/cool? I heard in Norway there was anger at advertisements in English.
It seems Southern Europeans are less open to English though, especially in Italy and Spain.
The only nations that might be bitter are those with formally popular languages: Spain, France and Italy.
English is extremely easy to learn especially for the young population thru pop culture/music. It's nice because you don't need to invest time/money into learning it.
English also works because there are so many variations: British, Australian, American etc. Even within America there are variations of it. So the standards are low, making it ideal as a 2nd/3rd language.
The fact that the English language dominates the world becomes pretty much insignificant as soon as you live your in a country where English is not the #1. 99% of the people here trade, read their newspapers, research things and follow politics in German. So no hard feelings from my side
As an Irish, I do not like my country having English than Irish as the most used language in my country. I like Malta and Cyprus with English being the second language instead.
In the Netherlands allmost everyone speaks english pretty good and we like to speak it. Actually we like it so much, that people from other countries are having more trouble to learn our language 'cos they don't get the chance to speak it, cos everybody speaks english to them. But there's absolutely no chance english will take over.
The fact that the English language dominates the world becomes pretty much insignificant as soon as you live your in a country where English is not the #1. 99% of the people here trade, read their newspapers, research things and follow politics in German. So no hard feelings from my side
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