LL-L "Language politics" 2004.12.13 (02) [E/German]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 13.DEC.2004 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: Language policies

What language next?

Just read this (cf. below) on the website of the German newspaper WAZ.
A request for simultaneous translations of the sessions of the European
parliament into Irish.

My question:
If the parliamentary sessions will be translated in Irish, is there any
Irish representatative who will switch his audio knob to the Irish version,
or will the interpreter talk to a desert?

After all, we (Europeans) are paying our taxes for this.

Regards,
Roger

Linguistische Leidenschaft im babylonischen Brüssel

Brüssel ist Babylon. Seit die Europäische Union am 1. Mai zehn neue
Mitgliedsstaaten aufgenommen hat, müssen in der EU-Hauptstadt sämtliche
Reden, Positionspapiere und Gesetzesentwürfe in 20 Amtssprachen übertragen
werden. Das kostet Platz, weil die Sitzungssäle mit neuen Dolmetscherkabinen
ausgerüstet wurden, und Zeit, weil sich die unterschiedlichen
EU-Institutionen zuweilen mit ihren Arbeitsaufträgen um einen verlässlichen
Übersetzer für Maltesisch balgen. Künftig könnte das Sprachengewirr noch um
eine Tonspur reicher werden: Am kommenden Montag will Irland beim Brüsseler
Außenministertreffen auf höchster Ebene für die Aufnahme des Gälischen in
den Rang einer EU-Amtssprache eintreten.

Die auf der Insel sehr populäre keltische Mundart führt Brüssel bislang bloß
als "Vertragssprache", so dass lediglich ausgewählte Dokumente auf Gälisch
abgefasst werden müssen.

Der neueste Vorstoß aus Dublin weckt auch andernorts linguistische
Leidenschaft: Spanien spielt plötzlich mit dem Gedanken, den Status des
Katalanischen und des Baskischen auf die EU-Tagesordnung zu heben. "Sprache
ist Emotion pur", stöhnt ein altgedienter Spitzendiplomat.

Ihm schwant bereits, wo der sprachliche Anerkennungswettlauf enden könnte:
Die EU müsse eines Tages wohl im Brüsseler Heysel-Stadion konferieren, damit
auch wirklich alle Dolmetscher Platz finden.
Tobias Blasius

12.12.2004

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language politics

Roger,

Sure, catering to linguistic diversity is expensive, and, yes, much of it is
symbolism, even tokenism in some cases.  However, what would be the other
extreme?  English only.  (No, not even French and German, much though that
would hurt some -- and forget about Dutch or Danish!)  What kind of a symbol
would that be, and what would it teach Europeans that are growing up?

The article gives a clear message, the usual message: multilingualism is
silly, and catering to "exotic" minorities is a waste of time and money, and
most articles of this ilk carry tones of disrespect for linguistic and
ethnic minorities, at least paint them as negligible oddities.  "Irish?!
What next? Aren't Lithuanian, Slovak, Estonian, Hungarian and all the other
Johnnies-come-lately silly enough? Can't those people learn real languages,
languages that count?"  The assumedly only explanation is that of the quoted
"top diplomat of long standing": "Language is pure emotion."  What about
human rights?

You can look at this as a business person or as someone who disregards the
monetary side of it.  But in both cases you'd have to ask yourself in what
kind of Europe you'd rather live.  If you require all representatives to
have perfect command of the "main" languages (and at the extreme stage of
English) then you'd be creating an elite, excluding potential
representatives that would do better jobs using their native languages.
Note that Catalan and Galician are being used as main instruction media in
Spanish universities, and that the other "exotic" languages are used in
primary and secondary schooling.  Furthermore, as I understand it, whatever
transpires at such paliamentary sessions is not for the ears of
representatives and delegates only but is supposed to be a matter of public
record directly accessible to the various constituencies.

Sometimes it's necessary to play the devil's advocate.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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