• German President succumbs to British empire, wants English as primary European language.
    150 replies, posted
[quote]Germany's president has called for English to be made the language of the European Union as he appealed to the UK to stay in the EU. Joachim Gauck earned applause for his remarks, made in Berlin on Friday in a speech on Europe's future at a time of rising German scepticism towards Brussels. "Dear English, Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish and new British citizens, we want to continue having you on board," he said. "We need your experience as the oldest parliamentary democracy, we need your traditions, your sober-mindedness and your courage."[/quote] [url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/german-president-pleads-britain-stay-eu[/url]
I know 26 member nations that will be severely pissed off if this happens.
yaaaaay This is good.
[quote]your sober-mindedness and your courage[/quote] Nice try Germany.
Over the dead body of France. They won't like this
English IS the most widespread political language, so to be honest I'm not really suprised. Talking about number of countries using it btw, not percentage of people.
Well I should think so, I mean we only had one of the largest empires ever seen and won both world wars.
Would be great if everyone had to learn English and be good at it so you can actually communicate with other people when traveling within the EU.
I swear I can actually hear him felate the ego of the UK as a whole.
Meh, President doesn't have a lot to say in Germany anyway and this one fairly recently had to replace the old one. Chancellor's de facto the real represent. I can see the utility behind the movement and think we'll end up that road sooner or later anyway, but Europe's pretty finicky when it comes to giving up cultural identities. I certainly wouldn't want to let this diversity of languages fade into oblivion or become as dead as Latin. So I can see both sides to this.
[QUOTE=GREN EYGS N HAM;39687262]Would be great if everyone had to learn English and be good at it so you can actually communicate with other people when traveling within the EU.[/QUOTE] Or French. Or German. Or really any language.
Out of all the languages to choose from, it's only logical to use English.
[QUOTE=Chief Martini;39687300]Out of all the languages to choose from, it's only logical to use English.[/QUOTE] Absolutely. It would be quite idiotic to use a different language.
The only thing that annoys me about English is how its spelling is the absolutely most retarded thing I have ever witnessed in any language, ever. The grammar is simple and effective, and it has a beautiful, wide range of vocabulary. But the fucking [i]spelling[/i] is shit. It's like half of the time, the words aren't pronounced the way they're written and anyone studying English has to haphazardly guess "I think this I in this word might be pronounced as "Aye" or as "eeh", but I'm not sure"
[QUOTE=deltasquid;39687339]The only thing that annoys me about English is how its spelling is the absolutely most retarded thing I have ever witnessed in any language, ever. The grammar is simple and effective, and it has a beautiful, wide range of vocabulary. But the fucking [i]spelling[/i] is shit. It's like half of the time, the words aren't pronounced the way they're written and anyone studying English has to haphazardly guess "I think this I in this word might be pronounced as "Aye" or as "eeh", but I'm not sure"[/QUOTE] Got any examples? I've never found this problem, but I'm born and raised English so I may just be used to it.
[QUOTE=SataniX;39687365]Got any examples? I've never found this problem, but I'm born and raised English so I may just be used to it.[/QUOTE] I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you, On hiccough, thorough, lough and through? Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard and sounds like bird, And dead: it's said like bed, not bead - For goodness sake don't call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt). A moth is not a moth in mother, Nor both in bother, broth in brother, And here is not a match for there Nor dear and fear for bear and pear, And then there's dose and rose and lose - Just look them up - and goose and choose, And cork and work and card and ward, And font and front and word and sword, And do and go and thwart and cart - Come, come, I've hardly made a start! A dreadful language? Man alive! I'd mastered it when I was five! oh and also We must polish the Polish furniture. He could lead if he would get the lead out. The farm was used to produce produce. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. The soldier decided to desert in the desert. This was a good time to present the present. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. I did not object to the object. The insurance was invalid for the invalid. The bandage was wound around the wound. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. They were too close to the door to close it. The buck does funny things when the does are present. They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. The wind was too strong to wind the sail. After a number of injections my jaw got number. Upon seeing the tear in my clothes I shed a tear. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? I read it once and will read it agen I learned much from this learned treatise. I was content to note the content of the message. The Blessed Virgin blessed her. Blessed her richly. It's a bit wicked to over-trim a short wicked candle. If he will absent himself we mark him absent. I incline toward bypassing the incline.
[QUOTE=SataniX;39687365]Got any examples? I've never found this problem, but I'm born and raised English so I may just be used to it.[/QUOTE] When the English tongue we speak. Why is break not rhymed with freak? Will you tell me why it's true We say sew but likewise few? And the maker of the verse, Cannot rhyme his horse with worse? Beard is not the same as heard Cord is different from word. Cow is cow but low is low Shoe is never rhymed with foe. Think of hose, dose,and lose And think of goose and yet with choose Think of comb, tomb and bomb, Doll and roll or home and some. Since pay is rhymed with say Why not paid with said I pray? Think of blood, food and good. Mould is not pronounced like could. Wherefore done, but gone and lone - Is there any reason known? To sum up all, it seems to me Sound and letters don't agree.
[QUOTE=SataniX;39687365]Got any examples? I've never found this problem, but I'm born and raised English so I may just be used to it.[/QUOTE] it's our primary language, we will never understand these problems like someone who doesn't speak English.
Well at least Poland might freaking start to learn english.
If this doesn't encourage them to stay in the EU, especially after they got that special privilege not to adopt the Euro, then nothing will.
Bullshit Manx for primary European language 2013
[QUOTE=Megafan;39687472]If this doesn't encourage them to stay in the EU, especially after they got that special privilege not to adopt the Euro, then nothing will.[/QUOTE] Ignoring that the government wants to put it to a referendum so it's the public who get to decide, despite the vast majority not knowing a god damn thing about the EU and they think that all of our problems can be solved just by leaving which'll magically fix immigration and we'll be back to our empire days.
[QUOTE=Megafan;39687472]If this doesn't encourage them to stay in the EU, especially after they got that special privilege not to adopt the Euro, then nothing will.[/QUOTE] I don't see how this is a grand plan-changer. It's not even agreed upon yet, just simply suggested by Germany. Britain isn't gonna change for some 'wishful thinking'.
[QUOTE=markg06;39687519]Ignoring that the government wants to put it to a referendum so it's the public who get to decide, despite the vast majority not knowing a god damn thing about the EU and they think that all of our problems can be solved just by leaving which'll magically fix immigration and we'll be back to our empire days.[/QUOTE] Which *might* go through, opinion polls indicate more supporters of leaving than of staying, although those undecided/unsure could change that. The most recent one I could find had 41% in favour of leaving, 38% in favour of staying, 16% unsure, and 5% unwilling to vote.
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;39687378]it's our primary language, we will never understand these problems like someone who doesn't speak English.[/QUOTE] it's my second language but I have no problems pronouncing the words
Joke's on the UK, the German President has jack shit to say in the German government, it's ,erely a representative function.
[QUOTE=deltasquid;39687339]The only thing that annoys me about English is how its spelling is the absolutely most retarded thing I have ever witnessed in any language, ever. The grammar is simple and effective, and it has a beautiful, wide range of vocabulary. But the fucking [i]spelling[/i] is shit. It's like half of the time, the words aren't pronounced the way they're written and anyone studying English has to haphazardly guess "I think this I in this word might be pronounced as "Aye" or as "eeh", but I'm not sure"[/QUOTE] I can understand why it would be difficult for someone trying to learn English without help, but don't many languages have stuff like this that basically requires actual experience with the language to pick up the different technicalities? Most of the people from Western EU (And a lot from East EU) that I play games with have near perfect English, they have no problem pronouncing things like that, though it does help that I answer questions they have.
[QUOTE=Cushie;39687735]I can understand why it would be difficult for someone trying to learn English without help, but don't many languages have stuff like this that basically requires actual experience with the language to pick up the different technicalities? Most of the people from Western EU (And a lot from East EU) that I play games with have near perfect English, they have no problem pronouncing things like that, though it does help that I answer questions they have.[/QUOTE] It's true that a lot of people end up speaking decent or very good English, but only if they come in contact with it frequently. From my high school class, maybe 5 people out of 25 spoke fluent English, and that included me and my 2 best friends who play video games and have been in contact with English since we were 8 or so. The rest messed up pronunciation at almost every new word we had to learn, and it's an extreme chore to look up pronunciation every time you turn a page. It's simply not an issue we had when studying Dutch, German, French, Spanish or Italian.
[QUOTE=Killuah;39687685]Joke's on the UK, the German President has jack shit to say in the German government, it's ,erely a representative function.[/QUOTE] Him and the Queen should hang out.
I am Czech and I welcome this wholeheartedly. It's a good and necessary move.
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