Me: I don't believe in an English speaking elite.
You: So you believe in Globish-speaking masses. Globish is the down-graded version of English.
I did tell you what I don't believe in, not what I do believe in. I've read the article and do agree with the writer:
"The multilingualism of the European Union is defined within clear limits by Community law. A language can become an official language of the EU if it meets three conditions: it has to be an official language of a Member State, stated by its Constitution; the Member State in question requests its recognition as an official language at the EU level; the other Member States approve this unanimously.
This is one of the reasons that Esperanto cannot become the lingua franca of the European Union.
The second reason has to do with its specificity. A language like Esperanto has little social or cultural practice connected to its
vocabulary. The practical and financial implications of creating entire domains ex novo in an artificial language are immense. Think only of customs codes or banking legislation or the technical requirements for pressure vessels of simple geometric form sometimes known as brake cylinders.
The third reason is a more personal one: I do not believe in a lingua franca, be it Esperanto, Latin or English. On the other hand, lingua franca is, historically, a spontaneous social linguistic phenomenon and is not the result of any legislative or political decision. Probably some Esperantists on this forum do not agree with my position, but I believe we need to share our views (I found some of the arguments very interesting, although I did not agree with some of them)."
This does not say Europe is against Esperanto, only that it cannot accept it as an official language. The reasons seem valid,to me.
Learning languages besides fun is useful for work and socializing. But there is enough work to be done that needs no special language studies.
Nice to learn Polish. Enjoy! But.. what if your grandchildren will not be the studying types?
( I always assumed Belgians learn both French ànd Flemish-Dutch in school. See how much we know about are next door neighbours
)
