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Brexit: English language 'losing importance'-EU's Juncker (Speaks French two days before election)
BBC News ^ | 5/5/2017 | BBC

Posted on 05/05/2017 6:30:28 AM PDT by Spiridon

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has told a conference in Italy on the EU that "English is losing importance in Europe".

Amid tensions with the UK over looming Brexit negotiations, he said he was delivering his speech in French.

"Slowly but surely English is losing importance in Europe and also because France has an election," he said, explaining his choice of language.....

Top EU officials say they want liberal independent Emmnanuel Macron to beat his nationalist rival, Marine Le Pen......

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: brexit; emmanuelmacron; english; france; language; marinelepen; trends
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The top dog at the EU speaks to French pride by speaking the French language instead of English just two days ahead of the final round of the presidential election.

Trying to help Macron is what I see here by giving the EU a pro-French image.

They run scared of Marine Le Pen.

Even if she loses Sunday, stick around for the two rounds of the parliamentary election in June.

The FN only has two seats of 577 but the party's newfound strength (which would be seen even if Marine Le Pen only reaches around 40 percent popular vote) is going to put it in good shape for big gains.

1 posted on 05/05/2017 6:30:28 AM PDT by Spiridon
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To: Spiridon

“English language ‘losing importance’-EU’s Juncker”

Wishful thinking.

English is the nearest thing we have to a global language.

No other language is even a close second.


2 posted on 05/05/2017 6:45:13 AM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler (Best Long Term Prepper Tactic: Beat The Muslim Takeover - Have Big Families)
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To: Spiridon
It's my experience that Europeans tend to speak more than one language.It's also my experience that the Europeans I've encountered whose native tongue *isn't* English tend to be quite fluent in English.I wonder how European languages rank as a second language for those whose native tongue is *not* English.

I'd be will to wager that English is at,or near,the top of that list.

3 posted on 05/05/2017 6:49:44 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Deplorables' Lives Matter)
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To: Spiridon
Something occurred to me recently...with all the hatred and contempt that top EU officials have shown to Britain and the US in recent times I think it's time to rethink my car buying habits.The last three cars I've bought have been fairly high end German made cars (but certainly no limos,I assure you).

Japan makes some quite nice cars these days and there are even one or two American cars that are worth considering.

Proceed with extreme caution,Junker! Not everyone is thrilled by your Communist sympathies.

4 posted on 05/05/2017 6:55:12 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Deplorables' Lives Matter)
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To: Spiridon

And yet oddly enough French is NOT the language of business

Juncker is psychotic


5 posted on 05/05/2017 6:59:57 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Spiridon

France can kiss my grits. I’m a Huguenot who came to
America & fought in the American Revolution AFTER we were
slaughtered and thrown out of France by the Catholic priests. - I used to wonder why my grandparents were so
hostile to the Catholic hierarchy & staunchly Protestant.


6 posted on 05/05/2017 7:01:50 AM PDT by Twinkie ( MSM and DEMOCRAT PARTY are DEAD)
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To: Gay State Conservative

English is the most widely spoken second language in Europe and in the world by far - no other language even comes close. In spite of claims that Mandarin Chinese is the most common first language, it is probably actually English, given the population of the former British Empire. After Chinese and English, it’s Spanish. English is also the most common official or quasi-official language, the language of business and of science. Official claims notwithstanding, English is spoken fluently by well over a billion people, and understood to a significant degree by something on the order of 3-4 billion. It truly is the closest thing we have to a global language, thanks to the domination of the globe by first the Brits and then Americans for the past few centuries.


7 posted on 05/05/2017 7:30:11 AM PDT by calenel (The Democratic Party is a Criminal Enterprise. It is the Socialist Mafia.)
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To: Nifster

“And yet oddly enough French is NOT the language of business”

It’s not the language of science, either. At almost any international conference, the universal language is English.


8 posted on 05/05/2017 7:31:30 AM PDT by riverdawg
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To: Twinkie
I’m a Huguenot who came to America & fought in the American Revolution AFTER we were slaughtered and thrown out of France by the Catholic priests.

Wow. You're really old. Thank you for your service!

LOL ;)

9 posted on 05/05/2017 7:32:23 AM PDT by calenel (The Democratic Party is a Criminal Enterprise. It is the Socialist Mafia.)
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To: Gay State Conservative

At any gathering of Europeans where native languages differ, the language of conversation is almost always English.


10 posted on 05/05/2017 7:33:21 AM PDT by riverdawg
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To: All

This was done to help Macron.


11 posted on 05/05/2017 7:37:22 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: All

This was done to help Macron.


12 posted on 05/05/2017 7:38:46 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: Nifster

The only Belgie worth a tinker’s dam is Hercule Poirot.


13 posted on 05/05/2017 7:56:01 AM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: Gay State Conservative

When I was a kid, English speaking Europeans and Israelis spoke with a pronounced British accent. Not any more. They speak with pronounced American accents. Interesting.


14 posted on 05/05/2017 7:56:51 AM PDT by miss marmelstein
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To: Vlad The Inhaler

When it comes to technology and business everyone defaults to English. Typical French, a heightened sense of self-importance. They probably really think the world is on the brink of everyone speaking French. One could argue Spanish well before French.

...but yeah, not happening.


15 posted on 05/05/2017 8:05:59 AM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing consequences of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: Spiridon

(Nigel Farage showering contempt on the EU parliament...response is in French.)

Nigel Farage to MEPs: ‘most of you have never done a proper job’
https://youtu.be/40ule97jkRA


16 posted on 05/05/2017 8:19:03 AM PDT by Fitzy_888 ("ownership society")
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To: Bookshelf

True that


17 posted on 05/05/2017 8:23:48 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: miss marmelstein

That is true, Europeans seek to sound American. There are videos coaching people to sound American on YouTube.

Anicdotally... I was in a pub in Ireland, way-way off the beaten path in County Cavan, a gruff bartender stopped me mid sentence and asked: “...are you an American or some European trying to sound American?”


18 posted on 05/05/2017 8:34:05 AM PDT by Fitzy_888 ("ownership society")
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To: Twinkie
Do you know that the incident that triggered the wars and events leading to Huguenot expulsion was the Montpellier Cathedral massacre — of Catholics, by Huguenots. There were many, many incidents of murder, iconoclasm, riot, destruction, burning by Huguenots. Of course, they were murdered and mistreated as well, but they were by no means an innocent group themselves.

Remember also, the French fought against popes, imprisoned popes on occasion, and sacked the Papal States...France was not a papal lapdog. The French government was controlled and influenced by turns by ardent Catholics, disinterested Catholics, and Huguenots. France was primarily interested in maintaining the order and cohesiveness of the country, and the Huguenots made themselves as troublesome to that end as the French-Algerians of today. Their eventual expulsion was, you might say, "nothing personal, just business."

The history of religious interaction is seldom as one-sided as any of us would like to believe.

19 posted on 05/05/2017 9:15:47 AM PDT by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Flag burners can go screw -- I'm mighty PROUD of that ragged old flag)
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To: Vlad The Inhaler

Juncker’s game was influence the French election, that’s my sense of his act.


20 posted on 05/05/2017 10:43:26 PM PDT by Spiridon
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