The Brief — Don’t mistake languages for mere words

Don’t mistake languages for mere words

By Sean Goulding Carroll |@Sean_G_Carroll

Spain’s request to expand the list of official EU languages to include those formally recognised in Spain – Basque, Catalan, and Galician – has prompted scorn from some quarters of Brussels, who fret about adding to the EU’s Tower-of-Babel administration.

Put forward by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a bid to placate Catalan separatists (a vital part of the electoral maths needed to keep him in office), the move is likely to meet opposition from countries worried about opening the floodgates to similar requests.

Leaders may also baulk at the cost of providing translation into these new languages when Spaniards (whether or not they identify with that label) can already access official EU documents in Spanish.

Of course, viewing the request through the prism of mere practicality is missing the point. For proponents, official EU language status is more about symbolism than communication with the EU institutions.

There are two schools of thought as to the worth of languages. The first is purely pragmatic – languages at their heart are a means to communicate. Their power stems mainly from their utility. If we cannot connect with others, then a language is simply ornamental.

This argument serves English particularly well, as it is the world’s most widely understood language when people who speak it as a second language are accounted for.

In the Brussels bubble, English has become an essential communication tool.

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[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Alice Taylor]