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Does translation support multilingualism in the EU ? Promises and reality – the example of G erman
Author(s) -
Ammon Ulrich,
Kruse Jan
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/ijal.12017
Subject(s) - eulogy , multilingualism , parliament , political science , commission , linguistics , european commission , european union , law , business , politics , international trade , philosophy
The translation services of the E uropean U nion ( EU ) are meant to guarantee that EU institutions can, and actually do, communicate with member states in these states' own official languages, as long as they have been bestowed the status of official EU languages (Council Regulation No 1, Articles 1–5). Though it is well‐known among EU politicians that reality falls short of this objective, there is no serious discussion about this, let alone an attempt to bring reality in line with the Regulation. As the following study of the EU Commission's communication with the G erman national parliament ( Bundestag ) shows, actual practice does contrast sharply with the EU politicians' never‐ending eulogy on multilingualism. Such eulogy instead seems to be part of an ideology which serves to calm down concerns from traditional competitors of E nglish as an international language such as, in particular, speakers of F rench, G erman, I talian or S panish, the status and function of whose languages suffer most from the present practice.