Welsh becomes official language in EU
Welsh language makes EU debut - Yahoo! News
This is probably one of the most interesting articles I've seen in a long time. A language spoken by some 750,000 people worldwide and 611,000 people in Wales, of which less than 70% speak daily, is considered by the EU a language worthy enough in which to have official correspondence written and in and from which speeches may be interpreted. It joins 22 other languages which enjoy official status within the European Union.
This is probably one of the most interesting articles I've seen in a long time. A language spoken by some 750,000 people worldwide and 611,000 people in Wales, of which less than 70% speak daily, is considered by the EU a language worthy enough in which to have official correspondence written and in and from which speeches may be interpreted. It joins 22 other languages which enjoy official status within the European Union.
posted by omahaprogrammer at
5:13 PM
1 Comments:
The Welsh language is not alone in fighting for its linguistic rights.
The promulgation of English as the world's "lingua franca" is impractical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker!
Impractical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is how English is used internationally at the moment.
Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential.
An interesting video can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
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