Lost in translation? : European integration and lanuage diversity

2006

English is constantly moving forward and elucidates its role as lingua franca in the European Union. At the same time the Union has 20 official languages and promotes around 150 regional or minority languages under its official motto United in diversity; expressing the view that each member state should promote its national language and identity simultaneously as their citizens are to feel like Europeans. This can be looked upon as a contradiction in terms because diversity can juxtapose unity although in this paper we conclude the opposite by investigating the relationship between language, identity and the process of European integration. Taking as a point of departure the fact that langu…