Promoting Language Diversity in English

Recent reports suggest the Commission is trying to set-up a Language Diversity Agency or else a network that would promote multilingualism amongst Europeans. The striking fact is that there is a possibility of English being the only working language of this agency while promoting language diversity and multilingualism. This is the ridiculous result of compromising between a fair ideal and cost-effectiveness that will make Europe’s efforts less credible on the home front and on the international scene alike.

Time is ripe to step up the discussion on how the linguistic heritage and diversity existing within the European Union is to be preserved and promoted. Moreover considerations are to be made on whether the Union is to help co-ordinate efforts of already existing organisations that were set up by its citizens, thus truly respecting the principle of subsidiarity, or decide to directly compete against these organisations for credibility and respect.

I think that if the Union is to really be a vehicle of the message of Unity in Diversity then it should not promote initiatives that are not aimed at co-ordinating already existing efforts but instead point at being a replacement for the alternatives currently available.

The Commission is in fact proposing an initial expenditure of eleven million Euros for the setting up of an agency which analysts in the field fear it will be another institutional monster that would be only capable of issuing reports and making no decisions that would affect the citizens’ life. On the other and existing organisations like Eurolang are already doing sterling work in promoting multilingualism. Could the European Administration seek ways on how such efforts could be enhanced instead of being disrupted with red-tape?
Languages are the repository of a culture. Moreover languages in Europe, more than in any other reality in the developed world, have the equal possibility of either becoming bridges leading to further prosperity or barriers preventing us from dialogue and understanding. This is why the promotion of linguistic diversity within the Union’s citizens is to be carried out in a proper manner and all alternatives are to be sought before setting out to invest the citizens’ money in ventures which already exist.