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Chirac's pride

Posted by Rob (#1) on June 1, 2006 00:43 CEST

Read on Wikipedia's Euro-English article:

English is frequently used by Europeans to communicate even when neither of them know English as the first language. (For example, a French person who doesn't know German and a German who doesn't know French, but both of whom know English, would use English to communicate with one another, even though it is not the native language of either - such as at the first meeting of Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel at the Elysée palace after Merkel's confirmation as chancellor).

I wish there was a quotation for that, but nonetheless I find it rather amusing to see Chirac as the example of English being pretty much the lingua franca of Europe.

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Tags: Europe, Angela Merkel, Jacques Chirac, Anglosphere, English
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Au revoir!

European Union

Posted by Rob (#1) on March 27, 2006 14:18 CEST

Apparently some people still can't get used to France's marginalised role in European and world affairs:

French President Jacques Chirac showed his temper at the EU summit when a French business leader addressed delegates in English.

He stormed out of a session when Ernest-Antoine Seilliere said he chose English "because that is the accepted business language of Europe today".

Mr Chirac told reporters on Friday he was "deeply shocked" that a Frenchman chose to address the summit in English.

Funny bloke. But it is indeed quite shocking that people speak English at all in France, one of the least intelligent nations in Europe.