Research on Language Conflicts in the EU: Only English or Multilingualism?
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Kim Bok-Rae 
Published: June 2018

With the admission of Bulgaria and Rumania into the EU, one of the most serious challenges with which the European Parliament is confronted nowadays is the increased number of official languages within the EU. Therefore, some realists insist that the number of official languages should be reduced in the EU or that the English should be the sole official language in the European Parliament. However, bestowing such a great power and prestige on the language of two nations(US and UK) may cause the rage or complain of the different non-Anglophone European member states. The English as a king of languages is already acknowledged as the most popular and attractive foreign language not only in Europe, but also in the world. Nonetheless, giving the special political privilege into English as one of the 27 official languages of the EU must be discussed separately from simply using English in the sectors of business, tourism and education.
The aim of this paper is to examine the language conflicts within the EU. Only English as a single official language in the EU or multilingualism which is linguistic and cultural diversity-oriented? As for language conflicts which become more serious in the confederal EU, having one working language(English) may be the most realistic solution to reduce the high cost of translation and interpretation in the EU. Leonard Orban, Commissioner for Multilingualism, refutes this solution in saying “Multilingual use is a necessary cost of maintaining EU's democracy.” Not only in the EU institutions, but also in the sectors of business, advertising and science, etc. the importance of the English is unprecedentedly increased during recent decades. This phenomenon means that the imperial English tends to restrict more or less the position of the French and the German as two different lingua francas. Speaking basically, the EU started as a counterpart to obstruct the US hegemony in the world, but does the dominance of the English in the EU correspond to the interests of the EU?The dominance of the English can be explained by two historic/linguistic reasons. First, great nations (US, UK and ex-Soviet Union) who won a big victory during the Second World War divided the Europe into two capitalist and socialist parts. But the control of the France as the fourth winner was relatively weak. Therefore, the US and the UK could establish the dominant position of the English. Second, There are also linguistic reasons. It seems that English is easier to learn and to speak because of its grammar. The English sentences are often shorter and more concise in comparison to French and German. After the decline of the ex-Soviet Union, the US became the only significant world power. Thus, the US' position is unparalleled in economy, politics, science, technology and pop culture, etc.
This paper treats the importance of the EU languages(that is, linguistic diversity in the EU), the linguistic position(if not hegemony) of the two nations(France and Germany) in the EU, particularly in favor of the European multilingual policy, closely related into the European identity. Centering on the multilingualism at which the EU aims, it examines not only the overwhelming dominance of the English in the EU, but also the historic and linguistic reasons of the dominance of the English in the post-colonial period. A. De Swaan divides the communication in the EU into four levels: national level, transnational level, EU's institutional level(European Parliament) and the Commission's internal bureaucracy. In order to awaken or inspire the true sense of the European identity in the mind of the EU citizens, it is necessary to adopt the multilingualism at the heart of the EU on the transnational level.