English, lingua franca of the Swiss/Catalans/…

That’s what Urs Dürmüller of Berne University says, and Switzerland.isyours explains why in greater detail. English became popular in Brussels, partly because it was viewed as a neutral language, exempt from the rivalries of the supporters of Flemish and French (German princes were invited to take up Balkan thrones in the C19th for much the same reason); I think the same is happening in Barcelona, partly as a means of evading the language police, who don’t really care what language you write stuff in as long as it isn’t Spanish. Flats to rent sites tend to be tilted towards groups with comparatively low levels of property ownership–Spanish mother-tongue speakers and immigrants–but it’s clear that while Spanish is still the principal transactional language, English is moving in.

Trevor @ 26 October 2005 3:15 PM

Categories

Related posts

• Ali Smith on literature in translation
• Ian Llorens changes his mind on Frankfurt
• More thrilling Barcelona police action
• Language economics
• Langwich Sandwich

Previous/next post

Comments

Feeds: RSS2 · Atom

Trackback link.

Tell me if the spam dragon gives you a hard time. Log in if you want to be really foul.