Will French become the dominant language?

The latest projection is that French will be spoken by 750 million people by 2050. A study by investment bank Natixis even suggests that by that time, French could be the most-spoken language in the world, ahead of English and even Mandarin.

What language should the EU speak?

The most widely understood language in the EU is English, which is understood by 44\% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18\%.

Is German a growing language?

As before, most learners of German are to be found in Europe, but the language is growing in significance in Africa and Asia in particular. The number of schools that offer German has risen from 95,000 in 2015 to some 106,000. Europe is still home to the largest number of German learners (11.2 million).

Is German the most spoken language in Europe?

English is still the most spoken language in the EU by far, with German now spoken by 36\% of citizens and French spoken by 29\% of the EU’s new smaller population of 446 million people. Italian comes fourth at 18\%, followed by 17\% for Spanish.

Why is German so close to English?

English is a Germanic language Indeed, both the German and English languages are considered to be members of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, meaning they are still closely related today. Furthermore, the modern languages have both loaned words from Latin, Greek and French.

What language is English closest to?

Frisian
The closest language to English is one called Frisian, which is a Germanic language spoken by a small population of about 480,000 people. There are three separate dialects of the language, and it’s only spoken at the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany.

Is English still the official language of the European Union?

But each has registered their other language, Maltese and Irish (Gaelic) respectively, as their official language for EU purposes. English will likely remain the lingua Franca of EU lawmaking and the majority language of EU citizens even if it is no longer an official language of the EU.

Should the European Union change its official lingua franca?

In the EU, any change to the official lingua franca of its organizations and procedures has to be approved by the European Council by a unanimous vote. More recently, an article published in Le Figaro magazine makes the case that English should be done away within the EU, if not for French, then oddly enough, for Latin.

Should German be made a common language in the EU?

Germans, not known for their language pride, have never pushed for German to be used as a common language in the EU institutions.

Will English become the EU’s official language after Brexit?

English will likely remain the lingua Franca of EU lawmaking and the majority language of EU citizens even if it is no longer an official language of the EU. It is a reflection of how much English has evolved beyond being just a language that belongs to any country or countries in particular.