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Stumble It!
From the desk of Paul Belien on Thu, 2006-08-31 07:00
The European Commission is considering granting up to €5 million a year to news channel Euronews to broadcast in Arabic. EU communication commissioner Margot Wallstrom told Euobserver: “In the climate we have had this is absolutely the right idea.”
Euronews currently broadcasts in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Meanwhile, the EU Presidency, chaired by Finland, publishes a weekly summary of Euronews in Latin, the Conspectus Rerum Latinus. Classical Latin is the sixth language of the Presidency web site in addition to modern English, Finnish, Swedish, French and German.
According to the Presidency the weekly EU review in Latin “keeps Professor Pekkanen and Docent Pitkäranta busy rendering 20th century terms into the Latin idiom.”
Latin and Arabic: Europe’s past and Europe’s future?
Entire article here.
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You might be interested in a footnote in last week's newsletter issued by the Finnish Presidency -- Conspectus rerum Latinus is now also available in Esperanto.
ReplyDeleteUsing Latin makes a great statement. It's a reminder of our common European history and heritage, but also of the fact that the future of language policy and language use in the EU is far from solved.
Using Esperanto points to one possible way forward, as a common second language for all, or at least for as many as want to use it. It's billed as easier to learn (some would say very much easier) than English or any other national language, and it doesn't come with the baggage that a national language does -- it doesn't impose a foreign way of thinking, and it doesn't give an automatic and perpetual advantage to a nation full of native speakers.
It's in use today in every country of the EU, in small but growing numbers. Find out more, or start an online course today!