Jutta Limbach on Europe's linguistic diversity

The newspaper publishes a text written by Jutta Limbach, president of the Goethe Institute, in which she reflects on Europe's multilingualism. "Although some regard the growing demand for multilingualism as an awkward relic of nationalism in Europe's future culture, the majority of the European political and cultural elite agree that multilingualism guarantees intellectual diversity. Czech EU Social Affairs Commissioner Vladmir Spidla maintains that some thoughts can only be conceived in certain languages. The high status multilingualism has attained is reflected in the European constitution that is pending ratification." However, for practical reasons she suggests using only three working languages in Europe: German, English and French. "These languages are spoken in more than one country as official languages and therefore reach beyond the boundaries of individual nation states."

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