Peter Ehrström on minorities as pioneers of multilingualism

Peter Ehrström asserts that the traditional European nation state is beating a retreat. He points out that with the exception of Iceland, all European states have national minorities - the Catalan, the South Tyrolean, the Welsh, the Sorbs and the Finnish-Swedish - who are all benefiting from the trend of stronger regions. "In a Europe without borders it's only logical that representatives of linguistic minorities are regarded as particularly successful Europeans. Most of them are at least bilingual, with the majority being multilingual. And if there is something Europe will really need in the future it's people who can speak several languages. 'Broken English' may be the world's leading language, but this isn't enough. Unlike for members of the majority, for representatives of minorities being able to speak three, four or even five languages is a necessity that is taken for granted. In Europe, with its variety of languages, knowledge of several languages is not a burden - it's hard currency."

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