LANGUAGES
Why do you think Europe insists on multilingualism? Consider the values the EU is built on.
Languages bring people together, open doors to other countries and their cultures, and strengthen intercultural understanding. Mastery of foreign languages plays a fundamental role in improving employability and mobility. In addition, multilingualism also improves the economic competitiveness of the EU.
What languages has your own language been influenced by?
English. This is a fairly obvious option at a time when there is so much insistence on the use of unnecessary anglicisms (words of English origin) in Spanish, but English loanwords are not an exclusive phenomenon of our century. Yes, words like “mouse”, “chat”, “software” or even “Internet” were recently incorporated (at least, in linguistic terms), but others like “club” or “golf” have been with us for much longer.
Do you think your country encourages the learning and use of foreign languages? In what way?
We believe so, since we have English as a compulsory subject and some other subjects are bilingual.
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of having a lingua franca?
There are several advantages, such as the ease of communicating in other countries since most speak the lingua franca. If you are lucky, your official language may be the lingua franca, and this makes many things easier for you. Regarding disadvantages, we have not seen any.
Which is going to be the lingua franca of the future?
In our opinion, English will continue to be the lingua franca.