Euro English

Euro English
Region	European Union
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo–Frisian Anglic English Euro English
Writing system	Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille
Official status
Official language in	European Union
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

For other uses, see English language in Europe.

Euro English, less commonly EU English is a set of varieties of English used in Continental Europe and especially in the institutions of the European Union or among young mobile Europeans (such as in the Erasmus programme).

History

The term was first used by Carstensen in 1986 to denote the adoption of anglicisms in Europe.

The enlargement of the European Union diminished the influence of other working languages (German and French). The development of the Erasmus Programme created a new class of mobile Europeans who needed a lingua franca to communicate across Europe.

The question whether the appropriation of English by non-native speakers in Continental Europe is giving rise to a potential European variety of English has not yet been resolved. Mollin rejected Euro-English as a variety of English. According to Forche, many of the features suggested to be characteristic of Euro-English could be identified as learners’ mistakes, although there are some nativization tendencies.

While the UK was a member of the EU, Euro-English has been influenced and dominated by British English. With the withdrawal of the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the EU, popularized as Brexit, the number of native English speaker is mostly automatically reducing to the Irish ones, giving eventually more room for romance languages.

Euro English in computers

The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository Project had drafted/defined "en-150" for English in Europe.

Influences

There are two influences in Euro English: one top-down, and one bottom-up.

The top-down influence comes from institutions such as the English Style Guide, issued by the European Commission, which recommends ways to use English in written official documents. "On the whole it follows standard British English usage, but in cases where British English has alternatives, it makes decisions—such as recommending the spelling judgment, not judgement.".

The bottom-up influence comes from the preferences of the people (38% of the EU's citizens speak English as a foreign language).

Some words are given a plural with a final 's' in Euro-English, such as 'informations' and 'competences', to match similar words in European languages (such as 'informations' and 'compétences' in French) while this might be seen as incorrect in British or American English.

Some words such as 'actor,' 'axis' or 'agent' are given a meaning as wide as in European languages while their meaning would keep a narrower range in native English.

EU DGT style guide

The DGT of the EU has a style guide for English language to help write clear and readable regular English. This guide is based on the English spoken in Ireland and Great Britain, known as British English.

It does not consider itself EU English being different from real English but help to address specific EU terminology needs related to the way it works.

It prefers British English to American English bu recommends avoiding very colloquial British usage.

This style guide defines the thousand separator as space or as a comma, the plural of euro as euro.

It also provides accuracy, for instance the word Brexit refers to the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, and not to a day of a referendum: since the Brexit referendum does not have the same meaning than since Brexit.

EU glossary

The many years of working of the EU made some specific EU glossary to appear.

Examples

Standard English	Euro English	Origin
Tourist, used attributively	Touristic	Touristic is not commonly used to describe places catering to tourism, unlike its cognates in other European languages (cf. French touristique, Dutch toeristisch, German touristisch, Spanish/Portuguese/Galician turístico, Catalan turístic, Italian turistico, Polish turystyczny, Serbo-Croatian/Macedonian turístički).
Last October I had the opportunity to attend a workshop.	Last October I had the possibility to attend a workshop.	possibilité in French can mean "opportunity"; and the etymology of the English word possibility comes from the (Old) French one.
That Mercedes is my dentist's car.	That Mercedes is the car of my dentist.	Possessive in Romance languages. For instance: La voiture de mon dentiste in French, L'auto del mio dentista in Italian, O carro do meu dentista in Portuguese, El coche de mi dentista in Spanish.
Current	Actual	The English adjective actual has undergone semantic shift and is now a false friend (cf. cognates in German aktuell, Dutch actueel, French actuel, Romanian/Spanish/Catalan/Galician actual, Portuguese atual, Italian attuale, Czech aktuální, Polish aktualny).
Possibly	Eventually	The English adjective eventual has undergone a semantic widening (cf. the cognates in French éventuel, German eventuell, Italian Eventuale, Polish ewentualny, Danish eventuelt, Dutch eventueel).
To provide (for)	To foresee	French prévoir, Dutch voorzien, German vorsehen (für)
We are offering a challenging position in our unit.	We propose a challenging position in our unit.	proposer in French can mean "to offer" or "to suggest", proporre in Italian means "to suggest".
There were two at the party.	We were two at the party.	The personal pronoun we is used in Latin languages, and required in Slavic languages (through declension).
What is it called; what do you call it?	How is it called; how do you call it?	Many European languages use how rather than what in their equivalent constructions: Italian Come si chiama?, German Wie heißt es?, French Comment ça s'appelle?, Polish Jak to się nazywa?.
Please enter your PIN code below.	Please introduce your PIN code below.	introduire in French can mean "to insert" or "to type in", the same in Portuguese with "introduzir" or in Spanish with "introducir". (introduce is an Engish word coming from Latin introducere )
In the end I am staying in France.	Finally I am staying in France.	Finally is not commonly used to describe an ultimate decision. Spanish Finalmente, French Finalement, Italian Finalmente.
On the other hand	On the other side	Commonly used by Latin languages speakers.
Specify	to precise or precision	Precisare in Italian.
To have or possess.	Dispose of	Have one's disposal means have free use of. Essere a disposizione in Italian.
Large or significant	Important	Latin languages speakers commonly use Important meaning large or significant.
Commonly known as	So-called	Probably from German sogenannt.
Being opportune or opportuness	Opportunity	Opportunity means "the quality of being opportune".
Occasional or periodic	Punctual	Punctual is used to mean point-by-point or from time to time.
Areas of Expertise	Expertises	Latin languages speakers often add an "s" at the end of uncountable nouns.
Monitor	Control	Contrôler in French.
To attend	Assist	Assister in French, Asistir in Spanish.
Encourage	Incite	Incitare in Italian.
He has retired to his office	He has retired to his cabinet	Unknown: In French language, the word cabinet used to mean a small room away from a bigger one. The French word cabinet coming from the French word cabine of uncertain eventually English origin eventually linked to the French word cabane.
Deadline	Delay	Unknown: eventually from the French délai used in the civil code to give a period to compute a time limit. The word délai was used in French by Chrétien de Troyes, sans délai meaning without deadline, the noun is based on the verb délaier (of uncertain origin) previously used in Couronnement Louis. Anyway, the expression time limit is more easily understandable than deadline. However Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in its English version neither use the word deadline nor the word delay nor the expression time limit: it just says The Treaties shall cease to apply (...) two years after the notification (...) More specifically when the French original verison contains the word délai, the english original version contains the word period.
Planify	Planification	Planification is planning, but longer.
Having to do with committees	Comitology	It was formed from the misspelled stem (committee has two m's, two t's) and the suffix ology/logy meaning the science of or the study of.
Quality of being an actor	Actorness	Actor + ness.
To refrain from doing something	To hop over	Used in Nordic European countries.
To be naive	To be blue-eyed	Used in Nordic European countries
Domestic market	Internal market	Used to distinguish trade within the EU from trade within the member state. The internal market of the EU is known as single market. The French word doméstique is avoided in French language due to some pejorative meanings.
Guarantee	Ensure	Make sure someone has what is in need. The French word garantie has a specific legal meaning in the French civil code.
Boss	Hierarchical superior	Better explanation of the role.
I come from Spain	I am coming from Spain	Used in Continental Europe

The English plural of the word euro was first defined as euro without final s, before becoming euros with a final s.

See also

• English language
• International English
• African English
• English as a lingua franca

Further reading

• English in the European Union - Worlds of English (2/4), Open University
• S.D. (30 September 2011). "Euro-English: Blasting the bombast". The Economist. London.
• Ramsay, Anne (2001). Eurojargon: A Dictionary of the European Union. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.

External links

• Euro-English, English in the European Union. Teti Musmeci, Marina Foti
• The Allusionist podcast with Helen Zaltzman