Luke Spear

Europe’s identity is in question, but in which language? In Sweden and France consternation is abound as journalists pick up on this phenomenon and convey the zeitgeist as it is to their respective countrymen.

In an article in the Svenska Dagbladet, Olle Josephson writes of a Scandinavian political convention bringing together Norwegian, Danish and Swedish youth movements for an exchange of ideas earlier in 2008. That exchange, reports Olle, now takes place in English. This is in part due to the way that the Scandinavian languages have now diverged further than ever, while still being easily understood on paper, the linguistically closer Swedish and Norwegian speakers can now have difficulty understanding spoken Danish. One solution, as proposed by Olle, would be to spend “10–12 hours of Danish teaching per school year, that should quickly allow students to reach a reading and comprehension level high above their second language choices such as German or French“.

And the French, seeking their own solutions to what they see as a threat to their culture, discussed the point in Le Monde this week as the French music festival Francopholies brought down the curtain on 130 French artists, 17 of whom sang exclusively in English. The internationally renowned Sebastien Téllier admitted, “I choose the language that emphasises my music best. If I’m in doubt, I google the expression to see if it exists or not… I want people to own my music themselves and give their own meaning to it“.

However the appeal of English may go beyond its simple artistic merits, as J.B. from the band Nelson explains, “on the European market, we’re equal and on a par with the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians“ in a tone more akin to an international group based in France than a mere French group. But with France’s strict quotas for French language music to be broadcast through the media networks, English language French music is largely being censored - although a loophole is occasionally exploited when a song adds a few lines of French in order to be classed as French culture, such as Camille’s album release Gospel With No Lord.

A movement in political and cultural terms is taking place throughout Europe, globalisation and culture exchanges are taking place in a tongue that has made no efforts to impose itself, yet has somehow become aspired to. The transatlantic expression, “two nations separated by a common language” may soon have to be adapted to something rather less elegant in order to keep up with the times.

Luke Spear

This article cited text that was translated from Swedish and French in the following publications:
SvD
Le Monde 

Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time (in minutes) : 20
Cooking time (in minutes) : 75

Ingredients for 6 servings:

1.5kg of your favourite potatoes (consider sweet potato)
50g of butter
2 garlic cloves
3 egg yolks
4dl of cream
60g of gruyère
Salt, ground pepper
Nutmeg

Gratin dauphinois recipe:

• Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut them into thin round slices without rinsing them, to preserve the potato starches.
• Rub the garlic in a gratin dish, then butter it.
• In a mixing bowl mix the egg yolks and cream.
• Season. Put a layer of potato on the gratin dish. Add some of the mixture. Lay a final layer of potato then pour out the rest of the mixture.
• Sprinkle with grated gruyère. Oven cook at 180° for around 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Near the end of this time raise the oven temperature to make the gratin top golden.

Bon appetit!

This recipe has been translated from a French recipe site for authenticity.

“10%, far more British than European.”
20-something, UK

“More so since I’ve been living in France. Being British is being European. I can’t feel one without feeling the other.”
20-something, British ex-pat in France

“I guess not much really, more Italian, never thought of myself as European.”
20-something, Italian ex-pat in France

“25%.”
20-something, UK

Geographically speaking, it’s easy to identify with being European; culturally speaking, the lines begin to blur. As a euro-translator this question of identity is often the subject of conversation, especially in this last bastion of euro-scepticism that I call home.

Living in Europe, the label is inescapable by default. However, choosing to consciously identify with the continent in political and cultural terms is a leap that few of us in the UK dare or care to make. Our country of birth usually being enough for most to cling to. Some go as far as calling themselves, “citizens of the world,” which could be considered more appealing than, “subject of the Queen,” but when it comes to defending the cultures that we were raised in for the sake of future generations it makes more sense to choose and the obvious answer is the place where we spent our childhood.

The future of Europe would appear to be inexorably approaching a form of super-state to rival the major powers in economic terms. Obvious barriers to efficiency may be linguistic and cultural, but these will be eroded with time as external pressures force cooperation. This could force the emergence of one European representative language, working practice and legal system.

Whether or not this would even ever happen is up to chaos theory to decide, but individual European national identity is a thing of the past. In two generations you’ll have to pay - in Euros - for your EuroNation identity card.