This attempt to make the English language accessible to everyone is certainly commendable for non-native speakers who have already invented sub-varieties of English, such as airport English, or the very curious language that is Indo-Pakistani English. In France, where the language has been reinvented several times throughout history, notably under the leadership of the Académie Française, which in the 17th century literally created new vocabulary based on ancient Greek (particularly in the fields of rhetoric and medicine), the difference between written language and pronunciation is formidable (and feared by non-native speakers); but even more so, spelling (a Greek word in French = “orthographe”!) was reformed about ten years ago, but without success, because it was yet another rule to memorize! In fact, for French students today, the only writing rule they can still understand is apparently based on the sounds they want to transcribe. And as pronunciation evolves over time (example: the verb “céder,” which in the future tense becomes “je cèderai” - ‘è’ instead of “é”), institutions are seeking to follow practice, while at the same time simplifying words with double consonants by removing the double consonant. More strangely, there is a desire to Frenchify English terms that have been imported directly (such as “leader,” written “leadeur”). The problem with this example (‘leadeur’) is that it is homophonous (a Greek word!) with “laideur” (ugliness). In short, there is a tendency to want to simplify everything by means that create other problems, and in doing so, we forget a point once emphasized by Kierkegaard: “it is not the path that is difficult, it is the difficult that is the path.” JP Le 08/07/2025 à 22:47, vm via ntg-context a écrit :
8<---
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
--->8
;-)
On 08/07/2025 21:06, Keith McKay wrote:
Ha, ha. Das Video war sehr lustig. Malheureusement, la plupart des Anglais ont de très mauvaises compétences en langues étrangères. :)) Best Wishes Keith Scotland
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