The vicissitudes of bilingualism and plurilingualism in the European Union

Abstract

Starting with the early twentieth century, the shifts in what languages mainland Europeans have as additional languages are described and analysed. Historical events, such as World War II, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, as well as the ramifications of globalization, are taken into consideration, as are the implications of Brexit for the role English maintains as Europe’s primary universal language. Declines in French, German and Russian as the first additional language are observed. Comparisons are made of the resources required for a language to challenge English as Europe’s primary lingua franca. It is found that the patterns which emerge over time, with few exceptions, result in the increased importance of English in all of the Member States of the European Union. Moreover, the rise of L2 English in the European Union has caused mainland Europeans to be more likely to become bilingual rather than plurilingual, something contrary to European Union policy.