English is losing importance in Europe

[#1]

So declared the president of the European Commission.

I've just watched the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and out of the 18 entries only Portugal and one country in the east sang in a language other than English.  I don't think we need to worry just yet, Mr Juncker.

[#2]

English is the universal global language, as much as it is butchered with regional variations, it's still the standard, and it's never going away, no matter what a Eurocrat with his head residing in his colon says...

[#3]

I got the impression he was just laughing up his sleeve. Best ignored and told to tell us another one. 

[#4]

Unless everyone is going to learn Hindi to deal with IT support I don't see it

[#5]

As "the second most spoken language in England" that would be Polish surely - well it was in 2013 according to this newspaper.

[#6]

@Minivanman Yes, let Junckers get his head round Polish,(nose fully in a tin of the stuff would be a second choice).

At a family tribe wedding the bride was of Polish extraction, and joining in songs with words before one was hilariously painful.

[#7]

My French nephew has a Polish wife and all credit to him he has learnt the language - well I supposed he had to up to a point. Cannot say I'm a fan of the sausage and sauerkraut stew we had at his place though, give me a traditional British curry every time  

[#8]

@Minivanman  That reminded me of a woman I saw on one of those holiday programmes, who complained that her chosen resort didn't serve proper English food like Spaghetti Bolognese!

[#9]

Or the couple who went on holiday to Italy and complained upon their return that hardly anyone seemed to speak English.

[#10]

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Strat wrote:

hardly anyone seemed to speak English.

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Were they talking about Italy or England.

[#11]

I remember Alan Whicker did a luxury round-the-world flight for wealthy Americans, stopping over in various well-known locations.  Some of the guests complained that there were too many poor people lining the road from the airport into whatever Indian city they visited.

[#12]

I just sat through the entire Eurovision Song Contest final, and there is no longer a requirement to repeat everything in French.  In fact the only thing that was translated into French was the twelve-point scores from the national juries.  So much for English losing importance, Mr Juncker.

[#13]

What, no "nil pwa"?

Nooo! 

[#14]

Who won?

[#15]

Who cares!