Lingua Franca: Chimera or reality? (Euro-bureaucracy E-book)

Here is a link to the E-book from the Eurpean Commission (whatever that be).

Lingua Franca: Chimera or Reality?

Provocative exaggeration dept:  One of the things I've learned is that when any bureaucracy or large organization commissions any kind of study or report, the goal is _not_ to look into options or help in making final decisions. Rather, official studies and reports are usually rationalizations for decisions that have already been made or meant to try to create support for policies that have already been implemented.

With that in mind, a very cursory reading of parts would indicate that the course of action being justified is the implementation or English as the sole de facto language of European institutions. There are also hints that English be given a greater role within non-Anglophone countries of Europe.

Of interest is one Phillippe von Parijs, who argues for the legal abolition of dubbing (and presumably voice overs) for films and tv shows in English in Europe. Local aesthetic preferences are less important for him than the presumed advantages by children supposedly learning English at a young age. It's not clear if he's in favor of banning the dubbing of tv shows and movies that aren't originally in English.


(personal note: my experiences in Portugal, Greece, Romania, the Netherlands and Belgium would indicate that dubbing does not greatly increase local knowledge of English unless the local population already speaks a closely related language like Dutch).