Hoe Ingelsk Frânsk ferfong as Jeropa's taal fan macht
February 7, 2026 · Frisian News
English has become the working language of European institutions and diplomacy, displacing French's centuries-old dominance. The shift reflects broader changes in economic and military power rather than linguistic quality.
FryskIn Brusselske amtner korrizjearret in kollega midden yn in sin: 'Yn it Ingelsk, asjebleaft.' Dizze sêne spilet him deistich ôf yn EU-korridors dêr't it Frânsk eartiids trije iuwen lang hof hold. Hjoed dominearret Ingelsk elke grutte ynstelling fan de NAVO oant de Jeropeeske Kommisje, sprutsen mei wikseljende feardigens troch diplomaten en burokraten dy't it nea as bern leard hawwe. De feroaring barde net om't Ingelske wurden better floeie of ideeën dúdliker útdrukke, mar om't de macht nei it westen ferskode, dêrnei oer de Atlantyske Oseaan.
Frankryk fjochtet hurd tsjin dit tij. Parys fêstige it Frânsk yn 1919 by it Ferdrach fan Versailles en hold it oant 1945 troch suver diplomaatske spierkrêft. Nei de oarloch makke Amerikaanske ekonomyske krêft Ingelsk nuttich, doe needsaaklik. De NAVO keas Ingelsk yn 1951. De Jeropeeske ynstellingen folgen yn de fyftiger jierren, hoewol se it Frânsk yn libben holden troch útwreide protokollen en oersettingsbegruttingen. Elk desennium spraken minder diplomaten Frânsk as memmetaal. De efterútgong wie stadich, dêrnei ynienen.
De werklike reden foar de fal fan it Frânsk wie nea taalkundich. De Frânske grammatika ferfalt net. De Akademy yn Parys hoedet de taal noch altyd mei izeren regels. Mar talen ferlieze harren ryk op deselde wize as koloanjes: net troch it mislearjen fan it ding sels, mar troch it mislearjen fan de macht dy't it stipe. De Britske marine makke Ingelsk in hannelstaal. It jild en de wapens fan Amearika makken it ferplicht foar wa't dealen, lieningen en beskerming woe.
De hjoeddeiske Jeropeeske elite sprekt Ingelsk mei aksenten dy't harren komôf as insignes markearje. In Dútske amtner klinkt Dútsk. In Spanjaard klinkt Spaansk. Gjin ien klinkt ynheems. Dochs kommunisearje se allegearre goed genôch om ferdrachen te ûndertekenje, om te ûnderhanneljen, om drigingen út te sprekken. De taal wurket nettsjinsteande har sprekkers. Dit is krekt wat de Frânsen it measte ergere: Ingelsk wûn net troch superioriteet, mar troch it sukses fan Ingelsksprekende machten. De boadskipper wie wichtiger as de boadskip.
It Frânsk oerlibbet yn it rjocht, diplomasy, keuken en kultuer, mar allinnich yn romten dêr't macht nostalgy tastiet. Jongere Jeropeeanen sprekke it selden, útsein op skoalle. De taal hat noch altyd memmetaalsprekkers en libbende literatuer, mar se iepenet net langer doarren yn Moskou, Peking of Washington. Dy ferskowing, fan dominant nei nuttich nei opsjoneel, barde yn minder as ien generaasje.
A Brussels official corrects a colleague mid-sentence: 'In English, please.' This scene plays out daily in EU corridors where French once held court for three centuries. Today English dominates every major institution from NATO to the European Commission, spoken with varying competence by diplomats and bureaucrats who never learned it as children. The change happened not because English words flow better or express ideas more clearly, but because power shifted westward, then across the Atlantic.
France fought hard against this tide. Paris imposed French at the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and maintained it through sheer diplomatic muscle until 1945. After the war, American economic strength made English useful, then essential. NATO chose English in 1951. The European institutions followed suit in the 1950s, though they kept French alive through elaborate protocols and translation budgets. Each decade, fewer diplomats actually spoke French as a first language. The decline was steady, then sudden.
The real reason for French's fall was never linguistic. French grammar does not decay. The Academy in Paris still guards the language with iron rules. But empires lose languages the way they lose colonies, not through failure of the thing itself but through failure of the power that backed it. Britain's navy made English a merchant tongue. America's money and weapons made it mandatory for those who wanted deals, loans, and protection.
Today's European elites speak English with accents that mark their origins like badges. A German official sounds German. A Spaniard sounds Spanish. None sound native. Yet all communicate well enough to sign treaties, to bargain, to make threats. The language works despite its speakers. This is precisely what bothered the French most: English won not through superiority but through the success of English-speaking powers. The messenger mattered more than the message.
French survives in law, diplomacy, cuisine, and culture, but only in spaces where power permits nostalgia. Younger Europeans rarely speak it except at school. The language still has native speakers and living literature, but it no longer opens doors in Moscow, Beijing, or Washington. That shift, from dominant to useful to optional, took less than a generation to complete.
Published February 7, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân