Euro English

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Euro English,^[1] Euro-English,^[2] or European English, less commonly known as EU English, Continental English, and EU Speak, is a group of dialects of the English language and a form of International English as used in Europe based on common lexical and grammatical mistranslations influenced by the native languages of its non-native English-speaking population mostly built on the technical jargon of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).^[3][4] It is mostly used among EU staff, EFTA staff, expatriates and migrants from EU and EFTA countries, global nomads and young international travelers such as international students in the EU's Erasmus programme, as well as European diplomats with a lower proficiency in English inclusive of both Standard English and non-standard native speaker dialects of English.^[5][6][7]

The usage of the English language in other parts of Europe spread through the 19th century, when the British Empire inherited colonies elsewhere in Europe such as Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Menorca, Heligoland, and the Ionian Islands, the latter three in modern-day Spain, Germany, and Greece respectively.

The term "Euro English" was first used by Carstensen in 1986 to denote the adoption of anglicisms in Europe.^[8]

The enlargement of the European Union over several decades gradually diluted the influence of two of the EU's other non-English working languages of German and French. The use of English in European Union institutions and the European Free Trade Association, the development of European Union law as identified in the "Glossary of European Union concepts, acronyms, and jargon," the integration of international business and trade practices among member states, the influence of the Legal English and Business English registers, and the increased mistranslation and coinage of technical, legal, international business, international relations, and public policy jargon by non-native speakers of English has led to the development of Euro English. The development of the international student exchange Erasmus Programme, an open borders travel policy establishing the Schengen Area, and the establishment of a customs union created a new class of mobile young people in Europe who needed a lingua franca to communicate across Europe, and English usually filled that role.^[9][3][4]

In 2006, Mollin rejected the idea that Euro-English existed as an independent variety of English amongst European academics at the time.^[8][10] According to Forche (2012), 'The question whether the appropriation of English by non-native speakers in Continental Europe is giving rise to a potential European variety of English has not yet been resolved.'^[2] In his test group of Erasmus students, Forche found more evidence of Euro-English than Mollin did amongst European academics.^[11] Many of the features suggested to be characteristic of Euro-English could be identified as learners' mistakes, although there are some nativisation tendencies.^[11] Although these young mobile Europeans had a greater potential to shape a continental norm, they appeared to use English mostly for pragmatic reasons rather than as a language they strongly identified with, and there was still not enough evidence to conclude Euro-English constituted an independent variety.^[11]

Euro-English was heavily influenced and dominated by British English, due to the United Kingdom's having been an EU member state between 1973 and 2020. However, the UK's withdrawal in early 2020 means that the EU's scope of native English dialects has been mostly reduced to the varieties of Hiberno-English spoken in the Republic of Ireland; one source believes that this will allow room for Romance languages to have more of an influence on Euro-English.^[12] There is also a possibility of a Romance language replacing English. After the UK withdrew from the EU, the Government of France wanted to encourage greater use of French as a working language.^[13]

Mannoni (2021) found that both the Euro English as found in European Union law, as well as legal Chinese in Mainland China, were 'hybrid languages'.^[1]

• English Style Guide: "A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission" – executive branch of the European Union.^[14]
• Interinstitutional Style Guide -- used across several institutions of the European Union, European Economic Area, and the European Free Trade Association.^[15]

• Council of Europe - English Style Guide, by the Council of Europe^[16]

The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository Project had drafted/defined "en-150" for English in Europe.

Non-native English speakers frequently drop the third person singular suffix (-s). For example: he often call meetings.^[6]

Speakers of Euro English, in particular those from Eastern Europe, may use the progressive aspect with stative predicates, such as saying I'm coming from Spain instead of I come from Spain. This is atypical in Standard English, but it is permissible in Euro English.^[5][18]

A construction that appears with very high frequency in European speakers of English is, for example, Euro English we were five people at the party, as opposed to Standard English there were five people at the party.^[5] Such constructions introduce a type of mandatory "clusivity" to the English language, in which the speaker always signifies whether they are a part of some bigger group.

Euro English also features slightly more frequent usage of the indefinite personal pronoun one, such as in one can protect one's country. This mirrors the more frequent usage of such pronouns in European languages, but is also sometimes used as third-person reflexive pronouns, such as with French on and se, Scandinavian sig and sin, German man and sich, etc.

Some words are given a plural with a final "s" in Euro-English, such as informations and competences, to match similar words in European languages (such as informations and compétences in French), while this pluralisation is ungrammatical in British or American English.^[19]

It is extremely frequent among European speakers of English to prefer the singular they in formal contexts, whereas native English speakers in the US and UK have historically considered it an informal colloquialism.^{[20][21][22][dubious – discuss]} This mirrors the usage of "singular plurals", in terms of levels of formality, in European languages, such as French vous, German Sie, older Spanish vos, Danish and Norwegian De, even though all of these examples are strictly used in the second person.

The English plural of the word euro was first defined as euro without a final s, before becoming euros with a final s.

• African English
• Indian English
• American English
• English as a lingua franca
• Glossary of European Union concepts, acronyms, and jargon
• International English

• Forche, Christian R. (2012). "On the emergence of Euro-English as a potential European variety of English – attitudes and interpretations". Jezikoslovlje. 23 (2): 447–478.
• Mannoni, Michele (2021). "Rights Metaphors Across Hybrid Legal Languages, Such as Euro English and Legal Chinese". International Journal for the Semiotics of Law. 34 (5). International Association for the Semiotics of Law: 1375–1399. doi:10.1007/s11196-020-09814-6. PMC 8019294. PMID 33840914.
• Mollin, Sandra (2006). Euro-English: Assessing Variety Status. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. p. 6. ISBN 382336250X.

• English in the European Union – Worlds of English (2/4), Open University
• S.D. (30 September 2011). "Euro-English: Blasting the bombast". The Economist. London.
• Ramsay, Anne (2001). Eurojargon: A Dictionary of the European Union. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
• Hans, Biró (2005). Englisch für die EU : Spezialwörterbuch für Steuern, Verwaltung und Wirtschaft (2., überarbeitete und erweiterte ed.). LexisNexis. ISBN 3-7007-3213-9.