Eurojargon – the evolving EU word battle

3656

EurojargonIt is a well-known fact that English is becoming more and more the EU’s lingua franca. However, some would argue that it has in fact been reduced to just 1,500 words of political jargon. This evolving language is popularly referred to as eurojargon with a French term or Eurospeak in English.

EU officials often use words like ‘modalities’, ‘stakeholders’ and ‘mission’. The European Commission has updated its manual on Eurojargon, suggesting plain-speaking alternatives, but the practice persists on often making it difficult for the public to understand what they are talking about.

But isn’t there a danger that so-called Eurocrats are losing support (and votes!) with their sophisticated terminology? Indeed, isn’t this further promoting the rise of eloquent Eurosceptics who with their plain language will be more able to get their message across to the public and thus gain their vote by using words the voters can understand?

Eurojargon is the topic of discussion in this edition of The Network from Brussels:

Other links on eurojargon and Euro English:

Eurojargon
Eurojargon: EU facts at your fingertips
Euro English
Euro-English: The Official Language of the European Union
Compiled by Claus Skovbjerg, MA, Communications Trainee at TermCoord.