I find it quite interesting that 56% of Europeans are bilingual and 28% are trilingual and the EU commisioner is saying they should learn more languages. The reason I find it interesting is that not even close to half of all Americans are bilingual. The most common language is Spanish, and that's because it is the native language for many immigrants.
The article goes on to point out that 38% of those individuals that are at least bilingual speak English. In order to rectify the problem of not knowing enough languages, commisioner Orban is suggesting everyone learn more languages, and it doesn't matter which ones. I, on the other hand, think that bilingual students should reach 100%, with the two languages being their mother tongue and English (if they speak English, they still have to pick up a second language.)
While many may have issues with imposing English as a second language on many people, I believe that effective communication is extremely important in international affairs and "feelings" shouldn't be at the heart of arguments against it. As for learning more languages beyond the two necessary, I think it is a great idea and helps enrich different cultures and societies.
Overall, I feel the issue isn't necessary in learning more languages to begin with, but choosing one common language and teaching it to everyone. Even if they wanted that to be Esparanto, that's completely acceptable, except it is much harder to adopt because fewer individulas speak it as compared to English.
Original Article: http://euobserver.com/9/24849
Esparanto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
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