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English, German, EuroEnglish??

Recently I’ve come across a funny article on a 5 year phase-in plan to simplify the English spelling in order to create the official language of the EU called “EuroEnglish”. What comes out of this ‘project’ in the end strongly reminds me of the speech delivered by European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger from Germany.

The speech was very popular in the media a couple of months ago. Oettinger struggles with English even though he himself stated that English was the inevitable common language that everybody should speak. Many comments on the video express the opinion that it’s no surprise he can’t speak English because even his German is hard to understand as it’s strongly influenced by his Swabian accent.

The video was funny but many Germans also felt they were being embarrassed by a representative like Oettinger. Is it really fair to require excellent English skills from almost every job applicant and then send a person who visibly struggles with the language to represent the country in the EU? I understand that English wasn’t as popular when Mr. Oettinger was young as it is now but then maybe it’s better to rely on interpreters instead of trying to show off with something that really isn’t a reason to be proud of.

For any of you who still haven’t had a chance to see the infamous video, here it is: