The UK has a new language and it's not English. [View All]

[Cleita]

Back from the dead: UK's new language

By Jonathan Duffy
BBC News Online


Britain is about to get a new official language. It dates back to the 9th Century and is hundreds of years older than modern English. But there's one problem - which version to use?

The English language is far and away Britannia's greatest export. It is geographically the most widespread language on Earth and 40% of Europeans claim to know English as a foreign tongue.

At home however, things are rather different. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of ancient Celtic tongues around the British Isles.

Don't hold your breath if you are expecting bi-lingual road signs around the South West, as is the case in Wales.

Rather, public bodies will have to protect and promote the use of Cornish. It will be illegal for them to discriminate against Cornish speakers and they will have a duty not to suppress the language.

more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2206191.stm

I thought it rather interesting that the English aren't as wierd about English as the Americans are.