If you thought that English is the language of the 21st century, think again. In Europe, the future could be Latin.
假如你認為英語是21世紀的語言，最好再重新想想。在歐洲，拉丁文恐怕才是未來的語言。
In the EU, languages are big political business. Each member state fights fiercely for its national tongue, with EU texts routinely translated into all 23 of the bloc’s official languages.
在歐盟，語言可是重要的政治問題。所有會員國都拚命爭取其國家語言的地位，歐盟文件通常都會翻譯成23個會員國的官方語言。
But trouble starts when there is only room to use one word from one language - such as when creating an internet domain name.
但如果只有空間使用一種語言的一個字詞，例如創造網域名稱時，問題就出現了。
English, the EU’s most widespread language, might seem to have the advantage in such questions. But other member states fear that too much English use would cement it as the EU’s unofficial working tongue, a politically impossible position.
歐盟最普遍的語言英語似乎在這類問題上佔有優勢。但其他會員國擔心，太常使用英語會鞏固英語被視為歐盟非官方工作語言的地位，這在政治上可站不住腳。
"English has become the lingua franca, but we are not allowed to say so," one EU linguist commented.
「英語早已變成了通用語言，但我們不被允許這麼說」，一位歐盟語言學者表示。
The EU’s solution has been to find a politically neutral language in the only place it could realistically look： European history.
歐盟的解決辦法是要找出一種政治上中立的語言，而歐盟實際上唯一能尋找的地方就是：歐洲歷史。
With Latin at the root of many of the technical, scientific, religious and legal terms in Europe, Virgil’s language is perfectly placed to become the EU’s virtual language.
拉丁文是歐洲許多技術、科學、宗教及法律術語的根源，因此古羅馬詩人維吉爾所使用的語言恰好可做為歐盟的虛擬語言。
新聞辭典
tongue：名詞，指語言、方言。如My mother tongue is Hakka.（我的母語是客家語。）
cement：動詞，原指用水泥接合，本文指鞏固、加強，如
Our object is to further cement trade relations.（我們的目標是要進一步加強貿易關係。）
lingua franca：名詞，通常為單數，原為義大利文，意指法蘭克語，現多指結合數種不同語言、以利不同語言族群之間溝通的混合語或通用語，如The international business community sees English as a lingua franca.（國際商務社群視英語為通用語言。）
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