| PHILIPPE HUGUEN/GETTY IMAGES |
Is the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union going to deal a fatal blow to the language of Shakespeare on the continent? English, one of the 24 official languages of the EU, is very much spoken in Brussels and in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. But according to certain leading French politicians, its status after the Brexit should be questioned.
英國脫離歐盟會對英語在歐洲大陸的使用產生致命的影響嗎？英語，是歐盟24種官方語言之一，在布魯塞爾和歐洲議會所在地斯特拉斯堡都非常盛行。但是據某法國政要說，英國脫歐後，英語的地位也應受到質疑。
On Friday morning, the mayor of the southern French town of Béziers, Robert Ménard — a man with close ties to the National Front — reckoned that English no longer had 「any legitimacy」 in Brussels.
法國南部城市貝濟耶市市長羅伯特•麥納德與國民陣線有非常密切的聯繫，周五上午，他說他猜測英語在布魯塞爾不再具有「任何合法性」。
Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who supports moving away from European treaties, has, for his part, said that English can no longer be 「the third working language」 of the European Parliament.
左翼總統候選人讓•呂克•梅朗松支持把英語從歐盟協議中去除，他個人認為英語不能再是歐洲議會「第三大工作語言」了。
In various ways, they’re both wrong. The very complex operation of multilingualism in European institutions doesn’t rely on the single criterion of a member state’s membership in — or withdrawal from — the EU.
從多種角度看，他們都錯了。歐盟複雜的多語種工作機制並不依賴於成員國留下或退出歐盟這一單一標準。
The EU’s official languages are communicative languages recognized by the institutions. At the inception of the European structure, during the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951, there were four: French, German, Italian and Dutch. Today there are 24 of these official languages, including Bulgarian, Danish, Croatian and, obviously, English. In the European Parliament, all documents and discussions must be translated simultaneously into the 24 languages.
歐盟的官方語言是由組織機構認定的交流語言。在歐盟的初始階段，在1951年歐洲煤鋼共同體成立期間，有四種工作語言：法語、德語、義大利語和荷蘭語。如今有24種官方語言，包括保加利亞語、丹麥語、克羅埃西亞語，當然了，還有英語。在歐洲議會，所有的文件和會議討論都必須同時譯成24種語言。
The official language of a member state doesn’t automatically become an official language of the EU (as is notably the case with Luxembourgish). This recognition happens at the request of the state. If a state withdraws, its language might also be withdrawn, even if a case for it was never made.
成員國的官方語言並不會自動轉為歐盟的官方語言（盧森堡語的例子就很著名），應一國要求，才會得到認可。如果一國退出，它的語言也許也會退出，儘管之前沒有過這樣的例子。
Nevertheless, Great Britain’s exit should not be enough to abolish the use of English in Brussels, contrary to what Robert Ménard thinks. That is quite simply because the English language is one of the official languages of Ireland and Malta, who are still members of the EU.
然而，英國退出對廢棄在布魯塞爾使用英語而言還遠遠不夠，和羅伯特•麥納德所想相反。道理非常簡單，因為英語是愛爾蘭和馬爾他的官方語言之一，它們還是歐盟的成員。
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s proposal is subtler because the European MP is targeting English not in its capacity as an official language, but as a working language. To enable the fluidity of exchanges within the EU, certain discussions led by certain institutions happen in a limited number of languages. Contrary to what the presidential candidate asserts, this isn’t the case during sessions of the European Parliament (except for press conferences). The European Commission, however, does have three official working languages: French, German and English.
讓-呂克•梅朗松的提議就比較微妙，因為他針對的不是英語作為官方語言的能力，而是工作語言。為了保證歐盟內部交流的順暢，一些機構組織的一些會議中，語言使用的數量是有限的。與梅朗松宣稱的相反，這和歐洲議會的會議沒多大關係（除了新聞發布會）。而歐洲委員會有三種官方工作語言：法語，德語和英語。
This linguistic choice is clearly tied to member states』 influence, but it also follows practical concerns and historical traditions. Deliberation in the European Union Court of Justice takes place in French, as do the majority of discussions in the European Court of Auditors.
這種語言學上的選擇顯然是和成員國的影響力聯繫在一起的，但是它也要遵循實際考慮和歷史傳統。歐洲法院的審議是用法語進行的，歐洲審計院的大部分會議也是用法語。
So although the U.K. doesn’t use the euro and has preserved its monetary sovereignty, the European Central Bank has, since its creation, always and exclusively used the English language. And this is not for London’s sake, but for the sake of not complicating its extremely sensitive communication by multiplying the channels of translation.
因此，儘管英國不使用歐元，保留著它的貨幣主權，但歐洲中央銀行自從建立之初就總是使用英語一種語言。這不是因為倫敦的影響力，而是因為不想增加翻譯的語種，避免讓它已經非常敏感的交流變得更複雜。
Vocabulary:
inception: 起初
exclusively: 唯一地，排外地
英文來源：赫芬頓郵報
翻譯：實習生孫美真
編審：yaning