Blogging isn't the only thing Europeans can't do

Dear reader,

this is already the 4th entry written after the initial posting issued by Bruegel institute which provoked a wide range of responses so far. After reading some more 'negative' reactions on this initial debate starter it seems a necessity to remind fellow European citizens what we can and can't do. As in what we are currently doing (pretty little) and what we could do in the future instead. This applies to many different areas which the author here describes in chapters.


Part I - common language

Since the debate is already invoking some interesting thoughts it's already a little success story. While @Wirtschaftswurm is basically following Mr Lochmaier and his views that we Europeans are being influenced too much by those Anglo-American developments he also brought up the very important subject of 'natural cross language communication' vs 'Google translate'. He, the worm, is right that the translation product offered by google still has it's problems and isn't a match for skilled human translators who not only Know the words but are capable to understand the context of words used in this or that or the completely other meaning. (very often translation isn't unambiguous and several translations are possible depending on the context of the original)



So while there are still remaining weaknesses of 'Google translate' service it also worth to mention that is has improved over the years. The author here also makes some use of it in order to read sources in languages he doesn't understand or doesn't completely understand. The imperfections of this particular Google service may of course be criticized but the author here asks himself why the EU with its multiple languages and very high demand for translations not started a project of its own for the benefit of European politics, economics, science, business etc etc. Maybe there is already such a thing and it is just not known. The EU has put up some very ambitious and superb tools on the world wide web such as the PVGIS calculation tool for solar radiation. Where also some complex climate data of the last 20+ years has been combined  with some geographical data.

It would be highly ambitious but also of very high yield to have such an European tool to our disposal in order to overcome the gap between languages needed to understand and the ones actually spoken by individuals. Of course it remains beneficial to know some European languages as well as their corresponding cultures but it can be compared to the ability of students to calculate in their minds vs using the help of electronic calculators. Calculators are usually faster for complex calculations and also more accurate. But before we have such a reliable tool we depend on having exchanges of thoughts in one language the other also understands. Since all languages are capable of expressing every thought it doesn't matter if English, French, Spanish or German is used but it is more than a good guess that English is the language most widely spoken. So why not see it as what it is: a technicality not an 'Anglo-American domination'. So it is still perfectly possible to follow also 'plain European thoughts' if they are expressed in English. They are not getting 'tainted' by using the language which has nothing to do with politics or economic models. The language itself doesn't have a claim of 'domination'. One should not assume that it's a language's fault when a native speaker, coincidentally named Geithner or Bernanke, has 'this or that' suggestion. There are also other well educated Americans using the same language but with thoughts, economic models completely opposed to those two individuals mentioned. It might be another European problem of 'lack of knowledge' leading to some 'wild assumptions'. So when they detest using English, they refuse to get to know the opposition which might have the similar thoughts than those assuming that language is the mother of all domination. At the moment there is just another debate taking place in the US between professor Keen and professor Krugman. As there are many hefty debates between followers of Mr Keynes and Mr Hayek. Of course when one prefers to stay exclusively on the level of national debates in their national small language this poor individual will never know what is going on 'outside'.

The author here hails and shares the vision of @Kantoosecon and many others much more open minded to using a common language to improve communication. And he hails those of course who see other opinions/approaches not as a threat but as a challenge/opportunity/gain ;-)


Daily chart: Lost (or gained) in translation (economist)

Part II (to be continued)