Rafaล Trzaskowski
Disrupter No. 3 โ Poland
languages
Will humanity get lost in translation?
AI could instantly open up a huge range of books in different languages โ but fiction really does require that human touch
The Gruffaloโs illustrator launches book to help UK pupils learn German
Axel Scheffler says he hopes Wuschel auf der Erde will encourage more children to learn his first languageAxel Scheffler, the illustrator behind the international childrenโs bestseller The Gruffalo, has launched a book to help primary school pupils lea…
Norway apologises to Sami, Forest Finns and Kvens for forced assimilation policy
Parliament votes to express โdeepest regretโ over more than a century of โNorwegianisationโ of minoritiesThe Norwegian parliament has apologised unreservedly to minority groups and Indigenous people for more than a century of historical injustices comm…
Even among artists in exile, the myth of Russian cultural supremacy lives on
Many liberal Russians shelter in states once part of the Soviet Union. Itโs time that they learned to respect the cultures and languages their nation has so long suppressedOne day in the 1990s, I was playing with my cousin in a local park in Chiศinฤu, …
Brussels is bursting out of its borders. Thatโs helping the rise of the right.
Multilingualism is coming for Flanders โ though not everyone likes that idea.
Sรกmi languages canย still be saved | Letter
They are more likely to thrive and receive funding from Nordic governments if an academy is formed to establish unified language norms, writes Donald RayfieldThe alarming prospect of extinction for the Sรกmi languages of Nordic countries is not as inevi…
As a recent migrant to Germany I say this: the border clampdown is an insult to the values championed here | Bonita Dordel
Even as I am taught about the German credo of tolerance and compassion, the government is betraying it to pander to the far rightI live in a small, quaint old town in north-west Germany, and every day I attend four hours of German and integration lesso…
Funding cuts could mean death of Sรกmi languages, say Indigenous parliaments
Sweden and Finland plan to withdraw funding to safeguard nine languages defined as threatened by UnescoThe Indigenous parliaments of Sweden, Finland and Norway have warned that some Sรกmi languages could disappear if Stockholm and Helsinki press ahead w…
Budget cuts threaten Sรกmi minority languages
Immediate action and investment are needed to save the languages.
Where in the EU are the most people learning multiple languages?
In 2022, 6.5% of primary school students in the EU were learning two or more foreign languages, according to Eurostat.
Dual lingo: why UK rappers like Central Cee and Dave are embracing the EU
British MCs are increasingly making bilingual tracks with their European peers โ and, they explain, itโs not just to attract new audiencesThe British are notoriously bad at bothering to learn other languages โ and even listening to them. Across Europe,…
A path towards freedom: the new route to Europe for desperate Chinese migrants
Revealed: a small but growing number of Chinese people are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU In a sleepy Bosnian town, barely five miles from the border with the European Union, a crumbling old water tower is falling into r…
Meet the commissioners: Class of 2024
Everything you need to know about Ursula von der Leyen’s team for her second term.
Google hit with European privacy probe over its AI system
Regulators are cracking down on tech firmsโ development of artificial intelligence systems over data protection concerns.
Philippe Boxho, the Belgian medical examiner turned publishing phenomenon
‘La Mort en Face’ (‘Death in the Face’), his third book recounting the strangest, craziest and saddest cases of his career, has sold 300,000 copies and is about to be translated into some 30 languages.
Want to prove you care about young people, Keir Starmer? Give us back our freedom to explore Europe | Beth Riding
The scrapping of the Erasmus scheme was a mistake. But by working with Brussels, the PM can put it rightIn my lifetime, it has always felt as if the government has served old people at the expense of young people. The most notable example during the Co…
Enrich your life with dieย deutsche Sprache | Letters
Joan Walley on how the efforts to promote the teaching of German in Stoke on Trent are bearing fruit. Plus letters from Veronica Hardstaff and Keith HaywardThe Goethe Institute is right to insist that the shocking decrease in the number of A-level stud…
โIt enriches your mind in every wayโ: the fight to keep the UK learning German
With A-level entries for the language halving in a decade, a new initiative is hoping to save it from the academic scrapheapWhen Londoner Amber Tallon started learning German at the age of 12, she โtook to it like a duck to waterโ, she says.An A-level …
Iโm from Poland. Why does Europe still make me feel like a second-class citizen? | Olga Mecking
Iโm married to a German, bringing up my family in the Netherlands and speak five languages โ yet I still donโt โbelongโ I have always thought of myself as the very model of a model European. Both sets of my grandparents were diplomats who lived and wor…
Phil Gordon: Europeโs โallyโ on Kamala Harrisโ team
Kamala Harris’ national security adviser is one of a dying breed of top U.S. officials with deep knowledge of Europe.
How to speak EP
Your guide to the jargon that’s everywhere in Brussels.
โQuoi? What? Wat?โ Languages and demographics of Brusselsย
Your quick guide on what to expect from the different quarters of Brussels โ depending on which languages you speak and whom
you might prefer to have as neighbor.
Letโs be a bit more honest about what a โEuropean identityโ looks like
Emphasizing Europeโs โJudeo-Christianโ heritage and looking only to antiquity betrays the European project, excluding the various peoples and entities that shaped the Continent.
A bear attack in Slovakia reveals what the far right really wants
Across the globe, populists are rolling back efforts to save nature and the planet.
Fortress Hungary has a surprising answer to its population crisis: Migration
Quietly and without much fanfare, Viktor Orbรกnโs government is allowing more and more guest workers into the country.
A punch-up in parliament reveals Italyโs deepest scars
The Meloni coalitionโs plan to give more power to โvirtuousโ regions has inflamed the country’s North-South divide.
An Americanโs guide to the EU election
The EU is complicated, so let’s break it down for our cousins across the Atlantic.
Who is brave enough to run Belgium?
Prime ministers in the wings to save Belgium.
AI, Inc. flexes its election bona fides โ and hunts for customers
Billions of voters head to the polls this year โ and consultants, advocates and nonprofits want to use the emerging tech to reach them. But the success of such campaigns is far from clear.
Analysis: In the age of AI, keep calm and vote on
Amid deepfakes and disinformation, votersโ better judgment is likely to prevail.
My European flag was confiscated at Eurovision โ this is why it’s wrong
For us, young people from all corners of Europe, the European flag is a unifying symbol that transcends borders, cultures, and languages. It symbolises our collective desire to live in a Europe where freedom, peace, and cooperation reign supreme, Dorin…
Drukkje min broderั blod! Why the best Eurovision songs are no longer in English
While Europeโs lingua franca remains dominant, there has been a definite shift since a Portuguese song triumphed in 2017There was a time when in order to win Eurovision you had to โfly on the wings of loveโ, โtake me to your heavenโ or โsail into infin…
A lesson from Germany on how Britain should treat asylum seekers | Letter
Fiona Schenk outlines the compassionate treatment refugees receive in Germany and the benefits that brings to the host countryRe the treatment of refugees in the UK (Report, 2 May), I work in Germany in a government-run institution for newly arrived as…
The Manchester model: The industrial revolutionโs โshock cityโ revives
The cityโs startling turnaround has triggered a debate about whether ordinary residents are benefiting, or itโs become a playground for property developers and affluent newcomers.
Dreaming of Pedro Sรกnchez, Brussels could be headed for a rude awakening
Spain’s PM has threatened to resign, but will he end up becoming the next president of the European Council?
Big, bold and unchecked: Russian influence operation thrives on Facebook
Pro-Kremlin network “Doppelganger” is buying Facebook ads to spread divisive content on social media site ahead of EU election.
On holiday with Europeโs right-wingers
Hundreds of European conservatives gathered in Cyprus for a “cultural weekend” that mixed policy discussions, networking and time away from the bureaucratic machine.
The Guardian view on endangered languages: spoken by a few but of value to many | Editorial
The survival of ancient dialects matters not just for scholarship, but because of the wisdom they convey about how to live with natureThe launch of a โlast chanceโ crowdsourcing tool to record a vanishing Greek dialect drew attention back this week to …
Taiwanโs Indigenous tribes could hold the key to its independence
By calling for conquest, Xi has made an enemy of the Taiwan’s tribes, which rightfully say their ancestors inhabited the island long before the dawn of the Chinese era.
Moldova to allow billionaireโs pro-Kremlin party to field candidates in elections
Members of a pro-Russian oligarchโs party can now run for president later this year.
What is ISIS-K, the terror group claiming responsibility for the Moscow concert hall attack?
EU and US officials have warned about potential attacks in recent months.
Hire factcheckers to fight election fake news, EU tells tech firms
Parliamentary elections thought vulnerable to fake news will test social media firms and blocโs new DSA lawsSocial media firms including TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram will be required to put an army of factcheckers and moderators in place with a co…
Europe wields new tech law to protect EU election
Social media giants will have to tool up to stop deepfakes and disinformation from going viral.
5 Scenarios for Russia After Putinโs Next Term
The Russian president is about to be reelected for another six years. What will that mean for his country and the West?
Giorgia Meloniโs plan to run Europe โ and befriend Donald Trump
The Italian prime minister is courting Trump and preparing to tilt European policy her way.
EU Parliament continues sidelining Irish Gaelic and Maltese languages
The European Parliament voted on Tuesday (12 March) to extend a rule that leaves the door open to keep sidelining Irish Gaelic and Maltese from the institutionโs translation and interpretation services until the end of the next mandate
From royal courts to hidden hands: The secret trade of Cambodian antiquities
What Europeโs largest private collection of Asian art says about the trade in cultural heritage.
Former Czech PM Babiลก in turmoil after email leak
Email asking Babiลก colleagues to dig up dirt on Czech foreign minister was sent in error to ecological activist.
Transnistria begs Putin to โprotectโ it against Moldova
Kremlin-allied breakaway region claimed that Chiศinฤu is ramping up “pressure” โ and now it needs Moscow’s help.
On the run from Russia: the defector to Ukraine shot dead on the Costa Blanca
Maksim Kuzminov flew a Russian miltary helicopter to Ukraine. Armed with a new identity, he moved to a Spanish resort. Then he was killed in an underground car parkIn some ways it is easy to see why Maksim Kuzminov chose to start a new life in Villajoy…
Your guide to the 2024ย Europeanย election in 9 charts
Your guide to the EU’s big election.
The costs and benefits of English as a lingua franca | Letters
Readers respond to Michele Gazzolaโs article on the dominance of the English language across the worldIt was refreshing to see the Guardian publishing an article claiming what those of us working in the field of English as a lingua franca have argued f…
English still rules the world, but thatโs not necessarily OK. Is it time to curb its power? | Michele Gazzola
For fluent speakers, there are clear benefits โ for others, there are huge costs. Here are some ways to boost linguistic justiceAnyone spending their Christmas holidays on the European mainland will likely have observed that it is quite common to meet …
War or peace? Dictatorship or democracy? Europeโs future is on the line | Timothy Garton Ash
At the European Council, liberalism and populism will lock horns. Whichever side prevails could decide the course for years to comeI have been in more than 20 European countries this year and I have seen two Europes. Across large parts of the continent…
Oil tankers, golf buddies and explosives: Qatargate suspectโs side hustle
Even as he allegedly worked for Qatar and Morocco, Francesco Giorgi was looking for other options.
Make-or-break national election looms over Belgian EU presidency
The in-tray is overflowing, but political attention is elsewhere.
Belgiumโs tech bro: Alexander De Croo
The prime minister of Belgium is really a tech geek.
Scotland shares the EUโs values. Hereโs how weโd seek to rejoin
Our country voted decisively against Brexit โ and has so much to offer Europe.
From K-pop to reggaeton, English language music no longer reigns supreme | Shain Shapiro
Generous investment in Seoul, Bogotรก and beyond has created local artists who can rip up the world stage. Meanwhile, the UK cuts its fundingThe dominance of English-language pop music appears to be waning. Before Psyโs breakthrough K-pop single Gangnam…
EU defers major entry exam over English-only testing
This delay comes only weeks after France sued the Commission over the primacy of English in hiring.
Ukraine ready to compromise ahead of EU decision on launching membership talks
Kyiv says it is ready to work to join the bloc.
France sues Commission over primacy of English in EU hiring
France is ready to put up a fight to defend ‘la langue de Moliรจre’ in front of EU court.
Catalonia launches PR campaign in push for EU official language recognition
The Catalan government has launched a massive public relations campaign across Europe as negotiations to reform the roster of official EU languages continue with the next ministerial meeting on the subject scheduled for Tuesday (24 October).ย