"German as an inter-european lingua franca" by Friedrich Lange
From the magazine Zeitschrift für Politik, 1931 issue, Vol. 20
The curse of the Tower of Babel weighs on Europe. Around fifty languages are indigenous to our continent. And even if some of them are only of minor importance, there are enough European languages spoken by many millions of economically active people, more than even the most diligent can learn. Europe is therefore dependent on a common language for intercourse and mediation.
The choice of the international lingua franca will depend on various circumstances: firstly on how many people use it as their own language, then on the geographical distribution of these speakers, further on the usefulness and adaptability of the language itself and finally on the extent of its actual use. If we look at the German language from this point of view, we come to the following conclusions:
Out of 470 million Europeans, around 83 million speak German, meaning that every sixth European speaks German as their mother tongue. In Europe, twice as many people speak German as their mother tongue than English or French.
The 83 million German-speaking Europeans are not sitting in one corner of our continent like the Russians or the English, but in two main positions: As a closed block of 78 million in the heart of Europe and widely scattered to the east, north-east and south-east. As bad, desperately bad as this situation may appear from a political1 point of view, it is just as well suited to promoting the spread of German as an international lingua franca. The German bloc in Central Europe exerts power of attraction on all sides. The interstate traffic routes ran through the German-speaking area from east to west, from north to south, from north to west and almost entirely from south to east. After 1918 there was no lack of attempts at circumvention, but the spirit of economy triumphed over them, so that the German-speaking area has largely regained its old mediation, not because of any Germanophilia2 of the peoples and states involved, but from sober expediency considerations. Incidentally, the closed German language area in Central Europe does not form a rounded whole, but is strongly overlapped, often intertwined with other language areas, forming numerous points of contact in addition to areas of friction of an economic and historical nature. Finally, the scattered Germans3 in Eastern Europe can be found in a wide belt between the Finnish, Black and Adriatic Seas, where one language does not predominate, but many peoples are fighting for the soil and the need for a neutral mediation and lingua franca is particularly great. How much the situation of the German-speaking areas is favourable to the quality of German as a language for intercourse and mediation, I may perhaps tell from personal experience. I drive between Trieste and Trollhättan from time to time, and it shows again and again: The Swede and Italian, the Dane and the South Slavs, can only communicate with one another in German, every member of these talented peoples increases their chances of effectiveness by learning German as the language of the middle country, and indeed much more than if the German learned the language of the learned outlanders.4
This becomes doubly clear when looking at the national distribution of the German-speaking areas. The closed German-speaking area in Central Europe is now divided into 16 different states, namely four German-speaking states — the German Reich, Austria, Danzig and Liechtenstein — as well as the following mixed-language states: Lithuania, Poland, the Czech state, Hungary, southern Slavia, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, a corner of the Netherlands and Denmark. There are also other countries in which German is a recognised minority language: Estonia, Latvia, Romania and Russia. In Russia there are several German-speaking areas and also the Volga-German Republic. The matter can also be expressed as follows: The German Reich has 11 neighbouring states with German populations; these 11 direct neighbouring countries are bordered by another 7 neighbouring countries with German minorities. Altogether there are 18 direct and indirect neighbouring states of the German Reich with over 18 million Germans. With the German Reich itself, the German language is native to 19 European states, and areas like the Saarland5 are not even particularly well known. No other language even comes close to that. Thus one must say: The German language is the most international language in Europe.
The advantages of the German language for foreign peoples have, of course, only been partially answered. It doesn't even need to be listed in full what valuable things the German states and the German people have to offer to those who speak their language. For one thing, this might taste of self praise, there's a well-known measure of German worth: the Treaty of Versailles. A people on whom one tries to burden such unbelievable burdens must have been considered capable of creating great and great values. The fact that we were ultimately overestimated is another matter, however. But in all modesty it should be said: German is the international trade language for large parts of the world. German is the language of the largest and most solid book production. All works of world literature have either been published in German or are available in excellent translations, or as Goethe put it, whoever speaks German is on the market for world literature, where all nations offer their spiritual treasures. Nowhere is social thought felt more deeply and has it found stronger and more sincere legislative expression than in the German language. Medicine and the fight against epidemics have outstanding representatives and great successes in Germany and by Germans, the most valuable medical examinations are written in German, not to mention the technical, especially chemical works. German is also particularly suitable as an international language due to its uniqueness and elasticity. Here, too, are just a few examples: In antiquity, for example, Latin was the language of practical life, Greek the language of the spiritual, of the arts and sciences. German, on the other hand, is suitable for all areas of human thought and feeling; Technology, poetry, law, music, business, you can use all the contrasts, but German suits everyone. In our language it is also easy to form a new word by putting nouns next to each other and by combining them, for which other languages use three or even more words in individual Slavic languages.
Otherwise, the use of the German language does not have any necessary connection with Germanophilia. If German is about to become at least a second foreign language all over the world, it is because of purely practical considerations in foreign countries and continents. This applies doubly to our war-torn Europe, in which the various opponents of Germanness often communicate with one another in German. Here, too, we want to select just a few examples from the multitude of phenomena. The Pan-Slavic Conferences before the war, which assumed an allegedly natural enmity between Germans and Slavs, which is now recognised as a mistake, had German as the language of the negotiations. Before the war the Czechs published a magazine which sought to collect the opponents of Germanness from all over the world and in which the members of almost all the peoples who later fought against us had their say — in German. Today many governments publish, at great expense, German-language newspapers and magazines, several of which take a harsh stand against the German idea — in German. When small peoples appeal to public world opinion with protest rallies and protestations, they especially use — from their point of view with full justification — German. Well-known politicians who follow everything German in their sphere of influence and specifically forbid German schooling for German children, send their own children to the German-speaking area in order to let them participate in the advantages of knowing the German world language. The international business and scientific conferences are increasingly giving preference to the German language, not out of any preference for German, but because the speakers use it to make themselves understood by most people. If the League of Nations has not yet brought itself to this practice because of the prejudices of some of its founders, then the League of Nations itself suffers; whether they want to continue blocking this path from the eyes and ears of many peoples may well be left to themselves.
This preferential position of the German language has the greatest impact in Central Europe, in North, East, South-East and North-East Europe. In these areas, German is the first foreign language, mostly out of cool considerations of expediency. That statement may suffice.
Of course, this privileged position of Germans in the world is not unchallenged. Concerns about a resurgence of German influence, which some rulers feel happy to have eliminated, also play a part. However, this overlooks the fact that speaking German is not so much a matter of Germanophilia as of well-calculated personal cleverness. This is also becoming more and more recognized in the world. On the other hand, competition from other major languages is to be expected, or if one considers the recent and by no means unfriendly competition of the Italian language in the south-east, the opposition of another language. However, in the east, north-east and south-east it is in fierce competition with German. Its supporters claim that speaking German means becoming dependent on Germany, and the Germans themselves did not have the feeling that they spoke a world language. These proponents also have several hundred years of experience, which tries to captivate hearts with dazzling externals. Here there is a danger for German. In order to counteract it, it is first necessary to work out the natural advantages of German, as have already been described, i.e. the greater numerical distribution of German speakers, the better suitability of German as an international lingua franca and its actually increasing practical importance in the wide world. Furthermore, learning the German language should be made easier and more pleasant if possible. This does not include large so-called funds and no special administrative apparatus. Everyone can help. If a stranger comes to Italy and tries to get by with just a few snippets of Italian, Italians will certainly tell him kindly how excellently he already speaks Italian. This encourages further language studies. But if a Germanophile foreigner has already understood the great subtleties of our language and, during a stay in Germany, confuses one of the articles der, die, das, there will probably be someone who laughs at him. Such nonsense feeds our competition. In addition, at least in Northern Germany, there is a preference for individual French language chunks in French spelling. It can be explained historically and happens mindlessly. But to the German-speaking foreigner it often appears as a German acknowledgment of foreign superiority.
The future of the German language in international traffic need not be bleak if we become aware of its value and nurture it with love. In her we have a tool that can be further refined to ever more perfect sharpness and clarity, that conveys the most delicate feelings in words and songs just as flexibly as the intricacies of legal and commercial dealings. With it we can build bridges to foreign peoples. You have to experience how passionately the Carinthian Slovene and the Slavic Upper Silesian greeted German books, with what joy the Transylvanian merchant, the Swedish estate owner, even the Latvian farmer listened to German performances. In the German language, apart from all national hatred, they and we feel common chords of solidarity that develops upwards through work and mutual respect.
machtpolitischem, Lit. “power-political,” adjective from Machtpolitik.
Deutschfreundlichkeit, Lit. “German-friendliness”
Streudeutschtum, Lit. “stray Germandom”
Rändlander, Lit. “rim landers”
Saardeutschland was the term used.