Travel Is England considered part of Europe?

[DB10]

eh? over a billion people speak Mandarin.

 

[DidakDelight]

Look how many people speak English as a second language

 

[Sigh RolleyEyes]

Spanish is actually the most spoken language in the world (as of 2006 it was anyway).

English is the most recognised, but not necessarily the most spoken

nuh uh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers

 

[Sigh RolleyEyes]

interesting topic. i guess there's no hard and fast definition. paul keating said australia was part of asia but most aussies would disagree i think

i always thought scandinavia included finland and iceland but apparently, strictly speaking, it's only sweden, norway and denmark.

also australasia is an interesting geo/political grouping. the term is more widely used in NZ than here (just my anecdotal experience) i'm not sure why.

 

[Mooster7]

It doesn't matter how many people speak English as opposed to some other s**t language. It's the dominate language (for now) because of 20th Century commerce. At the end of World War II, it was English speaking nations who found themselves on top of the heap as far as still having a viable economy and working infrastructure.

From there, English speaking nations rebuilt the nations 'destroyed' in the war and further went on investing in third world rat holes which never had an infrastructure to begin with. As technology and economies grew, so did English. Just as example, it was the Americans and the Englanders who developed the concept of the international airport system and established it. Now English is the language of international flight.

Kind of amusing that during the Cold War, a Soviet owned aircraft driven by a Russian pilot and coming in for a landing in Moscow spoke English back and forth with his air traffic controller by law.

The Chinese may soon own us all.

Speaking of language, the final answer to this thread (other than the Risk answer I already thoughtfully provided) is one of semantics. It really comes down to the question of does Europe exist?

'Europe' is just a word. It's a noise gluttered up by our speech organs and it rhymes somewhat but not quite with syrup. That's all. The concept behind that noise is arbitrary. Where do you draw the line between what is Europe and what is not? And why? No Europe doesn't exist at all.

On the other hand, when one considers the very purpose of language, that is to communicate ideas in an agreed upon structured pattern, then Europe does indeed exist in an agreed upon manner. And within that context England is part of Europe even if most of Englander men don't act gay and they take showers and baths on a regular basis. It's still somehow Europe.

Maybe it has to do with them liking soccer so much?

Peace,

 

[raskolnikov]

THE FINAL AUTHORITY ON THE MATTER ***************

I just opened up my game of Risk and took a peek. The Englanders are blue along with the rest of Europe.

It's Europe.

THE FINAL AUTHORITY ON THE MATTER HAS SPOKEN******

Risk! That brings back memories. I played that game endlessly in the mid 90s.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Where do you draw the line between what is Europe and what is not?

Ural Mountains is supposed to be the boundary between Europe and Asia.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

not quite ... the Chinese diaspora is damn huge. there'd be a good half a million of them around the world once you include Taiwan and Hong Kong, and don't forget they make up a significant minority in SE Asia and have large numbers in the US, here and in parts of Europe. Chinese migration has been going on for a long time.

The Chinese population in many parts of the world is huge, a majority in places like Singapore, significant minority in Malaysia and much of east and south-east Asia, millions in each of the US and Canada, etc.

However, they usually did not migrate with positions of power as colonial rulers did from England, Spain, France etc. They also did not necessarily share a common language, Mandarin, Cantonese, etc all being larger than any "Chinese" language until fairly recent times. They also often had to learn the local lingua franca, as well maintaining their own language(s).

The English, Spanish and French more often imposed their own language on any members of the local population hoping to climb into the public service or deal with the colonial authority in any way. As England became the larger of the colonial powers, so did its language. The cultural and economic power of the US has since extended (a version of) English into an essentially global language for business purposes.

Or, at least, that is the wild opinion of this uninformed purveyor of internet claptrap.

Now, to the actual question asked at the beginning.
Whether England is considered part of Europe depends on who you ask. On one geographic measure England is part of Europe, there is no continental shelf in the Channel - and now you can get a train between mainland Europe and the UK there is arguably not a water barrier any more. On another measure, many British see "Europe" as mainland Europe. England is part of UEFA (but so is Israel), the UK part of the EU, but not part of the "Eurozone". It really depends on context.
The UK is often not considered part of "Europe", which often limited to mainland Europe, yet along with Ireland is almost always included in any mention of "western Europe". So, the correct answer to your question is, "if you want".