I’ ve seen pictures of German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking with other foreign leaders such as David Cameron of Great Britain, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and the Greek or French leader. They seem to speaking directly to each other and I wonder if there is a common language they are using.
The Prime Minister of Canada is normally bilingual (French & English) and so could use either language.
I think that most European leaders often have a second language, often English.
It all depends on the individual language skills of the leader. For instance, Putin is known to be fluent in German, so I suppose that’s what he uses when speaking to Merkel (even though Merkel speaks, I guess, some Russian, which was hard to avoid in East German school curricula). There is no general rule; they use whatever language they have in common and the two of them are comfortable with. If the talks get more extensive and complex than the brief chats that you see on TV, then there will usually be interpreters present, simply to ensure that there are no misunderstandings owing to a lack of language skills.
Merkel has addressed the British Parliament in English, although apparently she does not speak it frequently. She is fluent in Russian.
The majority of European leaders probably have at least one other language they are fluent in. Most of the time they will have one or more languages in common.
My understanding was that although they normally have enough of a common language to communicate, for formal meetings they will quite often have an simultaneous interpreter present to make sure there are no misunderstandings. Obviously for formal summits like the G8 there will be translators for all the languages used - everyone speaks there own language.
normal process is for each leader to have a translator who listens to what the other leader says and translates to their native language.
For example if Obama talks to a leader who only speaks German, then the other leader sticks with German and Obama’s translator translates German back to English. And Obama speaks English and lets the other side translate what he says.
A thread from 2013 on this subject.
To be sure, it’s not exclusively a matter of language skills, it also involves politics. In the Czech Republic, for instance, some frown upon their politicians speaking Russian to Russians, whereas others insist on it. Czech Pres Zeman recently visited Putin (this was controversial in and off itself) and spoke Russian to him. For people who disagree with his pro-Russian stances, that’s all the more reason to dislike him. By speaking the other’s language, you’re coming down to their level and opening yourself up to vulnerabilities; you’re likely to be less eloquent. I would be surprised if Putin spoke anything other than Russian in meetings with foreign leaders, and also if Merkel spoke in Russian to him on anything of substance.
I would guess a simultaneous interpreter as well. That’s what I figured when I saw the thread title (but you’re not going to see that in random photo ops). However, IME, a lot more foreigners know English than people from the US knowing other languages. An acquaintance of mine is from Saudi Arabia. He’s probably in his 40’s or 50’s now but I think he said be moved here when he was around 20. A few months back I asked him if he learned English when he came here or while he was still there (he speaks it as well as any native English speaker, little accent either). He said he learned Arabic(?) and English, more or less, at the same time growing up, it’s just what you did, at least where he was from.
My uneducated guess is that enough people speak it at this point that it’s a good common language plus the US is so big/powerful and so many people here don’t speak it that if you’re a politician you might as well learn our language because we’re probably not going to learn yours.
Of course, I should ask…do people from Australia regularly learn German growing up? Do people from Ireland learn Spanish as a matter of course? Some of it may have to do with people in Asia/Europe being more surrounded with by English speakers than the other way around.
English has evolved into being an international language, widely taught and a second language in many countries. If a Chilean wants to speak to a Swede, for instance. or to a Korean, English is likely to be a common language they share. It has nothing at all to do with the fact that it’s the language spoken in the US and UK. The international Western language some time ago WAS French and in the sciences was French and German.
Many national leaders, as with other educated people who have international exposure, speak enough English to be able to chit-chat with native or non–native speakers. For more important matters, as said, translators would be used.
Varies a lot. In Australia, for example, only 14% of school-leavers have studied a foreign language to year 12. (A higher percentage would have studied a foreign language at some point, but have given it up before year 12.) The popular languages are Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, French, German, Mandarin, in that order. In Ireland, on the other hand, more than 75% of student take a foreign language to year 12 level, French, German and Spanish being the top three choices.
But proficiency drops off sharply if there the language is not regularly used. Most of those who take a foreign language to year 12 would struggle, five years later, to conduct a conversation unless they have had the opportunity to use the language with a degree of regularity in the meantime. And this is where students of English as a foreign language have an edge; in most parts of the world there are abundant opportunities to hear, read and speak English.