# In what language do Merkel and Sarkozy speak when conversing with each other? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928 "2011-10-27T00:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/21 "2011-10-27T13:30:34Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > From those pictures, it appears that they are conversing in sign language – or at the very least tallking with their hands. I can only imagine what an EU bailout plan looks like in hand gestures. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/22 "2011-10-27T14:13:45Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Together, they save small indigent European nations. And fight crime! ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/23 "2011-10-27T14:29:06Z")
Tangent: Have their been any recent continental European heads of state/government that have been purely monolingual? Especially in the larger, more populous countries (Spain, France, Germany, Italy)? I understand that monolinguism is much, much less common in continental Europe than in English-speaking nations. Would monolinguism necessarily prevent someone from attaining a high governmental position in continental Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/24 "2011-10-27T14:33:29Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I can only imagine what an EU bailout plan looks like in hand gestures. “Honestly, it was _this big_!” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/25 "2011-10-27T14:36:04Z")
I understand ZP’s linguistic skills used to be even worse than Aznar’s, people were saying “how can we have a President who doesn’t even speak English!” - I don’t know whether he’s learned it to any decent levels or not. We have one member of Parliament who speaks all four official languages plus several foreign ones, but AFAIK she hasn’t been nominated for Official Speaker To Foreigners And People From The Edge Of The Country. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/26 "2011-10-27T14:50:00Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Would monolinguism necessarily prevent someone from attaining a high governmental position in continental Europe? In France at least, nobody cares about the languages known by high profile politicians. So, I don’t think being monolingual would be an issue to be elected. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/27 "2011-10-27T15:00:35Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > [All](http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/images/122/sarkozy_merkel_432.jpg) over the [news](http://www.taubenschlag.de/cms_pics/merkel_sarkozy.jpg) are [pictures](http://www.usanewsexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/merkel-sarkozy.jpg) of Merkel and Sarkozy conversing, arguing, kissing, etc. What language are they speaking to one another? Kissing, eh? Then they are speaking the universal language of love. Nah. Just kidding. Of course, Lizard People speak in their own (forked) tongue when they are talking to each other out of earshot of puny humans. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/28 "2011-10-27T15:26:54Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > as apparently they dislike each other. George Bush, Sarkozy, Berlusconi … Merkel’s life must be like living in a sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/29 "2011-10-27T15:39:28Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > But he’s not the head of government. That’s what I thought, but I didn’t mention it since I wasn’t certain enough. I know France has a prime minister, but from what I’ve heard when the president’s party has a legislative majority the president can effectively control the government’s agenda. So who is actually the head of government? I guess it’s officially the prime minister though. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/30 "2011-10-27T16:45:32Z")
I’m betting English. My daughter who is now in Germany, is getting a Masters in International Business at a university, all of which is done in English. Her mentor at the school she teaches in there is in charge of a pan-European project, with people from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and Germany. It is all done in English, and my daughter gets to go to their meetings free in order to edit the English documents they produce. Our plan to make English dominant by refusing to learn any other languages is working! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/31 "2011-10-27T18:16:05Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > In France at least, nobody cares about the languages known by high profile politicians. So, I don’t think being monolingual would be an issue to be elected. While monolingual Europeans certainly exist, it’s hard to imagine an educated European being monolingual. I been to Europe many times to meet with professionals of all sorts, and I’ve never met one who came out of university still only speaking his native language. And since I can’t imagine an uneducated person being elected to high office, the chances of a monolingual person getting that high are pretty slim. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/32 "2011-10-27T18:51:56Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > While monolingual Europeans certainly exist, it’s hard to imagine an educated European being monolingual. I been to Europe many times to meet with professionals of all sorts, and I’ve never met one who came out of university still only speaking his native language. > > And since I can’t imagine an uneducated person being elected to high office, the chances of a monolingual person getting that high are pretty slim. I think that’s overstating it a bit - not every educated European is going to be multi-lingual. It depends on the country and depends on the need. I’m a Brit working for a UK national lab with very strong European links. All the Continentals I work with speak English fluently enough to join in a meeting or write a paper (sort of!) but that doesn’t apply to their colleagues back at their home labs. I’ve met a fair number of them - very well educated and very competent - whose English is about my level of French or Spanish ie not that good :dubious: The difference is whether or not their job requires them to deal with people away from home. I’ve discussed this - over various nationality of beer 😃 - with my French/Swedish/German/Portugese colleagues and the general view is that - after the Brits - the French are the worst at languages whereas the Dutch are best! ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/33 "2011-10-27T22:27:08Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Together, they save small indigent European nations. That’s a good one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/34 "2011-10-28T00:13:53Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > I think that’s overstating it a bit - not every educated European is going to be multi-lingual. It depends on the country and depends on the need. > > I’m a Brit working for a UK national lab with very strong European links. All the Continentals I work with speak English fluently enough to join in a meeting or write a paper (sort of!) but that doesn’t apply to their colleagues back at their home labs. I’ve met a fair number of them - very well educated and very competent - whose English is about my level of French or Spanish ie not that good :dubious: The difference is whether or not their job requires them to deal with people away from home. I’ve discussed this - over various nationality of beer 😃 - with my French/Swedish/German/Portugese colleagues and the general view is that - after the Brits - the French are the worst at languages whereas the Dutch are best! I guess that could be true. The professionals of which I spoke were required to deal with people from all over the world fairly regularly, and with people all over Europe practically every day. (I work for a multi-national company with offices all over the world. For the most part, these people are my co-workers in different offices.) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/35 "2011-10-28T00:28:20Z")
If Rolfrazzi is any guide, Lolspeak. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/36 "2011-10-28T09:48:04Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Tangent: > > Have their been any recent continental European heads of state/government that have been purely monolingual? Especially in the larger, more populous countries (Spain, France, Germany, Italy)? I understand that monolinguism is much, much less common in continental Europe than in English-speaking nations. Helmut Kohl, who was German chancellor from 1982-98. There was the joke that Kohl, who had a legendary difficult relation to Maggie Thatcher, once tried to break the ice by telling her: “You can say you to me.” [sup]\*[/sup] [sup]\*[/sup] For those who don’t get it: In German (“Du kannst du zu mir sagen”), that would be the colloquial way of telling somebody to switch from the formal form of address “Sie” to the informal “Du”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/37 "2011-10-28T10:31:35Z")
I’ve had some jobs where a person was chosen to be the “contact point” between a local group of people and us in “internal customer service” (company-wide, Europe-wide or EMEA) on the basis of seniority, but in general it’s done on the basis of linguistic skill, to the point where you can have someone from Accounting or the Lab acting as go-between for the Warehousing or Maintenance folks. The second option generally works better. Many people in senior positions (politicians or industry) are monolingual or have a second language other than English (French and a local language are the most common ones in Europe); younger people are both more likely to be in not-so-senior positions, to have ESL and to speak more than two languages (even though language #3 and above may suffer from shattered grammar, it’s enough to make themselves understood and to understand it in writing). And there are some fields where senior positions are highly likely to be non-college educated, such as the aforementioned Warehousing and Maintenance. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/38 "2011-10-28T11:33:46Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > George Bush, Sarkozy, Berlusconi … Merkel’s life must be like living in a sitcom. I would \*so \*watch that. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/39 "2011-10-28T12:21:10Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Sarkozy speaks both English and German fluently. I dont know about his German, but that’s what you call fluent in English: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihrilaw6j4c](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihrilaw6j4c) ? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928/40 "2011-10-29T09:23:47Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > [All](http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/images/122/sarkozy_merkel_432.jpg) over the [news](http://www.taubenschlag.de/cms_pics/merkel_sarkozy.jpg) are [pictures](http://www.usanewsexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/merkel-sarkozy.jpg) of Merkel and Sarkozy conversing, arguing, kissing, etc. What language are they speaking to one another? You’re not going to write slash for them, are you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-language-do-merkel-and-sarkozy-speak-when-conversing-with-each-other/600928.md?page=3)