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05th Jun 2015

Politician proposes language tax to save Danish’s bacon

JOE

A politician in Denmark has proposed a novel way to protect the country’s native tongue…by taxing the use of foreign words in adverts.

Alex Ahrendtsen of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, which holds four seats in the European Parliament, is concerned by the use of English in particular.

More than 80% of Danes are thought to speak English as a second language, but Ahrendtsen is worried about the country’s native tongue entering a “death spiral” according to reports in Danish newspaper Fyens.

“We want them to stop speaking to us in English. It irritates me to no end,” Ahrendtsen said in a speech to Parliament.

We’re trying to imagine how he’d react to adverts like this one for Stella Artois Cidre…

H/T Daily Telegraph