The EU recognises explicitly that all national languages spoken in Europe are “official” and have equal importance and weight. The European Commission uses however only French, German and English as its working languages and amongst those 3, English is increasingly becoming the main communication tool for international contacts. This is not because of lack of respect for other languages and their cultural values but merely for practical reasons, as English has become the most common second language worldwide, generally used in the international tourism business (including hunting tours), for IT purposes, in technical and scientific publications, and so on. Users of other languages may deplore this and can disagree with such development but it is a reality.

In order to facilitate contacts and networking between hunters throughout Europe, yeswehunt will use five languages on its portal – English, French, German, Italian and Spanish (also because roughly 90 % of European hunters use or at least understand one of these languages). Registered Users of yeswehunt will have the choice between these languages and even the freedom to use another language if they want to do so for their own contributions but in that case they will of course considerably restrict opportunities for establishing useful contacts with hunters in other countries – one of the main purposes of an international portal.

Whatever their origin, background, education or upbringing, hunters speak one language, namely that of a shared interest in – and passion for – nature, wildlife and outdoor activities, enjoyed in an atmosphere of friendship and solidarity. And in order to communicate effectively with each other, they are more than willing to do the effort of using a language which is not necessarily their mother tongue.

For yeswehunt it is clear that English is today indeed the most likely lingua franca or vehicular language for communication within communities, and that a significant proportion of European citizens have at least a passive knowledge of it. That is why all portal Users are strongly encouraged to express themselves in English, even if they believe that their knowledge of that language is far from perfect. But there is really no need to completely master Shakespeare’s language to get a message across!

And yeswehunt further provides a complete multilingual hunting glossary with virtually all words and concepts required for communicating in a meaningful way about hunting with other Users. An automatic translator is also provided so that the result, how imperfect it may look for a linguistic purist, will make mutual understanding even easier. What counts after all is the will to understand each other. And hunters most definitely have such will…