Chapter 115: The Poorest Model of Compulsory Education
Politicians' bottom lines were usually very low. No one had much objection to Franz's proposal. For Austria's long-term peace and stability, a little fooling around amounted to nothing.
In any case, the upper ranks of the cabinet were all nobles from the German region, Germans of pure and proper stock. The Germanization movement would not hurt their national sentiments.
However, the Minister of Education was dumbfounded. Falsifying historical origins was easy enough—history from thousands upon thousands of years ago was inherently hard to clarify—but what the hell was the Austrian language?
"Your Highness, what is the Austrian language?" Count Leo von Tus Hohm asked in confusion.
Franz explained, "Simply promoting German could easily make the other ethnic minorities feel slighted, so this is to accommodate their feelings.
"I intend to gather Austria's linguists and historians and, with German as the core and the languages and scripts of the various ethnic minorities added in, create a set of Austrian language and writing."
Prime Minister Felix frowned. "Your Highness, German is Austria's most widely used language. If we create another Austrian language, everyone will have to learn it anew. Isn't that too troublesome?
"Besides, a one-of-a-kind Austrian language would deepen the divide between us and the German region, allowing those traitors of Lesser Germany to benefit!"
Franz burst into laughter. "That depends on how the Ministry of Education compiles this Austrian language. If we directly use German as the template and only alter a few unfamiliar nouns, it will not affect daily communication, will it?
"Are there not differences even between different forms of German? As long as our Austrian language can be used interchangeably with German, there will be no so-called barrier to communication."
Everyone's expressions returned to normal. If only obscure terms