The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the evolution of multilingualism and interpreting in the diplomatic arena, as compared with a lingua franca, specifically, the spreading use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in diplomacy. After the role of French as the European language of choice in diplomatic circles had declined, and nationalism gained importance, multilingualism in diplomacy rose in the 20th century after the Paris Peace Talks and the inception of the Unit-ed Nations. Currently,

more »

... e to the firm entrenchment of English in the diplomatic world, the question of a shift in the transcultural diplomatic communication arises again. Most prior research on interpreting in diplomacy focuses on the perspective of the in-terpreters themselves, whereas this research looks at involving the diplomat's point of view and at establishing a link between the theory and the practice. To this end, interviews with 7 diplomats from 5 different countries were held and they were asked to give evaluations of the interpretations they had experienced in diplomatic discussions, the use of ELF and the use of other foreign languages. As a result, the role of English as the universal language of diplomacy world-wide is to be confirmed. English seems to be a prerequisite for the work as a diplomat in modern times. Never-theless, interpreting and multilingualism continue being of importance in the function of a bal-anced means of communication when it comes to official statements at conferences or state visits. The diplomats interviewed in this research appreciated the work of interpreters and did not see an end of interpreting in diplomacy any time soon.