Nineteenth century ‘standard’ English was based on a rationalist and empiricist assumption of one sole ‘external’ reality which twentieth century ‘scientific’ linguistics transferred into the ‘internal’ mind. However, in the 1930s, Whorf’s studies suggested that different languages reflect different ways of seeing reality. In the 1980s, cognitive linguists also claimed that language works as a catalyst for creativity within different cultural environments. The present study aims to measure the impact of English financial terminological borrowing in French Annual Reports of the European Central Bank through a detailed comparative and socio-cognitive analysis of six French and English terms. The findings revealed that, where cultural gaps or linguistic gaps existed, initial exploration was usually superseded by English term adoption and, where no gaps existed, terms were often replaced by an English language term, or an English language European Union neologism was imposed. This reflected an ‘Anglo-Saxon economic viewpoint’. The study concludes that, ‘standard’ English is not the ‘neutral’ vessel for international communication it claims to be, and that it may even have colluded in its own demise as non-western multilingual communities are now developing their own ‘Englishes’. However, it suggests that the European Union could try to emulate these multilingual communities’ increased capacity for reflexivity and understanding through the development of its own ‘pivot’ language, such as Esperanto. (Camilla Ferard)