Introduction
In the last decades the world has experienced several major changes that have had an impact on linguistic diversity and on the way language is perceived by individuals. Increasing international economic integration (sometimes referred to as “globalization”) has emphasized the need for companies to look beyond their national borders and domestic markets and to compile new international rules to guide this process. The World Trade Organization, for example, was founded in 1995. Supranational political integration has become stronger. At the European level, the Treaty of Maastricht, signed in 1992, followed by other agreements, has deepened the process of European integration, increased the importance of the European Union, improved the mobility of labor on the continent, and led to the monetary union of several European states. In addition, three EU enlargements (2004, 2007, and 2013) have almost doubled the number of member states in less than ten years, and increased the EU population by about 30 percent....