Tag Archives: European Commission

Have you seen our European Recommendations? Call to action!

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The Language Rich Europe (LRE) consortium called on European institutions and member state governments to initiate new policies to support immigrant language teaching, revise trilingual learning, and use the particular position of English to promote and support multi/plurilingualism. This would help to develop a truly multilingual Europe and in turn ensure economic competitiveness while building more inclusive societies.

European Recommendations were presented in Brussels this week at the EESC during the LRE final conference. There was an institutional response from the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of Europe.

Key findings & recommendations:

  • English is now the most widely-chosen second language in Europe’s schools, especially in higher education studies. A new model for developing and preserving other languages is needed to promote diversity among languages used and spoken by Europeans.
  • The European Commission’s trilingual formula of ‘mother tongue plus two’ should be updated and further developed. For many citizens ‘mother tongue’ is no longer the same as the national language. The particular position of English also means that in practice most citizens will learn English plus one, so it is rarely any ‘two’. A useful development of the formula could include the clear articulation of a linguistic profile.
  • The particular position of English in Europe should be explicitly acknowledged, in order to propose a new model for the co-existence of languages in Europe. This would have implications for policy formulations and would encourage more research and development work on the ways in which the position of English could be used to promote and support multi/plurilingualism rather than to undermine it. This would also mean that European funding streams, for example, the successor to the Lifelong Learning Programme, would prioritise support for languages other than English.
  • Immigrant languages have significantly changed the linguistic landscape in Europe. To develop more inclusive societies, immigrant languages should be explicitly recognised at European level. Funds should be allocated at the national and European levels to support language teaching from pre-primary to university education that reflects the diversity of student populations.
  • Existing barriers to the employment of teachers from other member states should be removed. Teachers should be enabled and encouraged to do training abroad to improve the level of achievement in language learning. For example, “Erasmus for teachers” should be established.
  • When creating audio-visual materials, subtitling – not dubbing – should be the default option for organisations on the European level. The comparative data demonstrate a strong positive correlation between subtitling and language competency.
  • We should reassess the ways in which multilingualism increases trade and profitability. Research is needed into how successful companies actually engage in successful business exchanges across languages and cultures from an economic and sociological perspective rather than with a solely linguistic bias to produce case studies and practical guidance.

Lid King, director of the Languages Company, said whilst presenting our Recommendations: “English is perceived as the language people should learn and are learning. That used to be the elephant in the room. Now we can see that elephant.” He said policymakers needed to recognise the “particular position” of English but that “more work needs to be done on how English can be used to support multilingualism.” He called on a strategy of subtitling as opposed to dubbing films, televisions programmes and conferences.

Faced with growing divisions amongst member states during the crisis, the EU needed to go in a positive direction towards celebrating diversity rather than being defensive and falling into ‘linguistic protectionism’, King said. He added that multilingualism could “calm tensions”, both amongst Europeans from different member states and non-EU immigrants.

You can read Androulla Vassilliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, full response to the Recommendations .DSC_0083.

Learning languages a way out of crisis, says Vassiliou

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Androulla Vassiliou posing in front of the poster of the "Language Rich Europe" networking project

Androulla Vassiliou posing in front of the poster of the “Language Rich Europe” networking project

Our Language Rich Europe Closing Conference took place earlier this week in Brussels on 5 March and called to action for European governments to improve language policies to ensure economic competitiveness and build more inclusive societies. European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, addressed the Conference:

“If we want more mobile students and workers, and businesses that can operate on a European and world scale, we need better language competences – and these must be better targeted to the current and future needs of the labour market,” she said.

The latest European Commission figures show that in 2011 just 42% of European 15-year-olds were competent in their first foreign language, despite often having learned it from seven years of age. Furthermore, the figure differed hugely across different EU countries, with 82% for Sweden and just 9% for Britain.

The commissioner added that fostering languages was about more than employment for professional linguists, translators and interpreters.

“Our society will always need language specialists – professional linguists translating or interpreting, such as those people in the booths covering our proceedings today,” she said. “But languages, like politics, are too important to our lives to be left to specialists only.”

Read the full summary here.

English as the language of Europe?

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In this guest post, Christiane Keilig from the British Council in Berlin shares her views on why just English isn’t enough.

Last Friday the German president, Joachim Gauck, proposed to make English the language of the EU.  I was surprised to hear it  – why did he say that? Just to appease the British and make sure they stay aboard the EU? Or to allay fears that Germany is becoming too powerful? It’s probably a bit of both. But, thinking about it, it does seem to make sense, because:

  • English is comparatively easy to learn (I had to learn Latin and Greek  as first foreign languages and I rejoiced in English)
  • It is already an established business language and dominates in certain areas, for instance IT and banking
  • It is the language spoken by big economies

Okay, but.

There are also other huge economies out there and I would argue that if you want to sell a product or a service to a foreign market, you need to speak their language and not just English.

Because a market, or rather, countries, are also about culture and I believe that you cannot truly understand a culture without speaking the language – language itself reveals a lot about a country’s mindset.

Also, business is not all. Especially in Europe and in times of crisis, it is important that we understand each other – we cannot afford to threaten a construct which, although fraught with bureaucracy, is also there to maintain peace. Personally, I sometimes think that aspect is sadly underrated.

Moreover, in times of globalisation and mobility, with families living and working far away from their home country, it’s also important their children can learn their mother tongue – it is a vital part of their identity and culture.  So it’s not just about learning the language of the country they’re now living in and then ‘just’ English.

Just to pick up on one of the areas of the project’s research: Education. The Language Rich Europe research clearly shows a tendency for English as the most widely chosen language to be learned at school – which could be seen to be endangering the diversity of languages.  It is important that especially at school other languages are taught with the same importance attached to them .

For instance, the school my son goes to offers English, French and Latin and you can choose the order in which you learn the languages. I convinced him to learn Latin first, as that gives him a good basis for grammar and all romanic languages. It would be a shame if opportunities like that would disappear.

At the conference on 5  March, Language Rich Europe’s experts will present recommendations for more language diversity in the areas of Education, Audiovisual Media and Press, Public services and Spaces, and Business. They will present the outcomes of the project’s research and will surely provide food for thought and discussions.

Why not join the debate? Do you think English should be the language of Europe?  Comment here or tweet @LanguageRich  to  let us know what you think!

Did you know…

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Did you know…

that five projects which have shown outstanding performance in promoting the teaching and learning of languages were honoured at the first ‘European Language Label of the Labels Awards‘. The winning initiatives are based in Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Norway and Romania. The awards were presented to representatives of the projects by Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, at the ‘Multilingualism in Europe’ conference in Limassol, Cyprus.

Each of the 31 nominated projects received a commemorative plate and are featured in a special booklet ‘European Language Label – Empowering People’ published to celebrate the awards. You can download the booklet.

Language Rich Europe launch – Wales

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At a time of globalisation, troubled economies and increasing migration, knowledge of foreign languages is critical to building social bridges, improving job prospects and enhancing competitiveness in Europe.

How well is Wales responding to these challenges?

 

The Welsh launch of Language Rich Europe will take place on Tuesday 9 October at the Pierhead Building, Cardiff. 

The programme is as follows:

Welcome and introduction from Simon Dancey, Director British Council Wales

Address by the Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler AM

The Importance of Multilingualism, overview from Professor Colin Williams, Cardiff University

Language Rich Europe Cross National Findings – Aneta Quraishy, Senior Project Manager, British Council

Language Rich Europe Wales and UK results – Dr Lid King, Director The Languages Company

Panel discussion – Aled Eirug (British Council Wales Advisory Committee Chair), Professor Colin Williams (Cardiff University), Professor Stephen Hagen (Newport University), and Dr Lid King (Languages Company)

Events: Supporting multilingualism through language assessment

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The European Parliament together with ALTE and University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations invites you to a series of events on Supporting multilingualism through language assessment.

You can find out more about it, including how to attend, on the European Commission’s website.

EC 2013 Call for Proposals – The multilingual challenge for the European citizen

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Aneta Quraishy, LRE Senior Project Manager, shares some key points from the EC 2013 Work Programme SSH.2013.5.2-1. The multilingual challenge for the European citizen call for proposals 2013.

In this year’s European Commission call for proposals there is once again a focus on multilingualism and a call for collaborative projects (large-scale integrating research project) in this area. The Commission underlines that there is a ‘considerable gap between citizens who are proficient in two or more languages and who can thus benefit from all professional and personal opportunities that the EU can offer, and those who – because they only speak their mother tongue – find their opportunities limited.’

The following research dimensions (abridged below) are highlighted in the 2013 call:

  • Comparative analyses of the past and present language related policies and actions of the EU, individual European countries, the Council of Europe and other parts of the world.
  • Research into past and present coping strategies (e.g. political, social, cultural, educational) of linguistic diversity in situations of language hegemony.
  • Research onto how to strike a balance between preserving linguistic diversity (and the associated identity) and facilitating effective communication between all European citizens
  • Assessment of language teaching at various levels (pre-school, primary, secondary, adult – lifelong learning) and of various forms of language learning (family teaching, informal learning in peer groups).
  • Research on multilingual education and learning, as well as emerging needs related to enlargement, migration and globalisation.
  • Assessment of new technological tools, new forms of communication, new media and their effect on multilingual skills.

For more information on the call for proposals please visit the European Commission’s website

Key findings: Languages in pre-primary education

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Pre-primary pupilLanguage Rich Europe research provides a rich source of cross-national insights into multilingualism across the education sectors. Today we focus on pre-primary education.

  • Many European Union and Council of Europe documents underline the importance of early language learning. At pre-primary level, 14 of the 24 countries/regions surveyed provide additional support in the national language for all children funded by the state. The Netherlands and Ukraine devote the most time to this.
  • Foreign language provision at this level is offered by seven countries/regions: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Basque Country, Bulgaria, Catalonia, Estonia, Spain and Ukraine, although it may be partly or fully funded by parents/guardians. English, French and German are the most common languages offered.
  • Regional/minority languages are offered by 17 countries/regions, and are mainly funded by the state/region. In some countries there are minimum group size requirements to form a group. The widest variety of languages is offered in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Ukraine.
  • Provision in immigrant languages in pre-primary education is not yet very common. However, in spite of the difficulties involved in identifying appropriate teachers and learning materials, three countries (Denmark, Spain and Switzerland) do offer support to very young children for the maintenance and development of their languages and cultures of origin. In Denmark national, regional and local funds cover all costs for these programmes, while in Spain and Switzerland source-country related funds partly cover the costs through bilateral agreements.
  • The only country offering early language learning across all language types is Spain.

If you haven’t already, have a read of Baby Erasmus, a great initiative in Spain and share any other good practice examples from your country by responding to this post!

You can read the LRE profile for your country on the country profile page of our website and find out more about our key findings in the first part of this series – Key findings: Official documents and databases.

Poliglotti4.eu gathers Multilingualism Stakeholders in Madrid

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In this guest post Jana Mehl, Poliglotti4.eu Project Assistant, reports on the Poliglotti4.eu Stakeholders Meeting on Multilingualism which took Place in Madrid between 1 and 2 December 2011. The Poliglotti4.eu project partners as well as experts, policy makers, stakeholders and members of civil society gathered in Madrid to reflect the current state of the project and discuss the situation of multilingualism in Europe.

Poliglotti4.eu is a project promoting multilingualism in Europe – the result of the deliberations of the EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism. The topics of the Stakeholders Meeting hosted by the Representation of the European Commission in Spain were the political recommendations of the EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism, results of Poliglotti4.eu so far (On-line Language Observatory, Survey results, Multilingualism Tools, Ambassadors, Web), migrations, languages and social inclusion, including languages and public services, language learning and education, language policies, including minority languages as well as language and the media.

The Meeting was opened by Poliglotti4.eu Project Director Uwe Mohr, Director of the Language Department at the Goethe-Institut in Brussels. The project was especially pleased to have won over so many high quality guest speakers, whose contributions to the conference were greatly appreciated by all participants. Among the speakers was also Belén Bernaldo de Quiros, Head of the Multilingualism Policy Unit at the European Commission DG EAC, who underlined the importance of fostering language competencies amongst European citizens and presented the new EU programme « Erasmus for All ». It is an instrument in the framework of the EU 2020 strategy of which the objective is the investment in knowledge and education. During the next year the programme will be negotiated with the EU Council and EU Parliament.

Among the other guest speakers on 1 December were Joseba Achotegui, Psychiatrist and Professor at the University of Barcelona who talked about language as a component of the Ulysses syndrome in migrants, Prof. Piet Van Avermaet, Director of the Centre for Diversity and Learning at the Ghent University (Belgium) speaking about Super diversity, glocalisation and multilingualism and Prof. Concepción Otero Moreno from the University of Hildesheim and Braunschweig Mayor City (Germany). She delivered a speech about immigration, language and integration as well as training courses for language mediators in the non-academic field.

On day 2 of the Stakeholders Meeting spoke inter alia Ms. Carmen Valero Garces, Professor of Interpretation and Translation at Alcalá University who presented the university’s programme on multilingualism and public services. Another very interesting speech was given by Gardenia Trezzini, Editor in Chief at Euronews. Ms. Trezzini explained how Euronews dealt with its 11 working languages, as well as about difficulties and challenges incurring from this extensive language regimen.

Project partners of EU organisations representing the non-formal and informal learning as well as the arts and cultural sector agreed upon the highly relevant influence civil society actors play in shaping innovative  language learning approaches and multilingual services in the European public space. In order for this to be achieved, convincing  multilingualism policies are required.

The meeting was a great opportunity to exchange ideas, examples of best practice and to discuss the current situation of multilingualism in the European Union. All participants appreciated very much the varied and high quality contributions of experts, policy makers, stakeholders and members of the civil society brought together by this event.

For more information on the project and the Stakeholders Meeting please visit our project website www.poliglotti4.eu

Contact: Ulla-Alexandra Mattl, Project Manager Polilgotti4.eu (co-ordinator@eunic-brussels.eu )

Scotland – a multilingual country?

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It’s St Andrew’s Day today – Scotland’s national day, so what better excuse than to have a wee keek at the state of languages in my home country.

Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is not exactly famed for its ability in foreign languages. This has made the news again recently with British Council Scotland warning that a decline in Foreign Language Assistants could affect student numbers and the quality of foreign language education. Lloyd Andersen, Director British Council Scotland said:

Assistants perform a vital role in supporting language teachers by bringing a cultural dimension to language-learning that enthuses and inspires young people

Teachers are in no doubt this helps increase linguistic fluency and makes it more likely a young person will continue studying languages to a high level. In an increasingly globalised world, Scotland needs to be outward looking.

The Scottish Government, which provides funding for the FLA programme, has set up a working group to implement their programme of learning two languages plus ‘mother tongue’ but some see this as unrealistic.

2 + 1 is not a new initiative, nor is it an invention of the Scottish Government. Both the European Union and Council of Europe place emphasis on citizens being able to communicate in ‘mother tongue plus two languages.’ From the current level of foreign language education, this may be difficult to achieve, but I applaud the Scottish Government’s recognition of it as an important target nonetheless.

I also think there is another important point which cannot necessarily be separated from the foreign language debate – and that is the fact that Scotland is not historically or currently a monolingual country. As well as English, Scotland has two other main languages – Scots, a language which shares a common root with English, and Gaelic.

Scots and Gaelic receive financial and political support from the Scottish Government, where the Minister of Learning and Skills, Alasdair Allan has a particular responsibility for these languages. At a time of economic turbulence, the time and money spent on languages which are not as widely spoken as English is criticised by some, who also see it as pro-independence propaganda from a Scottish Government where the Scottish Nationalist Party has a majority.

However, these initiatives are not solely the result of an SNP government. Scots has been ‘back on the agenda’ in education since the 5-14 curriculum was introduced in 1991 and both Scots and Gaelic are covered by Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which was ratified by the UK Government in 2001. As with foreign languages, Scotland and the UK are following the EU and Council of Europe’s lead, with the European Charter considering that:

the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe’s cultural wealth and traditions… the right to use a regional or minority language in private and public life is an inalienable right

This does not mean they should be taught to the detriment of English, clearly there is a need to learn it, but considering English’s dominance I find it unlikely that this would happen. Rather, Scots and Gaelic should be included in education instead of being sidelined to languages of the playground or home or as part of the once-a-year Burns Night celebrations. As recently as the 1960s, the Scots language was looked down upon as ‘not being proper English’ and even today it is often criticised for being a dialect or, worse, slang. Ayrshire, Glaswegian, Doric and Lallans are all dialects of the Scots language and, as anyone who has encountered a Glasgow taxi driver knows, they are spoken frequently outside of school.

If proper acknowledgement was given to this language in school, many children might have a different relationship with language learning. Instead of being ‘bad at English’ they can suddenly speak two languages. With this knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm at learning a foreign language might in turn increase.