On 2 May, Teresa Tinsley, author of a British Academy report into languages, will be hosting a webinar on behalf of Rosetta Stone, one of Language Rich Europe’s sponsors. The webinar will look at issues such as the importance of language skills and possible solutions to help schools encourage language learning.
Who would benefit from attending?
If you are interested in attending, please register here.
Svenska kulturfonden (Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland) annually organises an international seminar on language minority issues. This year’s seminar took place on 13 November 2012 in Brussels and the focus was on the linguistic majority: “It is important that the members of society representing the linguistic majority not only understand the position of the minority but also act accordingly” (a quote from the seminar programme). The keynote speaker at the seminar was Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Finland. In this article, I will concentrate on the speakers who dealt with Swedish as minority language in Finland.
Martti Ahtisaari, who many remember from resolving conflicts in different corners of the world, such as Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Central Asia, is also working on minority language issues. In his peace mediating work, respect and consideration for local (minority) languages plays a major part. In 2010 he was nominated chairman of the action plan to strengthen the national languages in Finland. He reminded us of the fact that although only 5.4 % of Finland’s population have Swedish as their mother tongue, legally they are not a minority because according to the constitution they have the right to use their mother tongue everywhere. However, even though their rights are in many ways respected, there are problems in the implementation of legislation, particularly in public services, such as health care and the court of law. That’s why a systematically implemented action plan is needed, as well as concrete tools to put it into action. There is an economic cost of maintaining minority languages, so naturally the country in question will have to be willing and able to invest in it. Ahtisaari pointed out that even if each country has a different language situation, we can still draw comparisons between minority languages in different countries and learn from each other. “We need more egalitarian policies. Europe needs an Index of Good Governance, similar to the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. We should perhaps invite people to the Nordic countries to see what we’re doing. Encouragement is, however, always better than naming and shaming.” He also said that many policies can be strengthened from the grass root level: Why do Swedish speaking Finns often switch to Finnish when a Finnish speaker joins the conversation? Defend your own language!
We were also introduced best practices in the public sector. One of them was the case of 
bilingual health care in Finland, which was presented by Aki Lindén, Director at Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. He introduced the language programme of the district, which uses language ambassadors, grants to personnel who use Swedish at work and language courses to personnel. He said they were receiving good feedback so far but one of the problems is to find doctors to match patients in highly specialized areas.
There was also an example from Finland among the best practices from the private sector. It concerned Swedish service in Finland. Assistant Professor 
Jonas Holmqvist from Bordeaux Management School enlightened us with examples which go to show that many international companies which are multilingual elsewhere are monolingual in Finland. According to him, Swedish speaking Finns should demand service in Swedish themselves. In Finland political considerations don’t play a major role unlike in Belgium, for example, which means that companies don’t lose customers even if they don’t use minority languages.
Again, it all boils down to individual actions, combined with community which engages its citizens; good schooling where ideologies are exchanged; political goodwill and sometimes some good fortune, too. What was most remarkable though was the fact that everyone seemed to agree that what happens on the ground is most important, after all. So, start acting for minority languages today!
Poliglotti4.eu, a project co-funded with the support of the European Commission would like to announce its closing conference One continent, many tongues: a spotlight on Europe’s linguistic wealth in Parma/Italy, 15-16 of November.
Bringing together experts and multilingual talents from across Europe, the conference will highlight the outcome of Poliglotti4.eu’s project achievement and will also raise the voice of Europeans who live and work in multilingual Europe representing diverse fields such as science, art and culture, education, economics, politics and public spaces. The conference is part of the Parma Theatre Festival.
We cordially invite you to attend the conference and to join us for a lively debate throughout the two exciting conference days. The voice of civil society will be raised to take an active part in the policy making process on how Europe’s linguistic rich diversity will be enhanced as asset of Europe’s citizens.
Please consult our Conference Page for practical details, a draft conference programme and in order to register for the event. Participation is free of charge.
The long-term goal of the Poliglotti4.eu project is to put multilingualism on the agenda so that appropriate multilingual policies are developed and implemented everywhere in Europe at the grass-roots level. Consult our comprehensive website www.poliglotti4.eu for a wealth of information in the area of multilingualism in Europe.
Join the cause to promote multilingualism in Europe by supporting our project! You can also get involved by actively contributing to our Facebook and Twitter pages and by leaving a comment or an example of best practice and the different sub sections on our website. For more information on the project and on how you can get involved please contact us!
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.
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:
For more information on the call for proposals please visit the European Commission’s website
Language Rich Europe research provides a rich source of cross-national insights. In the first part of the LRE survey we examined whether official documents and databases on languages were present in the countries/regions surveyed.
We believe that the existence of official documents supporting language diversity, and the construction of databases mapping languages spoken, will strengthen awareness of multilingualism in any national or regional context and will also lead to better education policies. Why do you think it is important for your country to map languages spoken there? What could be done to improve this practice of mapping linguistic diversity?
Some key findings in this area include:
■■ Legislation on national and R/M (Regional Minority) languages is provided
in almost all countries/regions surveyed, on foreign languages in 14 countries/regions, and on immigrant languages in only six countries/regions.
■■ Official language policy documents on the promotion of national and foreign languages are available in almost all countries/regions, on R/M languages in 18 countries/regions and on immigrant languages in only four countries/regions.
■■ The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) has been ratified by Parliament in 11 out of the 18 countries surveyed, and signed by Government in France and Italy. In Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania and Portugal it has neither been ratified nor signed.
■■ The largest numbers of officially offered R/M languages in education emerge in South-Eastern and Central European countries. In Western Europe, Italy and France are the clearest exceptions to this general rule, as they offer a wide variety of languages. The concepts of ’regional‘ or ’minority‘ languages are not specified in the ECRML but immigrant languages are explicitly excluded from it. In Western European countries, immigrant languages often have a more prominent appearance than R/M languages but enjoy less recognition, protection and/or promotion.
■■ Most countries/regions are familiar with official language data collection mechanisms and most of them address three types of languages: national languages, R/M languages and immigrant languages. Five out of 24 countries/regions have no language data mechanisms at all: Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands. Portugal only collects data on the national language.
■■ There is also variation in the major language question(s) asked in official nation/region wide language data collection mechanisms. Over half of the countries/regions surveyed ask a home language question, while others ask about the main language and/or the mother tongue.
In the UK and 14 countries around the world, Language Assistants are preparing to move to a new country to teach their native language and to improve their own language skills and cultural awareness. Jennifer Murray from Glasgow, Scotland who is blind and hearing impaired, blogs about her year as an English Language Assistant in Spain with the British Council, and how the experience has changed her.
This article originally appeared on the British Council blog - thanks to Jennifer Murray and the Language Assistants team at the British Council for sharing it with us.
In October 2011, I began my year abroad adventure in Murcia, south-east Spain. Prior to starting my placement as an English Language Assistant, organised by the British Council, I spent a week in Murcia with my family to get to know the people who would be supporting me during my stay. This was essential as it helped me know what help would be available to me as a blind person.
Although I did a preparation visit, I still wasn’t ready to adapt into a new way of life, and went over with far too many expectations. When these expectations were not met at first, I struggled to cope and it took me a few months to feel settled. For the first four months of my stay, another English Language Assistant stayed with me once a week. I made a true friend for life, who supported me during the difficult first few months and who gave me advice when I needed it most.
It took a little time to make friends, but gradually this all changed. After Christmas, I started to do more activities with my support worker outside of teaching. With the other English Language Assistants, we shared our experiences and worries, and supported each other whenever any of us needed it. It was like a big international family – if you did not meet everyone in person, you knew of them through other people. I got to know people from around the world, including far-off places such as America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
At times, due to my hearing loss, I struggled to follow a conversation in Spanish where there were a lot of people talking at the same time, but towards the end I could understand practically anything that anyone said to me! At the end of my stay, the local radio station did an interview with me regarding my time in Spain. It was very nerve-wracking for me as I had never done an interview entirely in Spanish before. However, I took up the opportunity and although I felt I could have done better, I was happy I did it as everything went fine in the end!
The staff and pupils at the bilingual primary school where I worked were very welcoming and friendly, and accepted me as part of the team from day one. Each day was different. In class with the younger ones, I played guessing games and used songs, stories and flashcards. Whenever any of the teachers were away, I used to take the classes on my own, with the help of my support worker when I needed it. At the start of my teaching placement, I was not very comfortable doing action songs with the children in the younger classes. I don’t know why, but I did not feel comfortable using body language in order to express myself. Perhaps it had something to do with my visual impairment. Despite this, I quickly combated my anxiety and began to use my body language a lot with the younger children to help them learn English in interactive ways.
After Christmas, I loved every moment of the year abroad and the months just seemed to go by quicker and quicker. Towards the end, I did not want to leave! This year abroad changed me as a person. I feel more confident, my Spanish has improved dramatically and I am seriously considering doing something similar again in the near future, either in France or in another part of Spain.
Find out how to become an English Language Assistant abroad.
Check out the English Language Assistants Facebook page.
Jennifer Murray, aged 22, is from Glasgow, Scotland. As a result of being born early, she is totally blind and has recently returned from a year abroad in Spain as an English Language Assistant via the British Council. As well as her visual impairment, Jennifer also has hearing loss, so wears a hearing-aid. She is studying Languages (Spanish/French) at university, and will be going into the third year of her degree this September.
Great news: Language Rich Europe has been featured on Spain’s North by Southwest radio programme! Please find the audio file of the programme below. It was broadcast on Radio Exterior (Spanish World Service) on Monday 16 July 2012, and will be repeated again next week.
In the programme, Nicolas Jackson from British Council Spain interviews Language Rich Europe’s Project Director Martin Hope and Senior Project Manager Aneta Quraishy as well as Juan Pedro de Basterrechea from Instituto Cervantes, Marta Genís from Universidad Antonio de Nebrija and Xavier Vila from the University of Barcelona.
The following blog post over the National Geographic Project Vanishing Voices has been written by Aneta Quraishy, Senior Project Manager Language Rich Europe.
I just came across National Geographic project called Vanishing Voices. Did you know that one language dies every 14 days? By the next century nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favour of English, Mandarin, or Spanish. What is lost when a language goes silent? In the words of Russ Rymer:
“The ongoing collapse of the world’s biodiversity is more than just an apt metaphor for the crisis of language extinction. The disappearance of a language deprives us of knowledge no less valuable than some future miracle drug that may be lost when a species goes extinct. Small languages, more than large ones, provide keys to unlock the secrets of nature, because their speakers tend to live in proximity to the animals and plants around them, and their talk reflects the distinctions they observe. When small communities abandon their languages and switch to English or Spanish, there is a massive disruption in the transfer of traditional knowledge across generations—about medicinal plants, food cultivation, irrigation techniques, navigation systems, seasonal calendars.”
Find out about Tuvan, Euchee, Hupa and Karuk for example via these amazing photographs and quotes on the Vanishing Voices site.
It’s time for some summertime fun with languages! Below our Communications Manager David Sorrentino has listed a few fun facts about languages and multilingualism.
Which ones did you know already? Do you know any other interesting facts you’d like to share?
