Tag Archives: lithuania

Call for Papers – 2nd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Multilingualism: Research, studies, culture

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The conference, which will be held from 27-28 September 2013 in Kaunas, Lithuania, will assemble international researchers, experts, language teaching professionals, and other stakeholders to share research insights and discuss multilingualism viewed from perspectives of various fields: language policy, language didactics, learning and acquisition, foreign language teaching, linguistics, literature, culture, education science, history, philosophy, psychology, translation, business, and other fields and branches of sciences. The conference discussions will proceed in:

- Plenary sessions

- Round table discussion: Issues in developing plurilingual citizen for multilingual world

- Regular, poster and virtual sessions

- Language forums: Conference participants are invited to initiate Language Forums on specific issues of language teaching/learning, sharing their experience in the language they teach (e.g. Spanish Language Forum).

Call for papers:

- 10 June 2013 – registration and abstract submission
- 20 June 2013 – notification of acceptance

Publications:
- ISBN publication of conference programme/ abstracts.
- ISBN on-line conference proceedings.
- Selected articles will be published in the refereed journal DARNIOJI DAUGIAKALBYSTĖ/ SUSTAINABLE MULTILINGUALISM. Print copy: ISSN 2335-2019, Online copy: ISSN 2335-2027, Journal website: http://uki.vdu.lt/sm

Deadline for article submission – 20 October 2013

More information can be found on the conference website

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KVIETIMAS: ANTROJI TARPTAUTINĖ KONFERENCIJA DARNIOJI DAUGIAKALBYSTĖ: TYRIMAI, STUDIJOS, KULTŪRA, 2013 m. rugsėjo 27-28 d. 

Konferencijos tikslas – suburti tyrėjus, tarptautinius ekspertus, kalbų mokymo profesionalus bei kitus socialinius dalininkus pasidalinti savo įžvalgomis apie daugiakalbystę, žvelgiant iš įvairių mokslo sričių perspektyvų: kalbos politika, kalbos didaktika, mokymasis ir įsisavinimas, užsienio kalbos mokymas, kalbotyra, literatūra, kultūra, švietimas, istorija, filosofija, psichologija, vertimas, verslas ir kitos mokslo šakos bei sritys.

- PLENARINIAI POSĖDŽIAI
- APSKRITOJO STALO DISKUSIJA „Individualios daugiakalbystės plėtojimas daugiakalbio pasaulio iššūkiams“
- ŽODINIŲ, STENDINIŲ IR VIRTUALIŲ PRANEŠIMŲ SESIJOS
- KALBŲ FORUMAI Konferencijos dalyviai kviečiami patys inicijuoti kalbų forumus ir diskutuoti bei dalintis patirtimi, sprendžiant jų mokomos kalbos problemas.

Svarbios datos:

- Registruotis ir pranešimo anotaciją prašome atsiųsti iki 2013 m. birželio 10 d.
- Apie pranešimo priėmimą informuosime iki 2013 m. birželio 20 d.

Publikacijos:
- Konferencijos programa ir santraukų medžiaga su ISBN kodu.
- Elektroninis konferencijos straipsnių rinkinys su ISBN kodu.
- Atrinkti straipsniai bus publikuojami referuojamame moksliniame žurnale DARNIOJI DAUGIAKALBYSTĖ/ SUSTAINABLE MULTILINGUALISM. 

Spausdintinė žurnalo kopija: ISSN 2335-2019, Elektroninė žurnalo kopija: ISSN 2335-2027, Žurnalo tinklapis: http://uki.vdu.lt/sm

Straipsniai publikavimui pateikiami iki 2013 m. spalio mėn. 20 d.

Konferencijos tinklapis: http://daugiakalbyste.vdu.lt

LRE Launch – Ukraine

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Language Rich Europe launches the results of its research in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday 9 November at the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogic Sciences of Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of only three non-EC countries participating in the project (the others are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland).

The programme for the event is as follows:

Welcome speeches by the President of the National Academy of Pedagogic Sciences, the Directory of British Council Ukraine and the Deputy Minister of Education and Science.

Project overview by Eilidh MacDonald, Project Co-ordinator Language Rich Europe, British Council Germany

Cross-national analysis of language policies and practices in Europe by Prof. Guus Extra, Tilburg University

Presentation of the LRE research results in Ukraine – Lyubov Naydonova, Institute of Social and Political Psychology

Presentation on language policies and practices in Wales – Martin Dowle, British Council Ukraine

The presentations will be followed by a round table discussion with the following topics and speakers:

Language Policy Trends in Lithuania, Vilma Backiute, Ministry of Education and Science of Lithuania

Main Aspects of Multilingual Education Development in Autonomous Republic of Crimea: Policy, Identity, Culture – Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska and Yulia Tyschenko, Crimea Policy Dialogue Project

Issues of language policy in higher education – Prof. Stepko M.F, Institute of Higher Education

Presentation by Prof Vasyutynsky V.O., Institute of Social and Political Psychology

Language policy and the language situation in Ukraine, Prof. Masenko L.T., Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

Maži mažakalbiai – is Lithuania ‘a small nation with a small number of languages?’

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Vilma Bačkiūtė, Project Manager British Council Lithuania, summarises an article about Language Rich Europe which first appeared in the Lithuanian magazine, IQ I 2012 metai I Rugpjūtis 08 (29)

The August issue of the monthly magazine IQ devotes three full pages to an article on the Language Rich Europe results and language policy issues in Lithuania. The article by Viktorija Vitkauskaitė is an interesting read and covers a number of key points suggested by the LRE launch in Vilnius. The ‘average performance’ by Lithuania is summed up in a quotation by Dr Irena Smetonienė, who states that ‘Lithuania is neither among high achievers, nor among loosers’. Still, the title of the article ‘Maži mažakalbiai’ suggests that Lithuania is ’a small nation with a small number of languages’. The LRE findings actually do not look too worrying for Lithuania, but the IQ article suggests the we should start reviewing our language curricula as we are losing the competitive edge as a country and living the strategy of ‘English is enough’.

The key points covered in the article are:

-         Children at pre-school age can learn languages only ‘out of their parents’ pocket’ and here Lithuania is lacking behind seven countries in the LRE research.

-          English prevails in all sectors at the expense of other languages, which is not different from anywhere else, but not at such a high percentage: 92% of secondary school learners choose English and continue it as the only language in the later stages of education (!)

-          Companies require language skills, but neither invest in nor use the linguistic capacity of the staff. Prof. Boguslavas Gruževskis says: ‘This is a general problem which is a result of low valuing of work force [by employers]’. Lifelong Learning programmes are there for language learning but not used.

-          Employees of state institutions are encouraged and supported more in language learning, but there is a lack of multilingualism in city services. Kęstutis Ambrozaitis, executive manager of Lithuanian Tours, confirms that tourists lack services other than in English in Lithuania, although, for example, German tourism has grown by 23% in the last year.

-          The article also expands on immigrant languages that receive no attention at all in Lithuania. Immigrant languages will likely be ignored in decades to come. Prof. Boguslavas Gruževskis is quoted as saying that it’s an unfortunate trend, as by ‘’using’’ immigrants and their language potential the country’s economy /employers can gain a lot, including access to other countries and cultures.

-         Loreta Senkutė, president of the Lithuanian Youth Council (LiJOT), voices the students’ suggestion for a major change in language education for Lithuania: all learners throughout education should learn more than one compulsory foreign language and English should preferably be offered as the second foreign language in the school curriculum as it is picked up faster than other languages due to its spread in media, music, movies, etc.

Readers of Lithuanian can access the full article at http://iq.lt/iq-zurnalas/ (see issue IQ 2012 m. Nr. 8 – Politika / Maži mažakalbiai  - NB: it’s paid subscription).

The findings of the Language Rich Europe research launched in Lithuania in May – read more about it here and view the LRE Lithuania profile on our website.

The LRE Launch hosted by the British Council’s partners in Lithuania

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The findings of Language Rich Europe research were presented to the public in Lithuania on 25 May in Kaunas and 4 June in Vilnius. Please read on to find out more about the launches and the findings in the article below, written by Vilma Bačkiūtė, our Project Manager in Lithuania. 

The very first launch in Kaunas was hosted by Vytautas Magnus University, where a selected audience (the research respondents and media) were invited. The audience was 25 participants and the presentations by the project team were followed by challenging questions on the methodology, validity and follow-up of the research.

The second venture took place at the Parliament and hosted by the Lithuanian Association of Language Teachers (LKPA) as part of the Association’s 6th International Conference “Languages, Culture, and Globalisation” on 4 June. The conference audience was 180 educators and all the presentations were filmed and live streamed to the MPs’ offices.

The most beneficial results of the launches so far are new partnerships built. Firstly, two high quality magazines – Valstybė and IQ magazine group – got interested in Language Rich Europe results and plan to publish articles on multilingualism issues in their autumn issues. Secondly, the LRE is invited to be presented at the INTEGRA Project conference on 15 June.

The findings on languages in education were presented by Dr Irena Smetonienė (Vilnius University). The LRE results did not surprise the Lithuanian audience. Lithuania looks moderate in offering four most commonly used foreign languages (English, German, French, and Russian) and supporting four languages of national minorities (Polish, Russian, Hebrew, and Belarusian) throughout education.

Though the Lithuanian law supports and promotes plurilingualism (individual multilingualism), the efficient implementation of the European Strategy for Multilingualism is a challenge which lacks institutional coordination and cooperation as well as well-defined distribution of responsibilities.

Dr Julija Moskvina (Institute of Labour and Social Research) focused on the other sectors – public services and business – where Lithuania scores moderately (again!). Despite the variety of languages used in Lithuania, cities (in terms of public services) and companies (in terms of language strategies) pay insufficient attention to recognising and promoting multilingualism.

Lithuania particularly cares about the status and usage of the Lithuanian language as its state language. Lithuanians constitute the absolute majority of residents of Lithuania (83.9% in 2011) and the population in Lithuania is becoming more and more homogeneous even in the context of increasing mobility in the EU. Lithuania has 4.8% immigrants (as the percentage of national population). Most of the newcomers are citizens of the Republic of Lithuania returning to live in their homeland.

Professor Boguslavas Gruževskis (Institute of Labour and Social Research) offered a wider perspective looking at languages as a target for individuals for being competitive in the labour market and general welfare.

The panel discussion included the international project team members: Naydonova Lyubov (Institute of Social and Political Psychology,Ukraine), Liliana Szczuka – Dorna (Poznan University of Technology, Poland), Irina Sukhinina (British Council, Ukraine), and Aneta Quraishy (British Council, Germany).

Anna Holmén (Belgium) represented the Directorate General for Translation at the European Commission and her presentation introduced the EU multilingualism at practice. Dr Ina Dagytė (Kaunas University of Technology) looked closer at the Lithuanian identity through the SWOT analysis and discussed what role the language has for our national identity.

Probably the most challenging contribution during the launch was by Loreta Senkutė, LiJOT president, who presented students’ opinion and recommendations on multilingualism issues and language education in Lithuania. Their recommendations include:

  • Developing one languages strategy for all language groups in education – the state language, national minority and foreign languages;
  • Investing more of coordinated effort in forming public understanding of the value of languages and multilingualism;
  • Expanding the variety of foreign languages offered in education;
  • Using more innovative methods in language teaching.

The second day of the conference continued at Mykolas Romeris University and provided more time for discussing the LRE findings into the context of teaching practices. The topics included: the Impact of Globalisation on Languages and Culture; Language Policy in Lithuania and Abroad; Languages and Intercultural Communication; Teaching Mother Tongue; etc.

You can read the abridged version of the LRE report in Lithuanian online.

For more photos from our launches, please visit our facebook page. 

Today’s launch: Vilnius, Lithuania

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“Languages, Culture, Globalisation”

Today’s Language Rich Europe project launch is hosted at the International Conference “Languages, Culture, Globalisation” in Vilnius. The first day of the conference is held at the Parliament (lth. Seimas) with nearly 200 participants registered. The patron of the conference is Mr Valentinas Stundys, MP, Chair of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture. The Association of Language Teachers in Lituania (LKPA) are the main organisers of the venture.

There are several individual presentations as well as plenary sessions and panel discussions at this event. Please see the full programme of the event for more information. You can also find more information on the Language Teachers’ Association of Lithuania website.

Tomorrow’s launches: Poland and Lithuania

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Poland

Did you know that…

‘Poland has adopted an interesting practice with regard to teaching Polish to immigrants. Bearing in mind that teaching Polish to immigrants is not the same as teaching Polish as a mother tongue, head teachers delegate this task to teachers of foreign languages, for example to teachers of English and not to teachers of Polish.’

The Poland launch will take place on 25 May 2012 at Warsaw Polytechnics. There will be several speakers discussing the findings of the project. These are:

  • Andy Williams, Director British Council Poland
  • Martin Hope, Language Rich Europe Project Director and Data Expert
  • Liliana Szczuka-Dorna, Head of Department of Modern Languages at Poznan University of Technology

Coinciding with the Poland launch is the first part of Lithuania’s launch on 25 May 2012 at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. The invited participants to the very first launch are representatives of the education institutions, companies, and cities researched, as well as the media. Speakers will be:

  • Dr. Julija Moskvina, Institute of Labour and Social Research, Lithuania
  • Dr. Irena Smetonienė, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  • Vilma Bačkiūtė, British Council, Lithuania

Lithuania

Did you know that…

‘Lithuania particularly cares about the status and usage of its state language. As for the rights of ethnic minorities, including the right to preserve their own languages and cultures,Lithuania has taken as many responsibilities as there can be in terms of the protection of minority rights.’

Interview with Deividas Jakavičius, Second Prize Winner in Languages Speak Up! competition

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We were not planning on blogging again in 2011, but we are such big fans of the runner up of our Languages Speak Up! competition that we could not resist sharing this with you. Partnerships and Projects Manager for British Council Lithuania, Vilma Backiute, met with Devidas Jakačius to discuss his entry and what languages mean to him. If you have not already viewed his video, please do so and we will see you all in 2012!

On 15 December I met Deividas Jakavičius, the Second Prize Winner in the Languages Speak Up! video competition, at Simonas Daukantas Gymnasium in Vilnius. I went to his school to hand in the award, and ended up joining in singing Christmas songs in English with over 100 students. That was a pre-Christmas event concert for the 10th-grade students, where Deividas worked on the back stage assisting the singers with music background. Deividas is in his last year at the school and is already a school celebrity. He is a founder of a school band and known as a member of Vilnius band Funk Clock. He also creates lyrics and music. Deividas’s achievement in the video competition was not news to the school community. They had it out in the school e-news on November 24. I discovered that Deividas has to thank his friend Adomas Gurstis who helped him out in the creative process. Thus, as an impromptu thank-you gift Adomas got a traditional British Christmas cake. Well done to both :-) Congratulations! You can watch the interview with Deividas and Adomas here:

 

 

Europos kalbų lobynas: „Cherchez des sociétés d’affaires“

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Today we have a guest post by Vilma Bačkiūtė, British Council Lithuania, who blogs about the recent Language Ambassador Awards which took place in Vilnius.

Lietuvoje „Europos kalbų lobynas” kartu su partneriais šiais metais 2011 Metų kalbų ambasadoriumi išrinko tarptautinę rinkos tyrimų bendrovę „WorldOne“.

2011 Metų kalbų ambasadoriaus rinkimus organizavo Švietimo mainų paramos fondas, įgyvendindamas Europos kalbų ženklo programą, kartu su Britų taryba, įgyvendinančia projektą „Europos kalbų lobynas”. Į titulą pretenduoti buvo kviečiamos įmonės ar organizacijos, vykdančios patrauklią ir novatorišką kalbų vartojimo bei mokymosi skatinimo politiką.

26 įmonės užpildė anketą ir rugsėjo 23 d. buvo pakviestos į Europos kalbų dienai skirtą šventę – metų Kalbų ambasadoriaus apdovanojimus, kur buvo apdovanoti šeši nominantai ir paskelbtas 2011 Metų kalbų ambasadorius.

Šventė pavyko, nes organizatoriai sulaukė daug padėkų iš apdovanojimų šventę  stebėti pakviestų dalyvių, kurie turėjo galimybę išgirsti „Pricewaterhouse Coopers International Limited“ Lietuvos biuro vadovo, Britanijos prekybos rūmų Lietuvoje valdybos pirmininko Christopher C. Butler bei žurnalisto, rašytojo Andriaus Užkalnio pranešimus. Renginį papuošė įvairiomis kalbomis dainuojanti, galybę tarptautinių apdovanojimų laimėjusi merginų grupė Kivi ir populiarus televizijos laidų vedėjas ir aktorius Algis Ramanauskas.

A.Užkalnis akcentavo, kad daugiakalbystė yra vakcina nuo provincialumo ir palinkėjo, kad po 10 metų lietuviai Europoje garsėtų kaip daugiausiai kalbų mokantys žmonės.

„Europos kalbų lobynas” taip pat buvo pristatytas ir Znad Wilii radijo klausytojams. Radijas kalbino Britų Tarybą Kalbų dienos proga. Pokalbio įrašo paklausyti galite čia.


Government decisions and long-lasting effects

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Today we have a guest post from Vilma Bačkiūtė. Vilma is Partnerships and Projects Manager for British Council Lithuania.

To quote professor Ted Cantle, “This is a new era of mass migration, of visible communities and an era of super-diversity”.

He also points out that 300 languages are spoken in London.  For comparison, about 20 languages are spoken in Vilnius. According to statistics (2010) the largest groups of immigrants to Lithuania come from the UK, Russia, the USA, Belarus, Germany, Spain, and Norway.

A very small percentage of immigrants and ethnic minorities in Lithuania do not imply fewer tensions in the political arena. Official governmental decisions already have linguistic, political and social consequences which put social cohesiveness at risk. For example, because of inflexibility and stubbornness (or lack of competence?) of politicians, Lithuania will be spending a lot of money on lawyers trying to defend its position on the “bizarre spelling row between Poland and Lithuania”.

Of course, one must consider the historical background to contextualise and understand language policy issues in Lithuania. As well as in Latvia and Estonia.

The existing policies and language laws are similar in the three Baltic countries. They enhance the position of the official languages, which is desirable. But it is equally desirable that they are reviewed in the light of this new era of multicultural and multilingual societies. As a report on multilingualism in Lithuanian cities shows, language profiles in Lithuanian households also change.

No doubt, there are countries and cities that can share their “wisdom on managing diversity” with the Baltic countries. But the Baltic states also have a lot to contribute to our overall understandings of language policy and its complexities. Here is a letter by D.M.Helmeste (USA) to the Baltic Times editor to start considerations.