Tag Archives: lithuania

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.