Celebrate the European Day of Languages on September 26th

1967

europe language day photoOne of the first questions a person is asked is “what language do you speak?” or “which language do you master?”

It is so common now in Europe that people speak two or more languages, that the discussion shifted from the number of languages someone speaks to “how to raise our children as bilinguals” or “how to improve our language repertoire” or “how to learn a language faster”.

In this context the European Day of Languages, celebrated first in 2001, is of greater importance in 2015 than in any previous year. Its aim is to promote plurilingualism in the whole Europe.

Over 200 languages are spoken on a daily basis in Europe; add to that the number of languages spoken by the people form outside Europe, but who work in Europe and you will see why languages are so important and why promoting multilingualism is a task of 2015.

The Council of Europe (the promoter and organiser of the European Language Day) encourages people to learn more languages, at any age, in and out of school, “being convinced that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent”.

If you are in Europe, it is almost impossible not to find an event or a party celebrating languages on September 26th. From Austria to the United Kingdom every country celebrates the European Day of Languages. For example in Paris, children can participate in treasure hunts and street games testing their knowledge of European languages. At the same time their parents can translate Homer’s Odyssey in all the languages they master.

In Berlin you can take a bike tour, pedalling for multilingualism or you can assist at the presentation of Bulgarian and German as two European languages. Speaking of Bulgaria, in Sofia you can learn more about languages by participating in a language fair. In Zagreb you can drink a “linguistic coffee” and if you want a “language passport”, you can get one in Rome.

For more information about the European Day of Languages go to the Council of Europe’s internet page.

Sources 

European Day of Languages

European Comision –  EDLangs Events

European Day of Languages on Facebook

 

Written by Raluca Caranfil
Communication Trainee at TermCoord
Journalist & Student at the University of Luxembourg