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March 25-26, 2011: Conference on the prospects and practices of multilingualism in East-Central Europe, Budapest, Hungary
The Research Centre for Multilingualism of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Mercator Network of Language Diversity Centres and the European Commission, is organizing its first international conference themed “Multilingualism in Europe: prospects and practices in East-Central Europe”.
The organizers observe that the accession of central and eastern European states to the European Union has created new issues in regards to linguistic diversity. The question at stake is that of languages known as « minority », whether they be regional or immigration languages, in the scope of this new context. While these countries have undergone great changes in economy or education since the fall of communism, linguistic policies there remain highly controversial.
They consider it is now important to rethink approaches to linguistic diversity in Europe, by bringing together researchers, language educators and policy-makers in the aim to evaluate the progress and future needs in the area of protection of lesser used languages, the role of mother tongues and the development of multilingualism at local and regional levels.
All these questions will be addressed during the two days of conferences and roundtables through eight themes reaching from bilingual education to the languages of the Romani and including European policies regarding multlingualism.
March Friday 25 and Saturday 26
Budapest
Hungary