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September 26, 2011: 10th European Day of Languages
800 million people, 47 member States… and over 200 languages; welcome to Europe!
Just ten years ago, on December 6, 2001, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided in Strasbourg « to declare a European Day of Languages to be celebrated on 26th September each year. (…) The Committee recommended that the Day be organised in a decentralised and flexible manner according to the wishes and resources of member states, which would thus enable them to better define their own approaches, and that the Council of Europe propose a common theme each year ».
Since then, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated each year on September 26. The main idea is to generate a sense of awareness before:
• Europe’s rich linguistic diversity, which must be maintained and promoted;
• the necessity to diversify the range of languages taught in Europe (including lesser spoken languages), with the aim of fostering plurilingualism.
More specifically, promoters of the Day argue that linguistic abilities are both a necessity and a right for everyone, and that developing at least some degree of fluency in two languages or more is important to one’s full involvement in a European democratic citizenship: learning the languages of others helps us understand each other better and reach beyond cultural differences. Not to mention that speaking different languages is a requirement in many large-scale companies worldwide, as well as a chance to study abroad.
A whole span of events is being organized that Day across Europe and beyond: events for/with the children, radio and TV programs, language classes, seminars, etc. National authorities and their various partners, especially schools, remain free to set up any kind of activities they see fit for the occasion…