In these days Europe is about to celebrate the European Day of Languages, an event that since 2001 promotes linguistic diversity within our continent. So the 26th of September 2015, as usual citizens of every ages will have a chance to discover and appreciate the deep variety of languages spoken in Europe – about 200, whilst there are 60 regional/minority languages and many other languages actually spoken by citizens, especially those coming from other parts of the world. It is generally claimed that, all over the world, there are as many languages as the number of their speakers: it means that language is a phenomenon closely related to the deepest essence of human beings, and that it represents their immediate expression.
To ensure that linguistic diversity does not prevent the integration and the free exchange of experiences and knowledge within the “Old Continent”, in 2001 the European Council established the European Day of Languages, that is celebrated every year on the 26th of September. This event aims to foster multilingualism through the learning of foreign languages. It is indeed a shared opinion that knowing at least one foreign language helps find a good job, while mobility experiences in other countries are an added value in our CVs.
To celebrate the Day of Languages, each European country organises several events that range from conferences and round tables to activities addressed to children as well as language courses and theme nights. On the official website of the event a complete list of the activities organised in each country is available. As claimed on the website: “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, the Council of Europe promotes multilingualism in the whole of Europe”. Italy too has immediately answered to this call, by sharing its values: you can see the full list of the activities organised in our country by clicking here.
CESIE’s commitment in the field of multilingualism
CESIE has always committed in fostering international mobility as a means of cultural and linguistic enrichment. In addition to the many EVS and Erasmus+ projects, that allow youth – not solely at European level – to live highly educational experiences outside their native countries, CESIE also promotes some initiatives devoted to language learning and the exchange of knowledge. In this sense, valuable examples are represented by the following projects, POLYGLOT and LangMOOCs.
POLYGLOT – Multilingual education in pre-school age, is a project aimed to help parents and educators learn how to fully exploit the potential of web-based Open Educational Resources (OER) in pre-school bilingual education;
LangMOOCs – Language Massive Open Online Courses, is a project aimed to promote the use of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses, courses freely available online) in non-academic institutions, highlighting their potential in language learning.
These are our initiatives but only your active participation will contribute to make Europe increasingly multicultural and, of course, multilingual!
