News
Cambridge celebrates the 10th Anniversary of European Day of Languages with full support from EU Institutions
24 September 2011
A language survey of over 650 people working in the European Parliament – many of whom are multilingual – has shown a huge range of languages that people still want to learn. This is really encouraging for multilingualism, according to the department of Cambridge University who conducted the survey.
The survey was carried out by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL) at their annual event held at the European Parliament this week in celebration of multilingualism.
Spanish and Italian are the top two languages that adults surveyed wanted to learn. The results also showed a growing demand for people wanting to learn Chinese and Arabic; an interest in sign language and some of the regional languages such as Catalan and Welsh. Overall, over 40 languages were reported in the responses to the survey questionnaire. Juliet Wilson, a Director at Cambridge ESOL says:
“Our survey showed there is a huge range of languages that people want to learn and this extends beyond the most commonly spoken languages. What struck us was the enthusiasm people had for learning languages which is really encouraging in helping to create a multilingual society.”
Over the last four years, the event ‘Supporting multilingualism through language assessment’ has attracted hundreds of stakeholders, policymakers and key decision makers in Europe.
The event was hosted by MEP Hannu Takkula and MEP Miguel Ángel Martínez in conjunction with University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL) and the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE).
The survey also asked participants which languages they are able to use. Along with a high frequency of speakers of 2 or more main European languages – Cambridge also encountered speakers of Persian, Esperanto, Twi, Swahili, Faroese, Hebrew and many more.
Juliet Wilson comments:
“The European Parliament is a very multilingual environment and we met people from all over the world who can speak a number of languages. This is really encouraging and serves as a model for multilingualism. ”
The series of events also included a seminar on how to encourage the learning of a wider range of languages in the EU and a reception to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the European Day of Languages. Another seminar discussed the role and work of interpreters in intercultural communication.
MEP Hannu Takkula, co – host of the event together with MEP Miguel Ángel Martínez, said the issue of multilingualism is part of our cultural wealth and diversity.
MEP Miguel Ángel Martínez stressed the importance of convincing people that the use of a wide range of languages is an essential principle of the democratic identity of the European Union.
Other participants at this year’s events included: Mr Jan Truszczyński, Director-General for Education, Training, Culture and Youth qt the European Commission – who described languages as a strong part of the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme;
Ms Belén Bernaldo de Quirós, Head of Unit, Multilingualism Policy, European Commission; Ms Olga Cosmidou, Director General, Directorate General for Interpretation and Conferences, European Parliament; Ms Alison Graves, Head of Unit for Training and Contacts with Universities, Directorate General for Interpretation and Conferences, European Parliament; Ms Ewa Rudomino, Polish Attache for Education; Dr Ebru Diriker, Associate Professor, Bogazici, Istanbul; Professor Piet Van de Craen, Department of Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and European Language Council; Dr Ina Ferbežar, Executive Head of the Centre for Slovene as a Second/Foreign language, University of Ljubljana; and Dr Cor van der Meer, Director, Mercator, European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.
