THE European Union (EU) celebrated its seventh annual European Day of Languages recently, Associated Press has reported. This year, the EU’s executive commission appealed for more linguistic diversity across Europe, arguing that knowing more languages can boost cultural diversity and economic growth.
Currently, English is the most learnt foreign language in the EU, followed by French and German. However, both Leonard Orban, EU commissioner in charge of multilingualism and Wolfgang Mackiewicz, president of the executive committee of the European Language Council, dismissed claims that learning one language is enough in a multicultural Europe.
According to a European survey published last year, 56 percent of Europeans feel they could have a decent conversation in at least one foreign language, while 28 percent feel comfortable in at least two. But as many as 44 percent say they do not speak any language besides their mother tongue.
Orban said he was keen to encourage the teaching of two extra languages to students across the 27-nation bloc. He also held that knowing more than one language opened the door to better social integration, business opportunities and economic growth. The situation is much more diverse than one could think and speaking English is not enough in Europe today, said Mackiewicz. He pointed out that since the 1990s, the number of languages in the EU has increased from 11 to 23. Thus the EU’s language policies should focus on multilingualism, not just individual languages.
Several suggestions were proposed in order to improve language diversity in the EU. Migration can have very positive aspects as far as intercultural dialogue is concerned. The media also has a role to play. It can contribute to “pulling down barriers between different communities living in our societies” while subtitled TV programs rather than dubbed programs aid language learning.
