Friday, September 16, 2011

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES


The first European Day of Languages took place on 26 September 2001. It was one of the highlights of the European Year of Languages.
On the eve of the closing event of the Year, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to declare a "European Day of Languages" to be celebrated on 26 September each year. This decision was taken in response to a recommendation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which had been actively involved throughout the campaign.
The Committee of Ministers recommended that the Day be organised in a decentralized and flexible manner according to the wishes and resources of member states, which would thus enable them to better define their own approaches.
Assignment 2:
Leave a comment on what the European Day of Languages means to you.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think is important to maintain the diversity of languages, specially minority languages because we are losing many of them in the last century. There are several idioms that don't need help because they are very strong like Chinese, English or Spanish and a lot of people speak them, however others must be preserved, as Finnish or Basque for example.
It's an interesting idea to dedicate one day each year to think about foreign languages.

Pablo Ramos said...

I think this kind of events can do people know new ideas, new purposes. It’s a positive thing in my point of view, because is useful to communicate different cultures, different ways to understand the life, the world.

The main problem about this sort of commemorations is that at the end the politicians take possession of this event and one thing that begun as a cultural movement ends as a “politic business”.

Ana said...

I sincerely didn't know that the European Day of Languages has been celebrated since 2001 on 26 September. In my opinion this is a good occasion to make people aware of the importance and advantages of learning languages.
Unfortunately, Spain is in a bad position in the ranking of European countries concerning English for example.
http://www.abc.es/20110322/sociedad/abci-nivel-ingles-201103221826.html

Anonymous said...

I think is important to maintain the diversity of languages, specially minority languages because we are losing many of them in the last century. There are several idioms that don't need help because they are very strong like Chinese, English or Spanish and a lot of people speak them, however others must be preserved, as Finnish or Basque for example.
It's an interesting idea to dedicate one day each year to think about foreign languages.

Mercedes Pardo

Águeda said...

I like the idea of a European Day of languages, as I like languages (my mother tongue and other languages). I think learning a language also means learning its culture.

I didn’t know what E-Twinning was until I have seen it on the web page. I think it’s a great idea and, if I participated, I would choose “Spanish Language”.

pabloromero said...

In my opinion, it´s really interesting to mark a day in the european calendar to remember the European Day of Languages. It´s a sign of an important change in the culture of people respect the importance of the languages..the times have changed.
Today is easier travell than one hundred years ago and people know the inportance to speak different languages to interact with people to other countries.
Other fact that I can expound is the need to have a flair for languages if you want to aspire to any job in one international/multinational company.
There are a lot of reasons to be agree with this mark at international calendar.

Rodrigo said...

The European Day of Languages points the remarkable idea of worthing the use of languages as a vehicle to exchange ideas and feelings. This day reminds us we need to be ambitious and learn another language different as the normal language we use. Specially in this difficult times, learning foreign languages gives you the possibility of working in another country, acquiring new skills in your job and enjoying the customs that other countries offer. I think it´s an interesting day

CMed said...

Thank you for your comments. I am happy to see that you are ALL interested in a "Day of Languages". I am also happy to see that even though it is just the first days of class we are learning together. Excellent job!