Language policies and activities of the European Union

News, background information and web links about languages, language learning and other activities involving languages and cultural diversity in the EU.

Languages in Europe — 26 September 2013, 22:42 CET

The European Day of Languages was first organised by the Council of Europe in 2001 as part of the European Year of Languages. The European Commission and the European Centre of Modern Languages take an active part in organising language-related events on and around the day. The aim of the European Day of Languages is to raise awareness of the languages used in Europe, promote cultural and linguistic diversity and encourage life-long language learning. Earlier this year, the Council of Europe and the Commission signed a partnership agreement to strengthen cooperation in promoting ICT tools for language teaching and testing, and assessment of language competences.

Languages in the European Union — 26 September 2013, 22:37 CET

The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the Member States of the European Union. They include the twenty-three official languages of the EU along with a range of others. The EU has a number of policies relating to language learning.

Languages in the European Union — 23 January 2013, 11:15 CET

The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the Member States of the European Union. They include the twenty-three official languages of the European Union along with a range of others. The EU has a number of policies relating to language learning.

European Day of Languages 2012 — 25 September 2012, 17:29 CET

The European Day of Languages takes place at venues throughout Europe on 26 September. The European Commission will mark the occasion by hosting a special event in Limassol (Cyprus), where more than 400 delegates will look at ways to improve language learning and discuss the role of languages in a globalised world.

EuroVoc, the EU's multilingual thesaurus — 26 February 2011, 10:36 CET

EuroVoc is a multilingual, multidisciplinary thesaurus covering the activities of the EU, the European Parliament in particular. It contains terms in 22 EU languages (Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish), plus Croatian and Serbian.

Challenges of multilingualism in Europe - core findings of the Languages in a Network of European Excellence (Brussels, from 23 September 2010, 00:00 CET to 23 September 2010, 00:00 CET) —

A conference entitled 'Challenges of multilingualism in Europe - core findings of the Languages in a Network of European Excellence (Linee) Network of Excellence' will be held on 23 September 2010 in Brussels, Belgium.

Interpretation in the EU - briefing — 19 February 2009, 17:16 CET

The European Commission's interpreting service faces a potential succession crisis for linguists for a number of languages - and a shortage in several others. Without an increase in the number of qualified graduates from interpreter schools and universities, the EU Institutions will lose at least one third of their English language interpreters by 2015 due to retirement – and about half in a ten-year perspective.

Commission Communication on Multilingualism: tapping the full potential of languages in Europe — 18 September 2008, 13:50 CET

In its new Communication, entitled "Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment", the Commission gives an overview of what needs to be done to turn linguistic diversity into an asset for solidarity and prosperity. The Commission invites EU Member States and the other EU Institutions to join efforts to encourage and assist citizens in acquiring language skills and removing communication barriers. It proposes an approach which advocates including multilingualism across a whole series of EU policy areas. The policy document proposes a series of concrete actions related to these questions and foresees a review of the progress made in 2012 (pdf)

A guide to languages in the European Union — 11 September 2008, 12:14 CET

The European Union has 27 Member States and 23 official languages. Each Member State, when it joins the Union, stipulates which language or languages it wants to have declared official languages of the EU.