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.

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.

Languages in the European Union — 11 September 2008, 11:05 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.