Bonjour, linguists: It’s the European Day of Languages
Today, Sept. 26, is the European Day of Languages, with celebrations of linguistic diversity in the form of festivals, seminars and workshops. If you’re curious, or happen to be in Europe, you can search for events on the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) website.
But I’m guessing that you, like me, are unfortunate enough to not be in Europe today, so take some inspiration from the occasion, letting it give you that nudge you need to pick up your French, Spanish or even Lithuanian books. It doesn’t have to be that hard; just consider the following facts, published on the ECML site:
— “Many Europeans think most people speak only one language, but in actual fact at least
half of the world’s population is bilingual or plurilingual, i.e. they speak two or more
languages.
— No language is in itself more difficult than any other; all children, in fact, learn their
mother tongue in the same natural way and with equal ease.
— Many languages have 50,000 words or more, but individual speakers normally know and use only a fraction of the total vocabulary; in everyday conversation people use the same few hundred words.
— Languages are constantly in contact with each other and affect each other in many ways: English borrowed words and expressions from many other languages in the past, European languages are now borrowing many words from English.”
Have a favorite word in any European language, including English? Submit it here. Past submissions include “super-geil” (super-cool in German) and “laimingas” (happy) in Lithuanian.
- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times
[Photo: Lourdes, France; Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times]
2 Comments on “Bonjour, linguists: It’s the European Day of Languages”
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September 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m glad that the European Day of Languages reached Los Angeles. I would like to argue the case for learning Esperanto, a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states.
Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net
Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries.
September 30th, 2008 at 4:35 am
I also hope that the “European Day of Languages” encouraged many people to learn a new language. Especially in the United Kingdom where the interest in learning languages seems to be declining.
You may know that four schools in Britain have introduced Esperanto, the neutral international language, in order to test its propaedeutic values?
The pilot project is being monitored by the University of Manchester. Why not extend this project to other countries as well? Further academic appraisal is essential.
Otherwise http://www.lernu.net might help ?