EU in drive to boost languages

Learning languages should be a lifelong activity, the European Commission said recently when it announced measures to boost language learning and linguistic diversity across the European Union.

"Teaching should start as early as possible (even at pre-school level) and quickly cover two languages in addition to the child's mother tongue, and should continue into higher education and adult education," the commission said in a press release.

Citing various "lessons" that it said had been learnt from the 2001 European Year of Languages and from a recent public consultation exercise, the commission also said that schools must pay more attention to languages.

This, it said, could be done by offering as wide a range of languages as possible, and by adopting a broader approach than just having specific lessons devoted to language learning.

"Recruiting and training language teachers... are crucial aspects. It is also vital to have access to reliable techniques for assessing language skills. The Commission is in favour of a European indicator for language skills."

Another of the lessons learnt is that Europeans must have more opportunities to learn and use their language skills.

In this area, the range of policies suggested by the commission include schemes to promote all languages, including regional and minority ones; making better use of bilingual or trilingual people's and temporary residents' skills for the good of the community at large; increased use of the internet for language teaching and learning; more venues for learning languages, and more widespread use of subtitles on television and in the cinema.

These "lessons" are to become the shared objectives for the member states and the EU under a 2004-2006 action plan which aims at stepping up the drive for language learning and linguistic diversity.

"If we are to derive more benefit from free movement within the single market, become more competitive in the knowledge economy and understand and be more aware of each other within an enlarged EU, we Europeans must make an effort to learn languages," Viviane Reding, the commissioner responsible for education and culture, was quoted as saying.

The EU already provides support for language teaching and learning projects to the tune of some €30 million a year through the two major Community education and training programmes, Socrates (general education) and Leonardo da Vinci (vocational training).

For example, between 2000 and 2002 the EU provided funding for more than 16,000 in-service training grants for language teachers. In addition, the Structural Funds and the European Investment Bank provide backing for specific language-related projects.

"In other words, in putting the action plan into effect, the important thing is to make more and better use of existing financial resources," the commission said.

A number of measures have been targeted under the action plan, aimed at providing a community level response to the shared objectives:

¤ Funding for a study on teaching languages to the very young (publication scheduled for 2005).

¤ More use of language assistants, especially in primary schools.

¤ Funding for transnational projects on language teaching material for primary schools and pre-school groups.

¤ Support for school projects based on a more integrated approach to learning not just the language, but also a particular subject; in other words, taking languages out of the strict language-learning context.

¤ Using the EU's Europa website as an internet information portal for professionals and the general public on the range of training opportunities and the advantages of speaking more than one language. This portal will become operational in 2006.

¤ Providing more information for language teachers on European mobility schemes funded by Socrates and Leonardo.

¤ Organising a European conference on the recruitment of foreign language teachers in 2006.

¤ Support for the publication in 2004 of an updated version of the "Euromosaic" report, which takes stock of regional and minority languages' status in the EU.

¤ Work on a European language skills indicator in 2005 and 2006.

¤ Introduction, from 2004, of multilingualism as one of the subjects eligible for EU funding under town-twinning arrangements.