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background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: small;">Dear
Colleagues,<br>
<br>
The EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism (CSPM),
comprising the main language and culture NGOs in the EU, has
published its Report and recommendations to the European
Commission, member states and regional authorities.<br>
<br>
It makes important policy recommendations to the EU in support of
regional, minority, constitutional and smaller state languages.
These are:<br>
• European level language planning to promote linguistic
equality;<br>
• Direct support for endangered languages;<br>
• The establishment of a European linguistic observatory to
collect linguistic data and to act as a watchdog over language
use;<br>
• European language ombudsman;<br>
• To work towards an EU Directive to prohibit linguistic
discrimination.<br>
<br>
The Report is published on the Commission’s website:<br>
<a
href="https://webmail.europarl.europa.eu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/news/news5090_en.htm"
target="_blank">http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/news/news5090_en.htm</a><br>
<br>
Furthermore, it recommends that education and public services
should become multilingual to boost Europe’s language skills,
sustain Europe’s economies, and to cater for increasingly diverse
societies.<br>
<br>
The Report was drawn up in consultation with language and culture
NGOs and stakeholders from across Europe in surveys conducted by
the 29 Platform members. It represents the views from a broad
range of organisations such as the British Council and EUNIC (who
include the Goethe Institute and Alliance Française as members),
to the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE), and the
Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires
(CEATL).<br>
<br>
The Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism was launched by the
European Commission in October 2009 in order to submit a set of
recommendations, after consultation, to influence policy making at
EU, Member State and regional level, and to help design the
financial instruments for the new generation of funding programmes
(2014-2020).<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
<br>
Davyth Hicks<br>
<br>
Dr. Davyth Hicks<br>
Eurolang / Secretariat for the European Parliament Intergroup for<br>
Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages.</span><br>
<br>
On 29/08/2011 16:32, Harold Schiffman wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAB7VSRDY4N_NetAvY+cFFnOhDLS4RqO6QsVConAaEJKx5WSL_w@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">“Education and public services must go multilingual” recommends EU Platform
Posted on August 26, 2011 by Eilidh MacDonald
Following on from a previous post on the Language Rich Europe blog in
May, the EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism (CSPM) has now
published its policy recommendations to the European Commission,
member states and regional authorities with this advice:
Education and public services must go multilingual to boost
Europe’s language skills, sustain Europe’s economies and cater for
increasingly diverse societies
According to the CSPM there are still unacceptable gaps in support for
multilingualism and language learning throughout the EU and even where
good policies exist, implementation is often inadequate. To help
combat this, the platform recommends strategies including making
plurilingual education (“mother tongue” plus 2 other languages) the
norm; strengthening learning support for immigrants; and improving
language skills of public services across Europe.
Uwe Mohr, Chairperson of the Civil Society Platform on
Multilingualism, explains:
only as multilinguals can we fully enjoy the benefits of our
culturally and linguistically diverse Europe and live a richer, more
interesting and more successful life in the Europe of the future.
Multilingualism is seen as crucial to the preservation and
accessibility of the common European cultural heritage and the CSPM
identifies translation as playing an important role in this. The
platform therefore also recommends that the working conditions of
translators be substantially improved, with sound degree programmes
and opportunities for mobility.
The CSPM, chaired by EUNIC Brussels, was set up in 2009 by the
European Commission to promote multilingualism in Europe in the areas
of culture, media and non-formal education. It consists of 29 selected
member organisations which are all committed to promoting
multilingualism and operating at a trans-national or European-wide
level. There are plans for the platform to continue its work beyond
this project. As Mohr states:
Europe needs to develop a language policy that monitors language
use and ensures that languages are treated equally. We also highly
recommend that the Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism be
continued on a permanent basis to act as an instrument of dialogue
between the EU policy level on the one side and the national,
regional, and local language policy levels and social reality on the
other side.
Nine members of the CSPM have committed to setting up an on-line
Language Observatory to advise policymakers in designing and
implementing successful policies for multilingualism. As part of the
European Commission funded project Poliglotti4.eu, the observatory
will launch in the autumn and will conduct research and capture and
disseminate good practice.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://languagerichblog.eu/2011/08/26/education-and-public-services-must-go-multilingual-recommends-eu-platform/">http://languagerichblog.eu/2011/08/26/education-and-public-services-must-go-multilingual-recommends-eu-platform/</a>
</pre>
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