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| Mercator Education: call for minimum standards for education in regional or minority languages |
The European rules on the teaching of minority languages need to become much clearer according to the findings of a conference held in Ljouwert, Friesland, on Multilingualism and Language Learning, and organised by Mercator Education. The Frisian minister for education, Bertus Mulder, pleaded for clear European standards for education in minority languages as an addition to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
“Good education in minority languages means that the teachers have to be well trained and that the inspectorate for education also pays attention to the teaching of minority languages'', Mulder explains. “Clear standards and guidelines might help us to move forward.''
At the end of this month Mulder will present the report 'Development of Minimum Standards for Education in Regional or Minority Languages' at the plenary meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRAE) of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. After this meeting the report will be forwarded to the Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe. If the report is accepted it will help to clarify what it takes to offer 'a substantial part' of the education in a minority language and what a state should do to meet the requirements after ratifying the charter.
At the conference in Ljouwert civil servants, scientists, politicians and language activists from 22 linguistic communities from across Europe discussed the findings in the report.
“We have been working with the Charter for ten years, and it is about time to make the articles on education more specific'', says Mulder. “Many states have ratified the article that 'a substantial part' of primary education should be given in the minority language. But what does that mean - a substantial part? And which are the problems we have to face in order to have a substantial part of our education in the minority language? When the Netherlands ratified the minister believed that the Netherlands fulfilled this demand, while many schools in Friesland only taught Frisian for one hour a week!'' One hour weekly is far from 'a substantial part' in the view of Mulder, one day a week would be better as a minimum standard. “There should be continuity in the teaching of minority languages and the language should also be used in the teaching of other subjects.''
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| Communication from the Commission to the Council |
Framework for the European survey on language competences
1. INTRODUCTION
Multilingualism is a core value in Europe. It is part of what makes Europe unique and
contributes to the richness of its culture and society. Learning languages provides people with
better career possibilities, deeper understanding of their own and others’ cultures and
increases their mobility.
Improving language skills in Europe is also an important objective within the drive to
improve the skills and competences of the population as part of the Lisbon growth and jobs
strategy. In March 2002 in Barcelona, The European Council called for further action “...to
improve the mastery of basic skills, in particular by teaching at least two foreign languages
from a very early age.” They also “called for the establishment of a linguistic competence
indicator in 2003.”
Thus the Commission and the Member States undertake a range of different activities aimed
at promoting good policy approaches for language learning within the Education and Training
2010 strategy…
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| Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council |
INTRODUCTION
1 Multilingualism in European society
The European Union, built around the free movement of its citizens, capital, goods and
services, is now home to 450 million people from diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic
backgrounds.
The importance of encouraging societal and individual multilingualism in the European Union
was rehearsed in the Commission Communication 'Promoting Language Learning and
Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan 2004 - 2006’. The ability to understand and
communicate in languages other than their mother tongue is a basic skill that all European
citizens require. The further development of foreign language skills is important to encourage
mobility within the Union2; it will contribute to the creation of a truly European labour market
by allowing citizens to take full advantage of the freedom to work or study in another
Member State. Furthermore, a labour force with practical language and intercultural skills
enables European enterprise to compete effectively in the global market-place.
Learning and speaking other languages encourages a more open approach to others, their
cultures and outlooks. In addition, learning other languages improves cognitive skills and
strengthens mother tongue skills, including reading and writing. Learning one lingua franca
alone is not enough. The Commission’s objective is a truly multilingual European society: a
society in which the rate of individual multilingualism steadily increases until every citizen
has practical skills in at least two languages in addition to his or her mother tongue.
Heads of State and Government in Barcelona in March 2002, having set the objective of
making European Union education and training systems a world quality reference by 2010,
called “for further action … to improve the mastery of basic skills, in particular by teaching at
least two foreign languages from a very early age…”. At the same time, they called for the
“establishment of a linguistic competence indicator in 2003.” This decision arose from the
current lack of data on the actual language skills of people in the European Union and the
need for reliable systems to measure progress towards this new objective.
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| Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise |
Executive Summary
Key findings
• A significant amount of business is being lost to European enterprise as a result of
lack of language skills. On the basis of the sample, it is estimated that 11% of
exporting European SMEs (945,000 companies) may be losing business because of
identified communication barriers.
• Analysis of the findings from the survey identified a clear link between languages
and export success. Four elements of language management were found to be
associated with successful export performance: having a language strategy,
appointing native speakers, recruiting staff with language skills and using translators
and interpreters. There could be very significant gains across the whole EU economy
if all exporting SMEs employed these techniques.
• English is a key language for gaining access to export markets. However, the
survey results suggest that the picture is far more complex than the much-quoted
view that English is the world language. Russian is extensively used in Eastern
Europe as a lingua franca (along with German and Polish). French is used to trade in
areas of Africa and Spanish is used similarly in Latin America. Longer-term business
partnerships depend upon relationship-building and relationship-management. To
achieve this, cultural and linguistic knowledge of the target country are essential.
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| The main pedagogical principles underlying the teaching of languages to very young learners |
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The present report arises from the Lot 1 tender of the European Commission (EAC 89/04, April 2005) in respect of the teaching and learning of modern languages in the case of very young children across Europe. Four main outputs were specified:
i) a review of research,
ii) a practical description of good practice;
iii) a description of the main pedagogical principles underlying the teaching
and learning of languages;
iv) an assessment of the consequences of these pedagogical principles.
2. The initiative is set against the background of the Action Plan for the
promotion of language learning and linguistic diversity (2003) and other
documentation of the European Commission which strongly recommends the
teaching of modern languages to young children. This serves not only to develop
their proficiency in languages but also to help them acquire a wider sense of
belonging, citizenship and community, and to develop a clearer understanding of
their opportunities, rights and responsibilities as mobile citizens of a multilingual
Europe.
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| National minorities in Republic of Moldova |
“The state should be judged by the way it treats its minorities”
Mahatma Gandhi
Based on the 1989 census results, representatives of about one hundred nationalities are living on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, including:
1. Moldovans (64,5%)
2. Ukrainians (13.8%)
3. Russians (13%)
4. Bulgarians (1.5%)
5. Gagauzians (3.5%)
6. Jews (1.5%)
7. According to the official data, over 12000 gypsies are living in the Republic of Moldova.
Besides these groups, there are also living in Moldova Byelorussians, Poles, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Turks, Uzbeks and Chuvashs. Recently, there have appeared some other, the so-called “non-historical”, groups representing African and Arabs nations, Chechens, etc.
According to the most recent census (2004), which does not include the Transnistrian region, Moldovans constitute the majority of population (75.8%), Ukrainians - 8.4%, Russians - 5.9%, Gagauzians - 4.4%, Romanians – 2.2%, Bulgarians - 1.9% and the other ethnicities constitute about 1% of the population of Moldova. Due to the official data 78,8% of the population have declared as mother tongue the language of their ethnicity, 20,8% of the population consider a language of other ethnicity as mother tongue. Thus, among moldovans 78,4% declared Moldovan language as their mother tongue, 64,1% of Ukrainians consider Ukrainian language as mother tongue, Russian language is a mother tongue for 97,2% of ethnic Russians, 92,3% of Gagauzians stated that Gagauz language is their mother tongue, for 81,0% of ethnic Bulgarians – Bulgarian language is a mother tongue.
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