EUROPEAN DAY

OF LANGUAGES

Workad by:Mariela Lamce

Celebrated on 26 September, the European Day of Languages (EDL) is a means of promoting awareness
among the general public of the importance of language learning and protecting the linguistic heritage.

As such, the EDL is an integral part of the Language Policy Programme, even though the greater part of
the programme is usually directed at national education authorities and practitioners in this field. The
idea of organising a campaign to convince the general public of the importance of learning more
languages was born at the 1997 conference on Language learning for a new Europe, which, amongst
other things, launched the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) and the
concept of plurilingualism.

The first European Day of Languages took place on 26 September 2001 and was a flagship event of the
European Year of Languages 2001 campaign organised jointly with the European Union. Millions of
people in 45 member states took part. It was such a success that in order to satisfy the expectations of
many partners, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided, in late 2001, to make this
day an annual event to be celebrated on 26 September.

“Everybody deserves the chance to benefit from the cultural and economic advantages language skills
can bring. Learning languages also helps to develop tolerance and understanding between people from
different linguistic and cultural backgrounds”, declared the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
and the European Commissioner for Education and Culture in a joint statement at the launch of the
European Year of Languages. The importance of plurilingualism has been highlighted by numerous
awareness-raising initiatives, and by documents such as The celebration of linguistic diversity.

The objectives of the European Day of Languages are similar to those of the 2001 campaign:

 Celebrating linguistic diversity in Europe, the plurilingualism of its citizens and lifelong language
learning;
 Improving awareness of Europe’s linguistic heritage and promoting its rich diversity by
encouraging openness to different languages and cultures;
 Motivating European citizens to develop plurilingualism (the ability to use different languages,
to whatever standard) to achieve a degree of proficiency in a number of languages, including
those less widely used or taught;
 Encouraging and supporting lifelong language learning for personal development.

Co-ordinated in the Council of Europe by the Language Policy Programme and the European Centre for
Modern Languages (ECML), the European Day of Languages has had a growing impact over the years,
particularly in schools.