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Recommendation 1539 (2001) Final version
European Year of Languages
1. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes
the European Year of Languages 2001, an initiative of the Council
of Europe taken up by the European Union. It recalls in this respect
its own Recommendation
1383 (1998) on linguistic diversification and its reports
on minority languages.
2. The Assembly fully supports the objectives of the Year, which
is intended to raise public awareness of the need to protect and
promote Europe’s rich linguistic heritage. It is also aimed at achieving
public recognition of the fact that each language has unique value,
and that all languages are equally valid as modes of expression
for those who use them.
3. The Assembly welcomes the fact that the European Year of Languages
is not just the year of European languages and that it advocates
receptiveness to the whole world, including all the languages and
cultures represented on the European continent
4. A central focus of the campaign is the development of plurilingualism,
which should be understood as a certain ability to communicate in
several languages, and not necessarily as perfect mastery of them.
The Year also provides an opportunity to emphasise that all people
can and should have the chance to learn languages throughout their
lives. The European Language Portfolio, officially launched by the
Council of Europe this year, will enable each citizen to keep a
record of and maximise the language skills (including partial skills)
that he or she has already acquired and will continue to acquire,
both within and outside the formal education system
5. All have the right to speak their own mother tongue and to
learn other languages of their choice; the ability to exercise this
right freely is a prerequisite for personal and career development,
the mobility of people and ideas, and the promotion of dialogue,
tolerance, understanding and mutual enrichment of peoples and cultures.
Communication skills in other languages are essential in order to
respond to cultural, economic and social changes in Europe.
6. The choice of languages learned is strongly influenced by
economic and geopolitical factors. However, the Assembly is convinced
that the process of choosing should not be based entirely on this
type of consideration and recalls in that regard the Committee of
Ministers Declaration on cultural diversity. States should demonstrate
their political will and continue to implement cultural and language
policies aimed at developing plurilingualism and protecting all
languages spoken in their territories from the risk of extinction
7. Linguistic diversity has many facets, from the protection
of minority languages, many of which are dying out, to the advantage
of learning the languages of neighbours and neighbouring cultures
and the protection of culture and cultural works in all European
languages in the context of globalisation. The Assembly hopes that the
Year will act as a stimulus for the development of language policies
encouraging, above all, cultural and linguistic diversity and promoting
the integration of minorities and immigrants, social cohesion in
general and human rights
8. The Assembly encourages national parliaments to pay greater
attention to language issues by holding special debates on the subject
and urging their members to table parliamentary questions.
9. The Assembly notes that 26 September 2001 has been designated
European Day of Languages and will make its own contribution to
the Year on that occasion.
10. Accordingly, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers:
10.1. organise a European
Day of Languages each year in order to pursue the aims of the Year,
as they are essentially long-term objectives;
10.2. review the many interesting initiatives designed to promote
and improve language learning that have been the direct or indirect
result of the Year, with a view to continuing to develop them and
report back on this to the Assembly;
10.3. implement cross-sectoral projects on linguistic and cultural
diversity, concerning, for instance, the future development of European
language cultures in the context of globalisation and the role of language
policies in furthering social cohesion and inter-ethnic tolerance;
10.4. encourage member states to protect and promote regional,
minority or lesser used languages in order to guarantee linguistic
and cultural diversity and to prevent their extinction, in particular
by urging member states to sign and ratify the European Charter
for Regional or Minority Languages;
10.5. urge member states parties to the European Cultural Convention
that have not yet become part of the Enlarged Partial Agreement
on the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz to do so as soon
as possible;
10.6. urge the Joint Council, the Advisory Council, the European
Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and the Programming Committee
of the Directorate of Youth and Sport, to reinstall “courses in languages
and intercultural learning” for European youth leaders in the European
Youth Centres’ regular programme of activities.
11. The Assembly also recommends that the Committee of Ministers
call on member states:
11.1. to maintain
and develop further the Council of Europe’s language policy initiatives
for promoting plurilingualism, cultural diversity and understanding
among peoples and nations;
11.2. to encourage all Europeans to acquire a certain ability
to communicate in several languages, for example by promoting diversified
novel approaches adapted to individual needs and encouraging the use
of the European Language Portfolio;
11.3. encourage the relevant institutions to use the Common
European Framework of Reference drawn up by the Council of Europe
to develop their language policies, so as to ensure the quality
of language teaching and learning and improve international co-ordination
11.4. to pursue the objectives set out in Assembly Recommendation 1383 (1998) on
linguistic diversification, and in particular the acquisition of
satisfactory skills in at least two European or world languages
by all school-leavers and diversification of the range of languages
offered, which should meet the needs of personal, national, regional
and international communication.