Community Program Multilingualism in Europe - Issues to Be Addressed - Case Study Example

Running head: Community Program Community Program [Writer’s Name] [Institution’s Name] Community Program Issues to be addressed A report is written on a topic of ‘Multilingualism in Europe’, a campaign that is carried out by the topic of LANGUAGES OF EUROPE ON THE EDGES, (multilingualism intercultural awareness and European citizenship). The mentioned topic talks about multilingualism and describes what a powerful and comprehensives strategy could be for multilingualism in the European Union. The topic discusses the recent and current developments that have been taking place in and around the Union and in the member states. Other than this is a discussion about the societies and their implications for the issue of multilingualism, the strategies for the promotion of the learning of languages and the raising of awareness and enhancing motivation towards the learning of languages. Another area discussed is the Regional and minority language and also Interpretation and translation. The role media in promoting languages in so many different ways is presented. The next topic COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (high level group on multilingualism). This topic presents a discussion of the roles can the UK and the English language play in the development of multilingualism. The objectives of the research are given and the strategic outcomes are discussed. The research issues which have to be explored and fed into debate are discussed along with there being a mention of the target groups. There is the creation of potential partners/networks partners/ event participants from other networks by means of previous regional projects. Both of the topics are of same nature but the things and issues being discussed in them have been discussed differently. Effects of political and economic systems The public and private sectors and the civil society at local, national, regional and international levels work to provide the necessary resources and take the necessary measures to alleviate language barriers. They also work for promoting human interaction by encouraging the creation and processing of, and access to, educational, cultural and scientific content in all suitable forms. This is necessary for ensuring that all cultures can express themselves and has access to in all languages, including the indigenous ones. Political and international organizations usually encourage and support capacity-building for the production of local and indigenous content on the Internet and all other sources for better communication. Member of States formulate appropriate national policies on the crucial issue of language survival in cyberspace, designed to promote the teaching of languages, including mother tongues. International support and assistance to developing countries should be strengthened and extended to facilitate the development of freely accessible materials on language education in electronic form and for the enhancement of human capital skills in this area. Member of States, international organizations and information and communication technology industries encourage collaborative participatory research and development on, and local adaptation of, operating systems, search engines and web browsers with extensive multilingual capabilities, online dictionaries and terminologies. They support international cooperative efforts with regard to automated translation services accessible to all, as well as intelligent linguistic systems such as those performing multilingual information retrieval, summarizing/abstracting and speech understanding, while fully respecting the right of translation of authors. UNESCO, in cooperation with other international organizations, should establish collaborative online observatory on existing policies, regulations, technical recommendations, and best practices relating to multilingualism and multilingual resources and applications, including innovations in language computerization. How these programs address the regarding issue In the following programs issue that is arising is related to the so many languages spoken in one region or country. As dealing with so many languages there could be some problems and some advantages as well. In the research the issues are addressed in a way what actually is multilingualism its scope, trends, recommendations, and maintenance of languages in different situations What is the issue of the status of regional or minority languages? Towards a comprehensive strategy for multilingualism in the European Union. Multilingualism has been part of Community policy, legislation and practices from the time of the Treaties of Rome. In the early days, it was exclusively associated with the language regime put in place for the European institutions, including their contacts with authorities and citizens in the Member States. The very first regulation adopted by the Council of the European Economic Community (15 April 1958) confirmed the equality of the official state languages of the Member States and their status as official and working languages of the European institutions.1 This principle was retained at each accession; it can only be changed by a unanimous vote of the Council. The Council of Europe wants every European citizen to have a command of their mother tongue plus two additional languages. EU Commissioner of multilingualism Leonard Orban states “speaking many languages makes businesses and citizens more competitive and more mobile” (European Commission, n.d.). The European position is clear and well articulated – and evokes strong reactions both for and against. Why the diversity of views? How good is the dialogue between diverse groups? Are lessons being learned? David Graddol claims in the British Council published English Next: “As global English makes the transition from ‘foreign language’ to basic skill, it seems to generate an even greater need for other languages” (China Daily, 2006). Michael Byram, Professor of Education at Durham University and language policy advisor to the Council of Europe, draws out implications for the teaching of languages: “In addition to raising competitiveness and mobility, language teaching should support the development of intercultural awareness, tolerance, social inclusion and a European identity” (British Council, 2007). The European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 seeks to deal with these among other issues. All this implies new roles for language teaching amidst demands for further education reform across Europe. Assumptions, values and theories The UK has extensive experience in dealing with social and educational aspects of minority and migrant languages. As English is often the first foreign language taught, it can be a starting point and foundation for the learning of other languages. Thanks to the role of English as a global language, the teaching of English is relatively advanced in its methodology. Language professionals therefore have expertise to offer to the debate on how to develop coherent language curricula and materials for all languages (including mother tongue). Language teaching and learning approaches of the future will increasingly have to deliver general transferable language learning strategies, intercultural awareness, citizenship preparation, soft skills etc. The UK has expertise to offer in these areas. The UK is increasingly involved in the development of language policy at a European level (and is more committed than many realize). The UK is strongly aware of issues around the promotion and integration of minority and migrant languages, including Arabic, and is well placed to contribute to both policy and professional debate. One issue is to explore how issues relating to multilingualism are dealt with in communities and in language education in countries across Europe plus Russia and neighbouring countries including in Africa and the Middle East. Another is to offer European networks and institutions a platform for presenting and dovetailing their work and developing visions for future policy. Also, there is to be brought about new dimensions to the debate by involving professionals from diverse fields including language policy, language learning, intercultural awareness and citizenship. After the Maastricht Treaty (1992) the most important part of the EU’s educational policy was promoting language education and personal multilingualism, together with emphasizing on linguistic variances. In the nineties the support of the community had been mainly on educating them about the official languages; however, this century has perceived that there has been introduced education policy that seeks for the promotion of the education of each of the language, that include local, minority, migrant and the globally important languages. Furthermore, an education about the foreign languages is not just seen to be of benefit to citizens but it is also seen as being particularly important for the Lisbon aims of economic expansion as well as social cohesion. This policy acquired a lot of momentum on the first day of the year 2007 as on this day “Multilingualism” was made a distinct portfolio and the assignment was given to a new Commissioner, Mr Leonard Orban. Considering the lately developments regarding the usage of languages in writing among the organizations and the member states or nationals a very important aspect to be taken into account is the Article 2 of the Regulation: “Documents which a Member State or a person subject to the jurisdiction of a Member State sends to institutions of the Community may be drafted in any one of the official languages selected by the sender. The reply shall be drafted in the same language” (Duthel, 2008: 53). In view of the High Level Group the formation of a profile regarding the multilingualism is not just the uniting, under a single Commissioner, of each of the Commission facilities tackling with multilingualism in some manner, plus greater than simply an acknowledgement of the interdependence of different types of multilingual performances. Eventually, it emphasizes on the flat characteristic of multilingualism that is, its relevant nature regarding a huge variety of policy areas, particularly the policy areas that exist at the core of Lisbon programme. Criteria for evaluating the programs’ success The criteria which will be used to evaluate the success of the following program need to raise awareness. Individuals need to be encouraged in becoming open in regard to the cultures plus the viewpoints of the others. Their cognitive talents and also the mother tongue skills should be enhanced so that they have the advantage of working or studying in some other member states. The Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning identifies “Communication in foreign languages” is one of eight key competences and the aims of education are “personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability in a knowledge society” (Penalvo, 2008: 91). Parents should firmly believe that the requirement of every child of the current century is to gain a good hand over English. If the current trends are taken into consideration it is to be seen that the difficulty would rise regarding the making predictions of the individual’s careers. This is the precise reason due to which the education and learning of multiple languages is seen to be a significant part of maintainable employability. The experience of educating oneself regarding the multiple languages as well as competence in those language make up a firm basis for educating oneself about more languages in case of a requirement to do so. Reference British Council. (2007). Languages for Europe: ‘on the edges’. [Online] Available at: http://www.britishcouncil.pl/pdf/LfE%20project%20draft%2021Nov07.pdf [Accessed 09 August 2009] Chain Daily. (2006). Global spread of English poses problems for UK. [Online] Available at: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243850.html [Accessed 09 August 2009] Duthel, H. (2008). European Union: 'Cosa Nostra'. Lulu.com. European Communities. (2007). Commission of the European Communities. High Level Group on Multilingualism. [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/doc/multireport_en.pdf [Accessed 09 August 2009] Orban, L. (n.d.). Multilingualism - Many people speaking many languages. [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/orban/index_en.htm [Accessed 09 August 2009] Penalvo, F. J. G. (2008). Advances in E-Learning: Experiences and Methodologies. Idea Group Inc (IGI). Read More