2001: the European Year of Languages?

The European Commission is proposing that 2001 should be the European Year of Languages. The central message will be that learning foreign languages opens the door to understanding other cultures and to improving career prospects. Language skills make it easier to take full advantage of European citizenship, including living and working in other EU countries. A key theme of the year will be the celebration of linguistic diversity. The aim is not merely to encourage people to learn widely-spoken languages such as English. To live among or to have successful contacts with people requires a knowledge of their language and their culture. Mastering a range of languages is also important in career terms. Employers can find plenty of people who speak English. The European Year will complement existing Community activities supporting language learning. The new Socrates programme includes this under different headings. For example, Comenius (school education) provides measures for the initial or further training of language teachers and backing for language-learning projects based on exchanges between school classes.