26
Sep
European Day of Languages
26th September is the European Day of Languages when the Council of Europe promotes plurilingualism.
There is a significant difference Between multilingualism and plurilingualism. While multilingualism means the ability to speak many languages proficiently (though not necessarily perfectly), plurilingualism is the capacity to learn more than one language as well as to value the linguistic tolerance within individuals and countries. Hence, plurilingualism means knowledge of many languages together with intercultural competence and democratic citizenship.
The Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organisation based in Strasbourg (France) announced the European Day of Languages on 6th December 2001, at the end of the European Year of Languages. Since then, various activities and events are organised by member states.
Throughout Europe, 800 million Europeans are represented in the Council of Europe's 47 member states, 28 of which are members of the European Union. Georgia became the 41st member state of the Council of Europe on 27th April 1999.
There are 225 indigenous languages in Europe and about 2/3 of them are under the threat of extinction. The most spread languages in Europe are Russian, German, Turkish, English, French, and Italian. European Day of Languages encourages people learning the second or third language, and highlights the importance of learning other languages in order to increase multilingualism and intercultural understanding.
