Preserving, enhancing and disseminating languages

Linguistic diversity is one of the most remarkable aspects of Europe's cultural heritage, providing a source of richness for building up the Union's trade and economy.

Languages, heritage and cultural aspects
An information campaign aimed at the general public: "European Year of Languages" was organised in 2001 by the European Union and the Council of Europe. It celebrated linguistic diversity in Europe and emphasised the need, for each European, to learn languages with a view to interacting and understanding other cultures.
This campaign was not limited to the languages of Europe: sign language, national, regional and minority languages, languages of migrants and also languages of other continents were covered. This event also launched the "European day of languages", the main goal of which is to create public awareness on the importance of learning languages regardless of age.
Following the success of the European Year of Languages 2001 in general, and the first European Day of Languages in particular, September 26th has been chosen to ensure that language issues have a focal point every year.

Regional and minority languages, i.e. languages traditionally spoken by a part of the population of Member States of the European Union, are the subject of specific EU activities: a "European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages" and an information network "Mercator" receive financial support, while specific projects are geared to the promotion of regional and minority languages, including conferences, cultural events and networking.

Seeking to foster mutual knowledge of cultural works by Europeans, the Culture 2000 programme supports the translation of European 20th-century literary works: novels, plays, poetry. In the audiovisual field, the MEDIA programme encourages the subtitling of films, with a view to disseminating European audiovisual and cinematographic works more widely.

Multilingualism in the information society
Networks contribute to the opening of markets in cultural products and services, hitherto essentially national or monolingual. They also promote the dissemination of certain languages such as English, together with products and services utilising those languages, from the United States in particular.

Aimed at stimulating the development, dissemination and use of European multilingual content on global networks, the eContent programme has as one of its priorities the creation and use of multilingual digital content. Enterprises in this field are thus given support to adopt strategies taking full account of cultural and linguistic aspects.

At research level, activities developed under the User-friendly information society programme deal with "language technologies", for example, the development of machine translation and multilingual research tools.
Subsequently, the TEN-Telecom programme helps in financing the launch phases of multilingual, interactive and multimedia services throughout the Union.

Activities Architecture Visual arts Cinema and audiovisual media Dance Education and training in the arts Books Music Cultural heritage Theatre Events Events National Cultural sites	Europe in action National Cultural sites Financing Activities Preserving, enhancing and disseminating languages Linguistic diversity is one of the most remarkable aspects of Europe's cultural heritage, providing a source of richness for building up the Union's trade and economy. Languages, heritage and cultural aspects An information campaign aimed at the general public: "European Year of Languages" was organised in 2001 by the European Union and the Council of Europe. It celebrated linguistic diversity in Europe and emphasised the need, for each European, to learn languages with a view to interacting and understanding other cultures. This campaign was not limited to the languages of Europe: sign language, national, regional and minority languages, languages of migrants and also languages of other continents were covered. This event also launched the "European day of languages", the main goal of which is to create public awareness on the importance of learning languages regardless of age. Following the success of the European Year of Languages 2001 in general, and the first European Day of Languages in particular, September 26th has been chosen to ensure that language issues have a focal point every year. Regional and minority languages, i.e. languages traditionally spoken by a part of the population of Member States of the European Union, are the subject of specific EU activities: a "European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages" and an information network "Mercator" receive financial support, while specific projects are geared to the promotion of regional and minority languages, including conferences, cultural events and networking. Seeking to foster mutual knowledge of cultural works by Europeans, the Culture 2000 programme supports the translation of European 20th-century literary works: novels, plays, poetry. In the audiovisual field, the MEDIA programme encourages the subtitling of films, with a view to disseminating European audiovisual and cinematographic works more widely. Multilingualism in the information society Networks contribute to the opening of markets in cultural products and services, hitherto essentially national or monolingual. They also promote the dissemination of certain languages such as English, together with products and services utilising those languages, from the United States in particular. Aimed at stimulating the development, dissemination and use of European multilingual content on global networks, the eContent programme has as one of its priorities the creation and use of multilingual digital content. Enterprises in this field are thus given support to adopt strategies taking full account of cultural and linguistic aspects. At research level, activities developed under the User-friendly information society programme deal with "language technologies", for example, the development of machine translation and multilingual research tools. Subsequently, the TEN-Telecom programme helps in financing the launch phases of multilingual, interactive and multimedia services throughout the Union.	Europe in action Cultural cooperation Cultural industries Access to culture The culture professionals Cultural facilities Linguistic diversity Languages, opening doors to cultures Preserving, enhancing and disseminating languages International cooperation Regulatory aspects International relations Intercultural Dialogue Cultural Diversity Financing European Commission: Information Society and Media Education and Culture Agriculture Enlargement Employment and Social Affairs Environment Fisheries Regional Policy Research European Development Fund European Investment Bank
Homepage \| About this site \| Site Map \| Contact \| Advanced Search
Last update: 16-02-2007