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All News : 2011

December
November
October
September
August
July
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May
April
March
February
January

December ^

Duolingo: translating the Web for free

Posted : 15 December 2011

A large part of the contents on the Web is only available in one language, thus excluding those users who don't understand it. Would there be a way to get 100 million people translating these pages into every major language for free?

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Council adopts conclusions on language competences to enhance mobility

Posted : 02 December 2011

EU Education Ministers took a firm stand on languages at their latest meeting in Brussels on 28 November.

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November ^

Speak to the future – the campaign for languages in the UK

Posted : 25 November 2011

A new campaign for languages – promoting language learning in all phases of education and addressing the shortage of specialist linguists in the UK – is gathering pace. Speak to the future has strong support from the languages community and is increasingly raising awareness in business, government and public circles.

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Erasmus for All: 5 million in line for EU funding

Posted : 23 November 2011

Up to 5 million people, almost twice as many as now, could get the chance to study or train abroad with a grant from Erasmus for All, the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport proposed by the European Commission.

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Expolingua Language Fair

Posted : 22 November 2011

This year's Expolingua in Berlin attracted more than 13 000 visitors.

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Don't insist on English!

Posted : 22 November 2011

longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan makes a passionate defense of translating and sharing ideas.

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REAL network for European language teachers associations starts off

Posted : 22 November 2011

A new umbrella organisation for language teachers associations was launched officially in Sèvres, France on 7-8 November 2011. The objective of the network is to become the voice of language teachers in Europe, providing them with a forum for exchange and debate, training opportunities and political representation at European and national level.

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October ^

Languages through Lenses @ PRIX EUROPA 2011: And the winner is…

Posted : 27 October 2011

15 projects were nominated for the 2011 competition of art school students. Their task was to make 90-second short films to show the many facets of multilingualism in Europe.

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Young translators' competition in Hungary: The best of

Posted : 24 October 2011

On the occasion of this year's European Day of Languages the national body in charge of EU education and training programmes in Hungary launched a "Translation – distortion" competition for schools.

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European Job Days, Brussels October 2011

Posted : 17 October 2011

Language skills were high on the agenda at this year's Brussels job fair organised by the European Commission and EURES, the European network for employment.

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What languages are you learning in eTwinning?

Posted : 13 October 2011

What languages are you using in eTwinning? How do your pupils learn languages on the platform? Learn about how teachers see their relationship with languages in eTwinning.

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Ready, study, go!

Posted : 12 October 2011

Would you like to explore language learning issues with your peers in other European countries? Do you wish to learn more about education and training policy and practice across Europe? Then perhaps it’s time to participate in the study visits programme for education and vocational training specialists and decision-makers.

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Languages for a successful career and an accomplished life

Posted : 07 October 2011

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the European Day of Languages in style, some 400 European and national policy-makers, educators, professional linguists and teachers met in Warsaw on 28 and 29 September to debate the role language competences can play for professional and social success.

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Latin et Grec ancien: B.a.-ba des langues contemporaines?

Posted : 06 October 2011

Alea jacta est, carpe diem, sine qua non ou ex æquo, vous connaissez probablement toutes ces expressions mais savez-vous quelle en est l'origine?

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Piccolingo awards 2011

Posted : 06 October 2011

The town of Monmouth wins Piccolingo award for young children's language learning

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September ^

How do you spell it? JRC-Names has the answer

Posted : 29 September 2011

Čajkovskij and Tchaikovsky: is it the same person? NATO and OTAN: are we talking about the same organisation? Many doubts will be cleared with JRC-Names, the new software for automatic name recognition developed by the JRC.

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TRANSPOESIE - one poem, one trip, how many journeys?

Posted : 28 September 2011

For the 2011 celebration of European Day of Languages, EUNIC in Brussels and its member institutes, in cooperation with the Brussels public transports, are bringing European poetry into the city metro system.

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European Day of Languages blows out ten candles

Posted : 12 September 2011

Every year, on or around 26 September, we celebrate the languages spoken in Europe.

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Juvenes Translatores

Posted : 09 September 2011

Registration is now open for the fifth translation contest for secondary school pupils all over Europe.

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August ^

Translate your videos

Posted : 30 August 2011

As web-based video is becoming more and more popular, see how you can use easy online tools to make your videos multilingual for everyone to enjoy.

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Literary translations funded in 2011

Posted : 29 August 2011

Nearly 500 works of fiction for close to 2.8 million Euros will be translated this year with the support of the Culture Programme. The highest numbers of successful applicants came from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia (representing respectively 99, 68 and 55 works of literature).

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Volunteering for languages

Posted : 09 August 2011

If you ever live abroad for any time, you'll probably be interested in meeting the locals. Clearly, speaking their language would be a great first step. That was the aim of the EU-financed VoLANGteer scheme between 2008 and 2010.

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Making integration a win-win situation

Posted : 08 August 2011

EU citizens and migrants alike agree that integration requires language skills, employment, respect for the local culture and an unambiguous legal status.

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July ^

Wanted on the labour market: language and communication skills

Posted : 20 July 2011

How to improve the language skills of the European workforce? That is the common question which a governmental experts' group and the so called Business Platform for Multilingualism were both looking to answer. Both working groups set up by the Commission have recently published their findings.

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Promoting languages in Europe

Posted : 18 July 2011

The Civil Society Platform to Promote Multilingualism was set up in 2009 to help achieve the objectives of Communication 2008/566 on 'Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment pdf - 79 KB

[79 KB] '

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Learning languages is a child's play – Commission publishes orientations for pre-primary education

Posted : 12 July 2011

Foreign languages are not necessarily a boring, difficult subject. On the contrary, there are plenty of funny ways of acquiring skills in other languages through games and non formal activities. After all, this is the way we all learned our first language!

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Come closer, neighbour!

Posted : 11 July 2011

In Europe, there are roughly 70 country borders. Among those, 25 are language borders. Through eTwinning, many schools are crossing these borders by learning each other’s languages.

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June ^

The 2011 EU Presidencies and their languages: Hungarian-Polish relay

Posted : 20 June 2011

On 1 July 2011 Poland succeeds to Hungary at the Presidency of the European Union. To mark this occasion, the European Commission and the Polish Institute in Budapest are organising a round table to discuss the implications of EU membership on Polish and Hungarian linguists and other professionals working with languages.

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Launch of Lingu@net Worldwide

Posted : 14 June 2011

The new Lingu@net Worldwide website was launched at the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid on May 25.

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Together stronger: Regional and minority language speakers benefit from networking on a pan-European level

Posted : 01 June 2011

The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity scored high in the evaluation of the European Commission of its activities over the last three years.

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May ^

Elever votre enfant bilingue à l'aide de DULALA

Posted : 23 May 2011

Par le biais de différentes activités (groupes de jeux, groupes de parole, formations…), l'association DULALA (D'Une Langue A L'Autre) propose un accompagnement aux familles bilingues.

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Internet users prefer websites in their own language

Posted : 11 May 2011

European businesses have to translate their websites if they want to reach out to other countries. This is one of the main lessons that can be learnt from the Eurobarometer survey "User language preferences online".

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UPDATED ! Des musiciens accordés avec les vainqueurs du concours Tongue Stories!

Posted : 10 May 2011

Les célèbres violoncelliste David Cohen et chanteur Dani Klein partagent leurs expériences d'apprentissage des langues étrangères pendant la remise des prix aux vainqueurs du concours 'Tongue Stories' le 10 mai 2011 à Bruxelles.

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Best of Tongue Stories – LIVE!

Posted : 05 May 2011

On Tuesday, 10 May 2011, the twenty-eight national winners of the Tongue Stories competition will receive their awards in Brussels.

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EU-China Multilingualism Conference

Posted : 05 May 2011

During the European Youth Week, the first-ever EU-China Multilingualism Conference will take place in Brussels on 19 May 2011.

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April ^

A la recherche d'informations sur l'EMILE ? Le réseau Cascade CLIL répond à vos questions

Posted : 15 April 2011

Vous êtes enseignant, chercheur, formateur, ou autre… vous voulez en savoir plus sur la l'enseignement de matières par l'intégration d'une langue étrangère (EMILE-CLIL), le site du réseau Cascade CLIL est fait pour vous !

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Today: Award ceremony of the Young Translators' Contest

Posted : 07 April 2011

The 27 national winners of the Juvenes Translatores ("Young Translators") contest will receive their awards in Brussels today.

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Today: Award ceremony of the Young Translators' Contest

Posted : 07 April 2011

The 27 national winners of the Juvenes Translatores ("Young Translators") contest will receive their awards in Brussels today.

[More]

Lingua franca: Chimera or reality? – New study on the impact of English

Posted : 06 April 2011

Globish, International English, World English, English as a Lingua Franca, … expressions which are appearing more and more often in the media and academia, not to mention in everyday conversation.

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Do you speak several languages with your children? Share your experience!

Posted : 01 April 2011

"Multilingual Family", a website set up by a dynamic French mum living in the UK, enables parents speaking several languages to exchange tips and experience on bringing up children.

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March ^

Cluj-Napoca wins Piccolingo award for children's early language learning

Posted : 29 March 2011

Cluj-Napoca in Romania was named today as the winner of the first-ever 'Piccolingo in Action' contest, which promotes foreign language learning by pre-school children.

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Japan seeks people who speak foreign languages

Posted : 24 March 2011

The experts' network Gerson Lehrman Group reports on the urgent need for language services in the aftermath of the recent earthquake

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La musique et les langues: deux plaisirs en un

Posted : 15 March 2011

Durant le dernier salon de l'éducation Didacta à Stuttgart (Allemagne) fin février 2011, les visiteurs ont eu l'occasion de découvrir le projet "Le Portefeuille européen de la Musique: une manière créative de découvrir les Langues" ("European Music Portfolio: A Creative Way into Languages").

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BBC's "Lingo Show" helps make teaching languages to children easy!

Posted : 11 March 2011

Cbeebies programme the Lingo Show introduces pre-schoolers to different languages by having them help prepare for the "Big Bug Show": decorating the stage in Welsh, dressing up the bugs in Spanish, feeding them in Chinese...

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Pour l'apprentissage des langues, les plus doués ce sont les bébés

Posted : 07 March 2011

Durant une conférence organisée par TED, Patricia Kuhl, spécialiste reconnue des questions d'apprentissage des langues et de développement cérébral, explique pourquoi les bébés sont beaucoup plus doués que leurs aînés pour l'apprentissage des langues.

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Language skills can help the smallest companies survive

Posted : 04 March 2011

The European Commission has published the report of a study on future skill needs in micro and craft (-type) companies.

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February ^

CELAN – Promoting languages for business

Posted : 18 February 2011

CELAN, the "Network for the Promotion of Language Strategies for Competitiveness and Employability" has just started its two-year work to encourage dialogue between the business community and language practitioners.

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A coffee, un caffè, einen Kaffee, proszę.

Posted : 10 February 2011

Do you enjoy meeting people from all over the world and speak another language? Have you just arrived in a foreign country and are you looking for contacts? A Language café may be then the right place for you.

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European Language Label: And the winners are...

Posted : 04 February 2011

Among the numerous projects vying for the European Language Label, seven will be awarded this prestigious prize!

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Ahlan wa sahlan - welcome in the Arab world!

Posted : 03 February 2011

Hayya Bina is an online language course designed for Europeans who want to learn Arabic. It allows you to reach a beginners' level at your own pace and learn more about the culture of the Arab world.

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January ^

Look who's talking – the secret of polyglot birds

Posted : 28 January 2011

Did you know that the ambition of speaking foreign languages is not only shared by humans? Veterinaries of a US pet care website explain why and how birds learn different languages.

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麻烦你讲慢一点 - Please speak more slowly

Posted : 20 January 2011

With the help of the website ChineseCom, you can learn the necessary basics of the Chinese language and culture.

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The rise of Chinese, Turkish and Arabic

Posted : 10 January 2011

More and more translation and interpreting students enrol for Chinese, Turkish and Arabic. In Brussels alone, there are over 300 students currently registered for courses in one of these three languages.

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Anglais: à consommer avec modération

Posted : 06 January 2011

Oxford ou Harvard, ces universités font rêver des centaines d'étudiants. Mais pour ceux qui essuient un refus, les formations données en anglais dans les universités d'Europe continentale apparaissent comme un heureux palliatif. Toutefois, est-ce bien vrai?

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