multilingualism
Reding: ‘Endangered languages could be saved by the internet’
Internet platforms have helped the internet to become more multilingual, and especially less widely spoken languages like Luxembourgish, Viviane Reding told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
BuzzFeed editor: Brexit calls for European media cooperation
BuzzFeed UK Europe Editor Alberto Nardelli advocates for more translation and localisation of media content, as well as more cooperation to balance out the often biased English-speaking press.
Francois Alfonsi MEP: ‘The loss of a language is always deliberate’
Languages would not disappear without a deliberate policy to marginalise them, says François Alfonsi, a Corsican MEP who has drafted a parliamentary report on endangered languages to be voted in June. For him, the EU has a role to play in protecting what he describes as “a European heritage”.
Multilingualism MEP: ‘We’re having difficulty recruiting English people’
Thirty years on, Margaret Thatcher's' education policies have had unexpected consequences on the European Parliament's translation and interpretation services. Miguel Angel Martinez Martinez, the Spanish MEP in charge of the Assembly's multilingualism policy, explains why in an interview with EURACTIV.
Poliglotti4.eu: Multilingualism observatory ready next year
By the end of 2012, the EU will have an online observatory for multilingualism, which will document best practice in implementing language policies and showcase concrete tools for solving everyday foreign language communication problems, Uwe Mohr, head of an EU project called Poliglotti4.eu, told EURACTIV in an interview.
Foreign Minister: Bilateral deals to dominate Swiss-EU relations
Bilateral agreements will remain the basis of relations between Switzerland and EU countries, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told EURACTIV ahead of hosting the thirteenth international Francophonie summit.
Culture chief: ‘Room for improvement’ in EU’s use of German
There is still room for improvement regarding the number of documents translated into German by the European institutions, despite recent growth in the number of German EU officials using their native language professionally, Margareta Hauschild, director of the Goethe-Institut Belgien, told EURACTIV in an interview.
Orban: Multilingualism ‘cost of democracy’ in EU
Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban has spoken to EURACTIV Slovakia of his conviction that the dossier will continue to be afforded "its own place" in the EU policy framework after the expiry of the European Commission's current mandate in autumn 2009.
Orban: Importance of multilingualism ‘will not diminish’
The multilingualism portfolio is too important to be sacrificed by the next European Commission, Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban said in an interview with EURACTIV Romania. As proof of this, Turkish could become the next official EU language provided that Cyprus concludes reunification talks, he indicated.
Suard: ‘Taking languages too seriously kills them’
Defending the multiplicity of languages in the EU is the best way of protecting them as taking a single language too seriously will only succeed in killing it, argues Catherine Suard of the French Institute in Sofia in an interview with EURACTIV Bulgaria.