European Day of Languages - 26. September
A language is fundamentally a means of communication, organised according to rules and conventions. The rules are often flexible - languages contain many irregularities and exceptions - and languages consequently go through a constant process of change.
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Today we would like to remind you why to learn a second, a third language and why work with languages. The Association has been working on promoting languages since its beginning. In our work we have witnessed a lot of problems when it comes to organizing courses of other foreign languages besides English. We hope we will be able to run all the different language courses again, as soon as we become financially independent.
The second problem we would like to draw your attention to is the problem of court interpreters. In the Sarajevo and Federation area there is no court interpreter for the Greek language. In whole Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are no court interpreters for Slovak, Latin, Croatian and Chinese. We mention only the languages that we received requests for, but what about all the other (at least European) languages…
European Day of Languages is the official day of languages in 47 European countries; first celebrated in 2001. We have done a lot of things on the promotion of multilingualism and language diversity in Europe. For little languages like Bosnian, this is optimistic.
On the websites of the Council of Europe, you can find different materials connected with language. An important idea of all projects is lifelong learning. It is true that children acquire languages easier, but it is also true that the second foreign language is easier than the first one. We have chosen two treats from the Internet for you.
Meet others, think differently, enhance your abilities and skills… through language.
on-line sources:
European Day of Languages, European Commission
"How you can learn languages", PDF guide
Download the European Day of Languages logo for promoting
European Day of Languages, Council of Europe
How many ways can you say 'hello'?, Christian Duckworth
Does anyone know how old the seven-day week actually is?, Petru Dumitru
International Mother Tongue Day - 21. February
Did you know that, since 1999, the 21st February is the International Mother Language Day... HINA reports, KIS relays:
"The protection of cultural differences is seen, among other things, in language diversity and respecting the language of the immigrants”, repor from the UN organization for education, science and culture UNESCO, which made it possible to celebrate the 21. February as the International Mother Language Day.
"Different languages and their complex interrelationship when it comes to identity, their interweaving, communication, integration into society, education and development, reveal a strategic importance for all the people of our planet” UNESCO reports.
The General Assembly of the United Nations declared 2008. to be the International year of languages. According to UNESCO data, more than 50 percent of the known 6,700 languages spoken in the world today, might soon completely be extinct, and 96 percent of them are only used by 4 percent of the world population, states France presse.
"With the gradual extinction of languages, the cultural diversity and fortune are gradually reduced. Concerning this fact, we would have to start promoting multilingualism in schools as a part of regional and national language politics” UNESCO reports.
Unesco also raises questions of the immigrants into the Western countries.
"In order to preserve the rights of children to different languages, European countries should be given new guidelines, and we think this is necessary for maintaining the social communities and the positive atmosphere in the society.” the document states. The case of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is mentioned as a positive example; in 2000. the people were given a possibility to choose which language they wanted to be taught in schools: Turkish, Tamil, Arabic, Spanish and Russian.
International Translators' Day- 30. September
September 30 is International Translators' Day, and the International Federation of Translators has chosen to make "Rights of the Translator" its theme for the day:
The right to express oneself in one's language. The right to be served in one's language. The right to information.
The right to culture. The right to knowledge. The right to a fair trial. The right to legal aid. These rights, now known as human rights, could not be respected if no translator was present.
Because in fact, what rights are granted to the translator? From the simple reasonable deadline in order to complete professional work, to copyright and the right to treatment equal to that of the person being translated, his/her rights remain abused to varying degrees in countries worldwide. This abuse ranges from non-recognition of professional training in better off countries, to prosecution for the translation of a disputed author in other countries, and even lack of adequate protection in a war zone. So vital, yet, a translator is taken for granted, once introduced .when he not being criticised!
The International Federation of Translators is a world federation of professional associations grouping translators, interpreters and terminologists. It has 115 members in over fifty countries and thus represents over 60,000 professionals.
