European Day of Languages: 26 September

The European Day of Languages is celebrated annually on 26 September. The Council of Europe established the European Day of Languages in 2001 jointly with the European Union. There are 45 participating countries celebrating the diversity of languages in Europe and promoting language learning.

The objectives of the European Day of Languages are:

1. alerting the public to the importance of language learning and diversifying the range of languages learnt in order to create pluri-linguism and intercultural understanding;

2. promoting the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe, which must be preserved and fostered; and

3. encouraging lifelong language learning in and out of school, whether for study purposes, for professional needs, for purposes of mobiity, or for pleasure and exchanges.

http://edl.ecml.at

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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