EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 18.9.2008 
SEC(2008) 2443 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  
Accompanying document to the  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE CO MMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMI TTEE OF THE REGIONS 
 
Multilingualism: an asset for Europe  
and a shared commitment 
    
AN INVENTORY OF COMMUNITY ACTIONS IN THE FIELD OF 
MULTILINGUALISM AND RESULTS OF THE ONLINE PUBLIC 
CONSULTATION  
  
  
{COM(2008) 566 final} 
{SEC(2008) 2444} {SEC(2008) 2445} 
 
EN 2   EN TABLE OF CONTENTS 
1. Introduction: A new approach...................................................................................... 4 
2. The contribution of EU programmes and policies to multilingualism......................... 4 2.1. The follow-up of the 2005 communication " A new framework strategy for 
multilingualism" ........................................................................................................... 4 
2.2. Education and training ................................................................................................. 5 2.2.1. Common European tools............................................................................................ 11 2.3. Culture................................................................................................................... ..... 11 
2.4. The Youth in Action Programme............................................................................... 13 2.5. Active European citizenship ...................................................................................... 13 2.6. Information society .................................................................................................... 14 2.7. Research .................................................................................................................. ... 16 
2.8. Media and the audiovisual sector............................................................................... 17 2.9. Employment, social affair s and equal opportunities.................................................. 18 
2.10. Single market policy .................................................................................................. 19 2.11. Enterprise policy ........................................................................................................ 20 
2.12. External relations and development policy................................................................ 21 2.13. Justice, freedom and security ..................................................................................... 22 2.14. Communication.......................................................................................................... 24  
2.15. Health and consumer protection................................................................................. 25 2.16. Translation .............................................................................................................. ... 26 
2.17. Interpretation........................................................................................................... ... 27 
3. Studies on multingualism and the teaching of languages .......................................... 29 3.1. The Intercultural Competences Devel oped in Compulsory Foreign Languages 
Education in the European Union (LACE) ................................................................ 29 
3.2. Report on the diversity of language teaching offered in the European Union........... 30 3.3. Effects on the European Economy of Shor tages of Foreign Language Skills in 
Enterprise (ELAN)..................................................................................................... 30 
3.4. The main pedagogical principles underly ing the teaching of languages to very young 
learners ....................................................................................................................... 32 
3.5. European profile for language teacher education....................................................... 33 
 
EN 3   EN 3.6. Study on Dubbing and Subtitling Needs and Pr actices in the European Audiovisual 
Industry ...................................................................................................................... 3 5 
4. External reports .......................................................................................................... 36  
4.1. Report of the High Level Group on Multilingualism................................................. 36 
4.2. Report of the ‘Group of Intellectuals’........................................................................ 36 
4.3. Report of the Business Forum.................................................................................... 37 5. Results of the online consultation .............................................................................. 39 
ANNEX.......................................................................................................................... .......... 42 
1.1. Follow-up to the 2005 Commun ication on multilingualism ............................................. 42 
 
EN 4   EN 1. INTRODUCTION : A NEW APPROACH  
This staff working paper accompanies the communication ‘Multilingualism: an asset 
for Europe and a shared commitment’. The strategies adopted in that communication 
go beyond the ‘mother tongue plus two’ recommendations of the Barcelona Council in that they extend the scope of multilingualism policy to new areas such as the internal market, enterprise and employment. 
While the communication sets out the new policy approach on multilingualism, the 
Commission staff working paper creates a framework by mappi ng action currently 
taken in this field by the various Comm ission departments, paying particular 
attention to cross-cutting aspects of  multilingualism in the Commission, among 
stakeholder groups and among the general public . The paper also serves as a basis for 
further work in line with the new polic y approach set out in the communication. 
The policy messages in the communication rely on the findings of a number of 
studies conducted in this fi eld during the preparation pha se, which are reviewed in 
Part 3 of this paper. 
In drafting the communication, the Commi ssion also consulted widely with policy 
makers, stakeholders and, most importantl y, citizens. An online consultation held 
between 15 September and 15 November 2007, inviting organisations and 
individuals to give thei r views and expectations concerning language policy, 
attracted 2 419 replies, which the Commissi on took into consideration (see page 40). 
A summary of those replies concludes this  document. The Annex sets out the follow-
up to the first communication on multilingualism in 2005 in a synoptic table. 
2. T
HE CONTRIBUTION OF EU PROGRAMMES AND POLICIES TO MULTILINGUALISM  
2.1. The follow-up of the 2005 communication " A new framework strategy for 
multilingualism"  
The communication " A new framework strategy for multilingualism"  was the first 
step towards promoting multilingualism in a wider context. It reaffirmed the 
Commission’s commitment to multilingualism  in the European Union and set out a 
number of specific actions for the Commission and for Member States. 
Commission actions focused mainly on the following policies and sectors: education 
and training, translation, interpretation, and research and information technologies. 
Actions concerning educatio n and training ranged from supporting language teaching 
and learning through Commun ity programmes, making studies available (e.g. on 
language certification, early language learni ng, and the impact of shortages of 
language skills on the European economy) and developing the European language 
indicator. On translation and interp retation, actions including publishing a 
multilingual database (IATE), reinforcing initial training for translators and 
interpreters and launching a Languages por tal on Europa. Digital libraries and 
projects developing language technologies were the main actions carried out in the 
field of research and information technologies . More detailed information is given in 
the relevant chapters of this paper. A co mplete overview of the actions set out, their 
 
EN 5   EN state of implementation and main output is given in the Annex. An internal network 
of Commission departments was set up and r ecently upgraded into an Interservice 
Group. It provided information for this  paper, laying the foundations for 
mainstreaming multilingualism across a wider range of European policies. 
Member States were invited to send in information as part of the follow-up to the 
‘Action plan promoting language learning  and linguistic dive rsity, 2004-2006’. In 
2006-2007, 19 Member States sent in detailed  reports on the implementation of the 
Action Plan, and 17 provided additiona l information on the 2005 communication.1 
Most of the actions recommended by th e 2005 communication repeated and built 
upon recommendations in the Action Plan. The Report on the implementation of the Action Plan
2 highlighted positive results (for instance the introduction of early 
language learning, and a more consistent a pproach to language teaching and learning 
and to teacher training) a nd areas for further cooperati on (languages in vocational 
training and in adult education, groups at di sadvantage, and furthe r diversification of 
languages taught).  
Establishing national plans for multilingua lism was a new recommendation made in 
the 2005 communication. The Commission promot ed a first exchange of practice in 
this field through the Working Group on Languages, bringing together Member 
States’ representatives, in 2006.3 The two last actions  recommended by the 2005 
communication — setting up a High Leve l Group on Multilingualism and holding a 
ministerial conference on multilingualism — paved the way for the current communication, to which this paper is attached. 
2.2. Education and training 
Languages as part of education and training policy ‘Improving foreign language learning’ is on e of the specific ob jectives of the 
Education and Training 2010 work programme
 and part of the broader strategic 
objective of ‘opening up education and tr aining systems to the wider world’. The 
ability of all European c itizens to understand and use a wide range of foreign 
languages is central to the Union’s effort  to develop a more dynamic and competitive 
knowledge-based economy, to increase the nu mber and to improve the quality of 
jobs available, and to ensure that Eu ropean companies are able to compete 
advantageously in global market. In a ddition, language learni ng promotes mutual 
understanding and greater tole rance of other cultures, an d has relevance for two of 
the other objectives: developing skills for the knowledge society and supporting active citizenship, equal opport unities and social cohesion. 
This objective was further elaborated by the working group on languages, set up to 
make recommendations and exchange good practice and ideas on how to improve 
foreign language learning. It includes members appointed by Member States and 
representatives from the Council of Europe and Eurydice. Having mapped out 
developments in Member States the group concluded that ‘ if there is a growing 
                                                
 
1 http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/archive/policy/report_en.html . 
2 (COM(2007) 554 final/2. 
3 See especially the independent report by Prof Beacco at: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 
http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/archive/policy/report_en.html .  
 
EN 6   EN awareness amongst the general public of the importance of language learning, the 
perceived value of linguistic diversity in Europe is per haps less well established. The 
scene is clearly dominated by the steady in crease of English as a second language at 
European and international level, while pup ils, students, their families and even 
policy makers and authorities responsible for the educational systems do not always 
seem to fully appreciate the importance of teaching and learning additional foreign languages. The dimension of linguistic dive rsity should therefore always accompany 
all efforts aimed at stepping up language teaching and learning’ .
4 
The joint interim report approved in the Spring of 2004 recognised the social and 
economic value of linguistic skills, underl ining that Member States should, in 
particular, ‘develop coherent language polic ies, including relevant teacher training. 
Young people, their families, as well as private and public bodies, should also be 
made more aware of the advantages of learning several langua ges and preserving 
linguistic diversity.’5 
Each of the Union’s enlargements al so extended to languages, bringing new 
languages and the challenges of managing them. To cope with the unprecedented 
scope of the latest enlargement of the European Union the Action Plan 2004-2006 for 
language learning and linguistic diversity  was published. It provided the first 
comprehensive policy approach to language teaching and learning across Europe. It 
highlighted the importance of languages in  a wider and more diversified area of 
European development and progress, where the growing internal mobility and ever 
more intense exchanges within the region and with the outside world have made 
foreign languages a key competence for every citizen. 
In 2005, a framework strategy on multilingualism was published to mark the 
inclusion of multilingualism in the education and culture portfolio. Another breakthrough in relation to languages came when communication in foreign 
languages was included in the Recommendation
6 on Key Competences for Lifelong 
Learning, as one of the eight key compet ences ‘which all individuals need for 
personal fulfilment and development, ac tive citizenship, social inclusion and 
employment’.  
Through the working group on languages, in 2007, Member States reported on their 
progress in implementing the priorities of the Action Plan 2004-2006. The reports 
show encouraging results on language learni ng in our education systems. However, 
they also indicate that more work needs to be done in rela tion to language learning in 
adult education, in vocational trai ning and in higher education. 
                                                 
4 Implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/lang2004.pdf  
5 Implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/lang2004.pdf  
6 Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key 
competences for lifelong learning  that was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 
30 December 2006/L394.  
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/e n/oj/2006/l_394/l_39420061230en00100018.pdf) 
 
EN 7   EN Statistics 
In the absence of statistics on language learning, Eurydice collects quantitative and 
qualitative data on language learning thr ough its antennae in the Member States. The 
first issue of the bi-annual study ‘Key data on teaching languages at school in 
Europe’, published in January 2005 by the Eu rydice European Unit, contains 37 sets 
of data concerning the context, organisa tion, participation i n, teachers for and 
pedagogical processes of langua ge learning in Member St ates. The data collected 
refer to the academic years 2001/2002 and 2002/2003. They are based on the 
measures included in the official study pr ogrammes of the partic ipating countries and 
therefore describe the intenti ons of the competent authorities, rather than the reality 
of foreign language teaching. These data are currently being updated and will be 
available later this year ( www.eurydice.org ). 
In addition, the European Commission’s survey  and analysis service, Eurobarometer, 
has carried out two res earch projects into the language skills of  European citizens 
and their attitudes towards languages, in 2001 and 2006. 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/language s-of-europe/doc137_en.htm   
European Indicator on Language Competence 
• The political decision to develop a language indicator was taken in 2002 at the 
Barcelona European Summit. The Council underlined that speaking foreign 
languages is a basic skill which needs to  be improved by teaching at least two 
foreign languages from a very early age.  
• The European Language Indicator will s how us the general level of foreign 
language knowledge of the pupils in the Me mber States and let us see how close 
we are to achieving our objective of ma king Europe’s citizens multilingual. This 
will provide invaluable strategic information to policy makers, teachers and learners in all Member States wishing to improve the teaching and learning of 
foreign languages, thereby increasing the mobility of Europeans, and with it the competitiveness of the European Union. The framework was set out in the Commission communication adopted on 13 April 2007,
7 which proposes the 
following main topics for inclusion in the first round of the survey:  
Language skills to be tested : reading comprehension,  listening comprehension  and 
writing. The Commission will take the initiative  to develop instruments to cover a 
fourth skill, speaking , in subsequent surveys.  
Languages to be tested:  the official EU languages most taught as first and second 
languages in the European Union, namely English , French , German , Spanish  and 
Italian . The framework for testing will be made  available for all countries that wish 
to carry out tests other than in thes e five languages as national options. The 
Commission will take the initiative to ensure that the next round of the survey covers 
all of the official European langua ges taught in the European Union. 
                                                 
7 Communication from the Commission to the Council Framework for the European survey on language 
competences , COM(2007)184 final: http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/eu-language-
policy/doc124_en.htm . 
 
EN 8   EN The framework of reference : the survey will be based on an instrument measuring a 
continuum of increasing levels of competences  from level A1 (basic user) to level B2 
(independent user), in line with the scal es of the Common European Framework of 
Reference for Languages. 
Contextual data to be collected:  a questionnaire for students, teachers, school 
principles and governments will  be developed, to gather contextual information that 
will facilitate an analysis of  possible factors affecting pupi ls’ language competencies.  
Population to be tested in the survey:  pupils enrolled in the final year of lower 
secondary education (ISCED8 2), (or the second year of upper secondary education 
— ISCED 3 — if a second foreign language  is not taught in  lower secondary 
education) who are taught th e language being tested.  
Testing instruments:  both computer-based tests, us ing open source software, and 
paper and pencil tests should be made avai lable to countries participating in the 
survey. The testing instrument should permit adaptive testing. 
The Commission’s timetable for con ducting the survey is as follows: 
2008: Develop and conduct the pilot tests, obtain advice on setting up national 
coordination structures in  participating countries. 
2009: Publish interim report on the pilot phase in the first quarter, then develop the 
full sets of tests. 
2010: Hold field trials in February to  March and then fine-tune the survey. 
2011: Conduct main survey in February-March followed by processing and 
evaluation. 
2012: Present initial results and complete a detailed analysis of the findings of the 
survey. 
The Lifelong Learning Programme (2007-2013) and languages 
The Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) inte grates the various European education 
and training initiatives under a single umbre lla. With a budget of nearly €7 billion for 
the period 2007 to 2013, it replaced the fo rmer education, vocational training and e-
Learning programmes, which ended in 2006. The LLP consists of four sub-
programmes, each one addressing a specif ic education sector: Comenius (for 
schools), Erasmus (for higher education) , Leonardo da Vinci (for vocational 
education and training) and Grundtvig (f or adult education). A cross-cutting 
programme complements these four sub-progr ammes to ensure that they achieve the 
best results. This cross-cu tting programme is composed of  four key activities (KAs) 
focusing on: (a) policy cooperation, (b) languages, (c) information and 
communication technologies, and (d) effec tive dissemination and exploitation of 
project results. Finally, the Jean Monnet programme stimulates teaching, reflection 
                                                 
8 The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) designed by UNESCO. 
 
EN 9   EN and debate on the European integration pr ocess at higher education institutions 
worldwide. 
One of the specific objectives  of the Lifelong Learning Programme is to promote 
language learning and linguistic divers ity. This means proposals for language 
projects, networks and othe r language-oriented activitie s (for instance linked to 
mobility of students, teachers and worker s) can be submitted for European co-
funding under the different parts of the Programme (the sub-programmes or the 
cross-cutting programme). All languages ar e eligible under this Programme. 
Specific contributions from the different LLP sub-programmes to the promotion of 
multilingualism  
Comenius  
All the Comenius actions promote the l earning of foreign languages by school pupils 
and school staff through class exchanges, as sistantships for future teachers and in-
service teacher training. Both Comenius  multilateral projec ts and Comenius 
networks contribute to the development of language learning in schools. Comenius 
also contributes to better preparing teacher s to teach heterogeneous classes (of pupils 
from different cultural and lingu istic backgrounds, as well as  with different levels of 
ability / disability, different special needs etc.). 
eTwinning is an initiative to encourage all schools in Europe to form collaborative 
partnerships using different types of communication technol ogy. It began in January 2005 
under the eLearning Programme and is now an in tegrated part of Co menius. At European 
level, it has a Central Support Service c oordinated by the European Schoolnet., which 
manages the European eTwinning portal. .The portal, accessible in 23 languages, provides 
ideas, suggestions, ready made kits and c ontacts and is updated on a daily basis. 
http://www.etwinning.net/ww/ en/pub/etwinning/index2006.htm  
Erasmus  
Erasmus supports different language-oriente d initiatives in higher education, in 
particular multilateral projects, networks and the Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC). 
The EILC are specialised courses in the less widely used and less taught languages, 
held in the countries where these langua ges are spoken. They give Erasmus students 
visiting these countries for studies a nd placements the opportunity to study the 
language concerned for up to six weeks (w ith a minimum of 60 teaching hours) in 
preparation for their stay. Pa rticipation in EILC  has risen annually, to 4 700 students 
in 2006/2007 with over 270 courses provided in the 23 participating countries. 
Leonardo  
Linguistic preparation is an essential pa rt of Leonardo mob ility periods and all 
projects must, where appropr iate, include linguis tic and cultural preparation. Under 
the LLP, a flat-rate amount of up to €500 pe r participant can be paid for linguistic, 
cultural and pedagogical preparation. Vo cationally-Oriented Language Leaning 
 
EN 10   EN (VOLL) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) are cross-cutting 
priorities for all Leonardo projects.  
Grundtvig  
All Grundtvig actions promote the learning of  foreign languages for adults. Both in-
service training for teachers and other staff in adult education and the mobility components of the Grundtvig learning partners hips contribute to the development of 
language learning and the practising of languages with native speakers and others. Grants for language preparation fo r individuals are awarded in cases where 
language training is needed for (a) partne r(s) in a learning partnership. Language 
learning is also an important aspect of the Grundtvig multilateral projects and 
networks, which require communication through foreign languages. The new Grundtvig actions under developm ent will also promote the learning of / training in 
foreign languages for adults. 
The Key Activities (LLP cross-cutting programme) 
Every Key Activity can support language-ori ented projects and other linguistic 
activities in their specialised areas.  
The Key Activity ‘Languages’ (KAL) has a budget of roughly €12 million per year. 
It supports the following activi ties: multilateral projects aimed, inter alia , at the 
promotion of language awareness, acce ss to language learning resources and 
developing new language lear ning materials; networks in the field of language 
learning and linguistic diversity ; and other initiatives in lin e with the objectives of 
the key activity including dissemination a nd exploitation conferences, information 
campaigns and studies on language issues . 
The first LLP call for proposals (2007) 
– 22 multilateral projects, 3 networks and 1 accompanying measures project were 
selected under the Key Activity ‘Languages’ totalling €9 817 651.  
– Still in the field of languages, 8 Co menius multilateral projects, 4 Grundtvig 
multilateral projects, 2 Leonardo multilateral projects, 1 Erasmus Virtual Campuses project, 1 Erasmus Networ k, 1 KA ‘Information and Communication 
Technologies’ project and 1 KA ‘Dissemi nation and exploitation of results’ 
project were selected under the other LLP  centralised sub-programmes. The total 
budget for these 18 projects was €5 604 410.  
– An estimated €35 million more were spent on LLP decentralised actions 
(managed by the National Agencies of the Programme) linked to languages.  
More information on the LLP is available at: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  
http://ec.europa.eu/educatio n/programmes/llp/index_en.html.  
http://ec.europa.eu/education/pr ogrammes/llp/comenius/index_en.html. 
 
EN 11   EN 2.2.1.  Common European tools 
Europass  
The single Community framework for transp arent qualifications and competencies 
— Europass, established in 2006, is desi gned to encourage mobility and lifelong 
learning among students, and to clarify the qualifications of the holder for employers. 
The European Language Portfolio deve loped by the Council of Europe is 
incorporated into Europass, as is Europass mobility.  
The most important practical contribut ion to promoting language skills comes 
through the Europass portal ( http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu ), developed and run 
by Cedefop and available in 26 languages (E U+EEA+CC). In partic ular, it offers 
citizens the opportunity to complete th eir Europass CV a nd Europass Language 
Passport online, with the help of guidelines  and a tutorial. The CV includes a section 
which summarises language skills. The passport, a component of the European 
Language Portfolio, specifically allows citi zens to describe thei r language skills in 
detail. Both documents use the commo n European frame of reference for 
languages developed by the Council of Europe as a standard tool for self-assessment. 
Since February 2005, 85 000 eLanguage passports have been generated online, while 
more than 270 000 blank templates have been  downloaded to be completed offline. 
The Europass CV is of course more widespread; so far around 3 million CVs have been generated online and about 3.4 m illion blank CV templates have been 
downloaded to be completed offline. 
In the first three years since the introduc tion of Europass, the common framework for 
languages has therefore been used in about seven million Europass documents. 
2.3. Culture 
Contributing to the flowering of the culture s of the Member States, respecting their 
national and regional diversity, and bringing their common cultural heritage to the 
fore are the fundamental principles of EC cultural policies. Hence, the 
interconnection with multilingualism is an es sential condition of cultural policies and 
a powerful illustration of the cross-cutti ng dimension of the two areas. On this 
premise, a consistent effort is being made in order to ensure that the promotion of culture and cultural dive rsity, including linguistic diversity, is given due 
consideration in all regulato ry and financial decisions or proposals presented by the 
Commission. 
European Agenda for Culture 
The Commission communication A European agenda for culture in a globalising 
world  (May 2007) triggered a wider reflection on  the role of culture as a key element 
of the European integration process,  based on common values and a common 
heritage — a process which builds on cultu ral diversity and multilingualism, while 
also taking into account the cr oss-cutting role of  culture in EU policies and actions.  
Multilingualism and the promoti on of languages are addressed directly in the priority 
promoting access to culture , but also indirectly in the priorities improving the 
 
EN 12   EN conditions for the mobility of artists and other professi onals in the cultural field and 
promoting and implementing the UNESCO  Convention on the protection and 
promotion of the diversity  of cultural expressions . Their promotion and 
implementation by the Commission and Member  States addresses the protection and 
promotion of linguistic diversity as part of cultural diversity.   
Under the general priority access to culture , the Member States and the Commission 
are to continue work to digitise and pr eserve cultural material and to make it 
accessible online, with a view to setting up a common European digital library. The 
European digital library would function as a common multilingual access point to the 
collections of libraries, archives and muse ums in Europe, thereby making the most of 
digital cultural heritage and cultura l material of different types. 
Another line of action linked with multili ngualism is the work on synergies between 
culture and education to be  pursued by a new working group of Member States’ 
experts. This will cover formal, non-formal a nd informal education, including arts in 
education, and the developmen t of projects to implement  ‘cultural awareness and 
expression’, defined as a key compet ence for European citizens alongside 
communication in foreign languages and soci al and civic competencies. The work 
will be channelled into the implementation of the European Agenda for culture 
through exchange of best practice a nd peer communication, proposals for 
cooperation initiatives and policy recommenda tions, and is inherently linked to the 
objectives of the European Year  of Creativity and Innovation 2009. 
European Year of Iintercultu ral Dialogue 2008 and follow-up  
One of the key themes addressed in the European Year of In tercultural Dialogue 
2008 is the issue of multilingualism since, in  Europe, the knowledge of languages is 
essential to meeting and engaging in dial ogue with others. Th e Council Conclusions 
on intercultural competencies adopted on 21-22 May 2008 include foreign languages 
skills among the key competencies for the development of  intercultural 
competencies. The document addresses both active promotion of language learning 
(education policy) and support for translation to facilitate access to artistic expression 
in different languages (cultural policy). The Council calls for the development of a 
sustainable and cross-sectoral  approach to intercultura l dialogue, incorporating and 
supporting initiatives in the culture, e ducation, youth and audiovisual fields. 
More information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm . 
The Culture programme 
The European Commission encourages a nd supports cultural activities under the 
Culture programme (running from 2007 to 201 3). Based on Article 151 of the EC 
Treaty, the programme aims to enhance the cultural space shared by Europeans and based on common cultural values, through th e development of cooperation between 
creators, players and institutions. Over the years this programme, although small in size, has made an important contributi on to supporting cultural cooperation in 
Europe. The programme also provides support for the translation of works of fiction 
 
EN 13   EN from one European language into another.9 Community support for literary 
translation is aimed at enhancing knowledge of  the literature and literary heritage of 
other European countries by promoting th e movement of literary works between 
countries, through subsidies to publishers. 
From 2000 to 2006, Culture 2000 funded the translation of 2 149 fiction and human 
science titles. Under the new Culture Pr ogramme (2007-2013), onl y works of fiction 
are eligible, irrespective of literary genre — novels, tales, short stories, plays, poetry and comics. The works must have been publ ished already, and th ey must not have 
been previously translated into th e target language. Under the 2007 Call for 
proposals, the programme funded the tr anslation of 258 works of fiction. 
More information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm
. 
2.4. The Youth in Action Programme 
The Youth in Action Programme aims to in spire a sense of act ive citizenship and 
tolerance among young European s and to involve them in shaping the Union’s 
future. It promotes multilingualism by bringing young people of different 
nationalities and different languages together  and by giving them the opportunity to 
participate in activities outside their country of residence.  
Although Youth in Action is not a linguist ic programme, the non-formal education 
and youth projects that it mainly supports are based on trans-na tional partnerships, 
which give young people a wonderful opportunity to become acquainted with other languages and cultures.  
The use of different languages is not co mpulsory, but is strongly encouraged. 
Linguistic diversity is encour aged within the wider frame work of promoting cultural 
diversity and inter-c ultural dialogue, which is a priority of the Programme. 
More specifically, the European Volunt ary Service component of the Programme 
(Action 2) promotes the le arning of foreign languages in a highly practical way: 
young people may do voluntary work in a nother country for up to one year. 
Promoters have to ensure that volunteers receive adequate linguistic training when 
they arrive in the country.  
More information on youth policy is available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.htm
. 
More information on the Youth in Action Programme is available at: aaaaaaaaaaaaa 
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth- in-action-programme/doc74_en.htm  
2.5. Active European citizenship 
‘Europe for citizens’, the current programme  to promote active European citizenship 
and civic participation, encourages th e participation of citizens and their 
organisations from different countries in  debates and project s with a European 
                                                 
9 The languages eligible are the official languages of the eligible countries (as defined by their 
Constitution or basic  laws) plus Latin and ancient Greek. 
 
EN 14   EN dimension. The ‘Europe for citizens’ prog ramme helps promote linguistic diversity 
as it brings together European citizens of  different nationalities who speak different 
languages and gives them th e opportunity to participat e in common activities.  
Promotion of cultural and li nguistic diversity is a feat ure of the Programme across 
the board, and promoters are strongly encourag ed to take it into consideration when 
planning and implementing their projects. Th is is clearly stated in the Programme 
Guide provided to potential applicants, and applies to most actions for the whole programme period (2007-2013). Participation in projects  supported by the ‘Europe 
for citizens’ programme should indeed raise awareness of the richness of the cultural 
and linguistic environment in Europe. It should also promote mutual understanding 
and tolerance, thereby contributing to the development of a respectful, dynamic and 
multifaceted European identity.  
All projects supported under th is programme therefore direc tly or indirectly promote 
linguistic diversity. For example, almost all town twinning projects have to deal with 
the issue of languages in orde r to enable the partners to  communicate. Some projects 
take a very active approach by including training in the language of the twinned 
towns in their programme or  in the preparation. There are also good examples of 
participation in this kind of project signi ficantly raising participants’ motivation to 
learn a language as part  their normal education.  
More information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/index_fr.html
. 
2.6. Information society 
In view of the expanding online econom y and the ever-increasing information 
available in the widest array of la nguages, information and communication 
technologies (ICT) need to be language-a ware and promote content creation in 
multiple languages, while at the same time providing the means to bridge the 
language barriers. This overall goal is supported by i2010 — the policy framework 
for the information society and media — one of  the objectives of which is to create a 
Single European Information Space by ensuring seamless access to ICT-based services and improving conditions for the development of rich, multilingual content. 
EU programmes on the information society and media address sp ecific barriers to 
understanding and promote the adoption of language technologies — automatic 
solutions that bridge the online language barrier so th at information is not only 
available on the computer sc reen or mobile phon e, but is available in a language and 
format that the user understands. Language  technology can alrea dy translate content 
automatically and classify, filter and present information based on automated analysis of the content.  
Research 
EU financial support for research is  given through multi-annual framework 
programmes. The current seventh fram ework programme runs from 2007 to 2013. 
The EU supports substantial research effo rts to make online content more accessible 
across languages. Machine translation, se lf-learning systems, speech recognition, 
information retrieval and semantic web development are examples of research areas 
 
EN 15   EN which invest large amounts of resources to  make machines understand and translate 
human languages. The basic research ch allenges involve the representation of 
knowledge and models of language inspired  by the way humans acquire, remember 
and apply knowledge. Another important fi eld of research i nvolves developing 
algorithms and statistical models that can  derive linguistic knowledge (i.e. ‘learn’ 
language) automatically from large sample s of texts and speech recordings.  
Research in language technol ogy has wide application: th e car that understands a 
driver’s spoken commands, simultaneous au tomatic interpretation of lectures, or 
guiding visitors through museums in multiple languages are just some examples of the application areas addressed by pa st and current research projects. 
Access to multilingual c ontent and ICT services 
Research is not the only tool for supporting and promoting a multilingual 
information society. The technology devel oped by researchers needs to be put to 
productive use in the market and in the public  sector, so that it ultimately serves 
Europe’s multilingual citizens. These technologies need to cater for specific business 
models and public service workflows as well  as being suited to people’s patterns of 
use and preferences, so that online content and services can be efficiently delivered 
multilingually. This will help to create a single market for online content. 
One of the objectives of the eConten t (2001-2004) and eContentplus (2004-2008) 
programmes was to improve the usability and accessibility of digi tal content and ICT 
services in a multilingual and multicultural en vironment. The lessons learnt in these 
two programmes will be taken into account in shaping future action under the ICT 
policy support programme, part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme 
(CIP).  
More information: http://ec.europa.eu/information_soc iety/activities/ic t_psp/index_en.htm
 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society /activities/econten tplus/index_en.htm  
http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/othe r_actions/content_online/index_en.htm  
Digital libraries  
The Digital Libraries initiative aims at ma king online access to Europe’s cultural and 
scientific heritage easier and more attract ive. It builds on Europe’s rich heritage, 
combining multicultural and multilingual envi ronments with technological advances. 
A major milestone is the creation of Europeana , the European Digital Library, a 
common multilingual access point  to cultural collections from all Member States. 
The prototype of Europeana will be launc hed in November 2008 and will give access 
to over two million digital items through a multilingual interface. By 2010, at least 
six million digitised items will be available.  
The Publications Office is currently digitalizing all EU publications and the results 
will be accessible from the EU-Bookshop internet website. 
More information: 
 
EN 16   EN http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ac tivities/digita l_libraries/doc /culture_counci
l/council_conclusions_nov_2006/en.pdf  
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ac tivities/digital_libra ries/doc/recommendati
on/recommendation/en.pdf  
http://www.Europeana.eu  
Re-use of public s ector language resources 
Language resources are valuable ‘raw mate rial’ for developing machine translation 
systems and other cross-lingual applications, but also for basic research on language 
models and theories. The lingu istic services of the Europ ean institutions create large 
amounts of language resources, such as  translation memories and documents 
translated in many languages. These resour ces are one important example of public 
sector information that has a high potentia l value outside the pub lic body that created 
the information. The Commission promotes th e re-use of these huge resources held 
by the public sector for added-value inform ation products and serv ices. One concrete 
example that can be cited is the DGT-TM language resource that has enjoyed wide popularity since its release. DGT-TM is a publ ic release of the translation memories 
collected by DG Translation. These machine -readable databases consist of roughly a 
million sentences translated in 22 European languages. This collection represents the 
‘collective memory’ of years of work of EU translators and can be downloaded free 
of charge at http://langtech.jrc.it/DGT-TM.html
. 
The re-use of public sector information is mostly promoted through legislation that is 
binding upon Member States and European in stitutions. The main instruments are the 
Directive 2003/98/EC (on the re-use of public sector information) and Commission 
Decision 2006/291/EC (on the re-use of  Commission information). The latter 
decision also concerns language resources created by the European institutions, such 
as DGT-TM. 
The Publications Office makes available upon request a corpus of some 2 million 
Official Journal documents in all languages. 
2.7. Research 
Under the 6th Framework Programme (6FP), rese arch was initiated on the topic 
“Linguistic diversity in a Eur opean knowledge-based society”. The objective of this 
topic is to examine the role and implication of linguistic diversity in European cultures, 
specifically in view of the efforts to create a European knowledge-based society which 
respects cultural diversities and cross-cultural understanding.  
Two projects, each with a budget of €5M, were retained for funding in 2006:  
1. A Network of Excellence, “Languages in a Network of European Excellence – 
LINEE”, the main objectives of which are: to de-fragment research on 
multilingualism by advocating a multidisci plinary approach to the question of 
linguistic diversity; to i nnovate by setting up research platforms that are both 
theoretical and met hodological; to promote the added value of European linguistic 
diversity, both at the level of the genera l public and at the level of policy-makers. 
Duration: 48 months, budget €5M, 9 partners ( http://www.linee.info ).  
 
EN 17   EN 2. An Integrated Project, “Languages D ynamics and Management of Diversity – 
DYLAN”, the main objectives of which are:  to study the concrete  consequences of 
the increase in European linguistic diversity  following the enlargement process; to 
show that this increase in European linguistic di versity can be an a sset rather than a 
drawback in the development of a knowle dge-based society (d ifferent modes of 
thought and action, linked to different langua ges, can contribute to the process of 
creation, transmission and a pplication of knowledge). Duration: 60 months, budget 
€5M, 20 partners ( http://www. dylan-projec t.orgdylan-project.org ).  
As part of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), unde r Topic 8 of the “Cooperation” 
Programme (S ocio-economic sciences and th e humanities – Budget €607M),  which  
aims to analyse and understand the current major societal trends, several research 
topics will tackle questions linked to multili ngualism, either directly or indirectly. 
For instance, research on cu ltural interaction, differences in traditions in European 
societies and cultures, multiculturalism, para llel societies and coexistence of cultural 
identities, participation and citizenship in Europe, history and iden tities (origins and 
development), cultural heritage and the role of language in European identity will be 
fostered.  
2.8. Media and the audiovisual sector 
Multilingualism is also promoted in the contex t of film heritage. In  the Recommendation of 
the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2005 on f ilm heritage and the 
competitiveness of relate d industrial activities10, Member States are recommended to 
encourage and support film heritage  institutions to release archiv al material with subtitles in 
as many European Union languages as possi ble (point 22.b of the Recommendation). 
The subtitled films and TV programmes could be an attractive and widely accessible means of 
learning new languages and improv ing already acquired linguistic  skills. MEDIA 2007 is the 
EU support programme for the European audiovisual industry. Its aims are: 
• to strengthen the competitiveness of the European film, TV and new media 
industries; 
• to increase international circulati on of European audiovisual works; 
• to preserve and enhance European cultural diversity. 
The programme is divided into five action lines: 
• training of professionals  
• development of production projects and companies  
• distribution of cinema tographic works and audiovisual programmes  
• promotion of cinematographic works a nd audiovisual programmes, including the 
support for film festivals  
                                                 
10 Recommendation 2005/865/CE, OJ L 323, of 9/12/2005 P. 0057 - 0061 
 
EN 18   EN • horizontal actions/pilot projects.  
In order to increase the circulation of Eur opean audiovisual works outside their domestic 
markets, MEDIA 2007 supports subtitling and/or  dubbing of works through the distribution 
and the promotion action lines. 
Through the eContent and the fifth Research Framework Programme, the European 
Commission has supported the development of automated tools to improve the cost-effectiveness and accuracy of subtitling, such as a system providing automatic 
transcription of subtitles from speech to te xt, and automatic (or assisted) translation 
of subtitles from one language to another. 
More information: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media/index_en.htm
 
http://www.etitle.co.uk/about.php  
http://sifnos.ilsp.gr/musa  
2.9. Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities 
The main task of the European Social Fund (ESF) is to support growth and jobs and 
thereby strengthen economi c and social cohesion. 
Supporting language learning is an important factor in ma intaining and reinforcing 
people’s skills, facilitating human capital mobility and increasing competitiveness.  
Operational programmes supported by the E SF are designed by Member States and 
approved by the Commission. It is up to Memb er States to decide  on project content. 
Several operational programmes have tack led the issue of language training and 
multilingualism, mainly as a way of in creasing access to employment, improving 
adaptability and fac ilitating the social a nd labour integration. 
For the period 2007 to 2013, the ESF is expect ed to invest some €11 billion a year 
across all Member States in improving pe ople’s skills and job prospects. Language 
training is one of the many ways to achieve this objective — particularly as language 
training can increase aptitude for vocational training and labour market integration. Thus, although ‘language training’ is not specifically mentione d in the priority 
‘enhancing access to employment’, or the sub-pr iority ‘increasing the participation of 
migrants in employment’ it can, in fact, be  supported under any of  the priorities of 
the ESF. 
For the period 2000-2006, around EUR 12 billion wa s allocated to the development of life 
long learning, including language learning. To give some examples, in Greece, a 2000-2006 
ESF initiative ‘Greek language for immigrants’, was part of a wider policy to encourage the 
social and economic integration of this co mmunity. This project involved almost 15 000 
mobile and migrant worker s throughout 2 years:  
http://ec.europa.eu/employ ment_social/esf/docs/el4_1_en.pdf
 
Helping mobile and migrant workers to learn the Greek language is one of the most important 
 
EN 19   EN first steps towards finding work and combating social exclusion,” says Dimitris Psallidas, 
project coordinator within the Mi nistry of Employment & Social  Protection. “This initiative is 
vital if mobile and migrant workers are to settle and integrate into Greek society.” 
In France, the EQUAL initiative FAAR responds to  asylum seeker's need for legal advice, in 
combination with French language courses. This need becomes even more obvious when 
knowing that in France, asylum seekers rarely re ceive translation or interpretation services in 
their relations with the admini stration. Administrative procedur es, documents and interviews 
are mostly in French and it is up to the asylum seekers to ensure that they understand. Besides dealing with the asylum process, asylum seek ers also have to cope  in their everyday 
existence.  
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/e qual/practical-examples/asyl-07-fr-
faar_en.cfm  
2.10. Single market policy 
Multilingualism policy is of di rect relevance for further development and good functioning of 
the EU's Single Market for two reasons.  
Firstly, the more languages European citizens can speak, the easier they can move between 
Member States to work, live, study or provide  services, and therefore, the more they can 
benefit from the opportunities o ffered by the Single Market.  
Secondly, linguistic diversity bei ng a source of benefit and richne ss, it can nevertheless create 
barriers for the functioning of the Single Mark et, i.e. for workers' mobility, cross-border 
activities of companies and for effective admi nistrative cooperation be tween Member States, 
for those who do not have sufficient knowledge of languages. To overcome those barriers, it is necessary to make more eff ective use of new technologies, such  as automatic translations or 
automated data exchange systems, to provide linguistic support.  
For instance, the Internal Market Information System (IMI)
11 based on automatic translation 
is being developed in order to support the admi nistrative cooperation obl igations of thousands 
of Member State authorities ac ross the EU under various pieces of EU legislation. The first 
phase of the IMI is based on pr e-translated information in al l 23 official EU languages and a 
facility for automatic translation of additional information in the language pairs available. 
Both allow Member State Competent Authorities to send and answer in formation requests in 
their own language and therefor e facilitate the communicati on between them. The system 
currently supports information exchange - as required in the Profes sional Qualifications 
Directive - in relation to 4 re gulated professions (doctors, ph armacists, physiotherapists and 
accountants). DG MARKT is furthe r developing the system to allow information exchanges 
in relation to more professions  and to support the administrativ e cooperation requirements of 
the Services Directive. It is in tended that IMI can be used in the future to support any area of 
Internal Market legislation which requires ad ministrative cooperation between Member State 
authorities.   
                                                 
11 The system was opened for Authority registration in early November 2007, and for information 
exchange – on 22 February 2008. IMI website is available on the following link: 
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/index_en.html 
 
EN 20   EN SOLVIT12, an on-line problem solving network between EU Member States, ensures 
multilingual assistance to ensure that problems caused by the misapplication of Single Market 
law by public authorities can be effectively solved without legal proceedings. A public 
website in 25 languages explains what SOLVIT  is and how it works to citizens and 
businesses. Complaints can also be submitted in  all of these 25 languages by an on-line form 
or other means. 
Furthermore, in some policy areas, tools have be en put in place to make information available 
in different languages to busines ses to increase transparency a nd therefore, to  ensure non-
discrimination and greater competition in their cross-border activities. For instance, in the 
area of public procurement, notices advert ising public procurement opportunities are 
published in the Official Jour nal of the EU (OJEU)/electro nic publication board 'Tenders 
European Daily' (TED) based on structured onlin e standard forms, large parts of which are 
standardised and can be automatically translated into and/or read immediately in all official 
language versions13. Furthermore, the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is used to 
make it easier for businesses to identify public c ontracts of interest to them. The CPV is an 
alpha-numeric nomenclature by which buyers desc ribe their intended purchase of goods and 
services. In contrast to other classifications ava ilable in the market, it exists in all official EU 
languages 14. Access to the standards forms, the Common Procurement Vocabulary and 
general public procurement information is ma de available in all EU languages through the 
SIMAP website15. 
As regards provision of serv ices, the Services Directive16 obliges Member States to 
establish "Points of Single Contact" and suggest s that those be encouraged to work in 
different Community languages.  
Lastly, as regards patents, automatic tran slation is used by the European Patent 
Office (EPO) for the purposes of its patent granting procedure and for the dissemination of patent information
17, and the use of this system is currently 
considered also in the context of th e discussions on the Community patent. 
2.11. Enterprise policy 
While language learning is not a specific aim of enterprise policy, language barriers 
can be an obstacle to entrepreneurship.  
The new pilot project ‘ERASMUS for young entrepreneurs’ aims to facilitate 
training, networking and exchanges of  experience among young entrepreneurs by 
means of traineeships in small and medi um-sized enterprises (SMEs) in another 
country.  
                                                 
12 http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/about/index_en.htm  
13 The automatic translation functionality is expected to be further improved with the adoption of an 
exclusively electronic 'new generation of standard forms' in the near future.  
14 http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement_en.htm#cpv  
15 www.simap.europa.eu  
16 Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliame nt and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on 
services in the internal market, OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, p. 36. 
17 Automatic translations are curren tly available for English, German , Spanish, Japanese, Korean and 
Chinese documents. The development of the system is  in progress and further languages will be added 
to it in the near future. 
 
EN 21   EN Participating young entrepreneurs must prove  that they have sufficient linguistic 
skills before going abroad to work with a nother entrepreneur. They are offered pre-
departure induction covering information on the mobility scheme, inter-cultural learning and relevant EU level informati on (on the internal market, European law 
issues etc.). Depending on the needs and the nature  / specific needs of the 
relationship with the host entrepreneur, young entrepreneurs may also participate in 
language courses (either before or during their stay abroad). 
For more information on the pilot project, see: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  
http://ec.europa.eu/enterp rise/entrepreneurship/suppor t_measures/erasmus/index.htm
 
Technical Regulations Inform ation System — TRIS database 
The public information website TRIS provi des economic operators with information 
on and access to draft technical regulations  concerning products and information 
system services, in all EU languages, befo re they are adopted in national law by 
Member States (with the exception of text s above 50 pages, which are available in 
DE/EN/FR). This enables operators to participate in discussions on the draft legislation notified and to anticipate legi slative changes, for example by adapting the 
products/information society services that th ey sell or provide in the Member States 
concerned in good time. 
TRIS: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tris/
 
2.12. External relations and development policy 
Languages play an important role in coope ration and public diplomacy activities.  
For instance, EU development policy seek s to improve the qua lity of university 
education in developing countries by funding students from developing countries 
studying at European universities and he lping developing countries build the 
capacity to train and retain qualified university staff. Tw o of the most important EU 
programmes in this respect are Erasmus Mundus and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Students with a university degree may be sent  abroad to a training in the language of 
their choice (EN, FR, ES or PT).  
http://ec.europa.eu/development/policies/ 9interventionareas/h umandev/humandeved
uc5_en.cfm  
For EuropeAid, multilingualism is very important. Within the framework of its 
mission to implement external aid programmes and projects with developing countries, the Office has daily work contacts  with aid workers both in Europe and in 
the partner countries. The Office is, consequently, for numerous European citizens, a “showcase” of Europe in an area consider ed as exemplary in terms of Community 
action. It is also a “showcase” of Europe for numerous players in the field outside 
Europe. The appraisal of those involved in cooperation in the field is crucial for the 
image of the Commission and directly affects the political credibility of its activity. 
The Office must therefore be very sens itive to the question of multilingualism, 
insofar as language is a major component of everyone’s culture and identity, respect for which is deemed as the most elementa ry form of respect due to citizens, both 
inside and outside of Europe.  
 
EN 22   EN One of the major objectives in this respect is to focus actions on the appropriation of 
their cultural identity  by the groups targeted by the projects/programmes, in order to 
preserve cultural diversity as a conditi on for dialogue, and therefore conflict 
prevention, and in turn development. Langua ge is an essential component of this 
policy and it goes without sayi ng that linguistic divers ity constitutes and will 
constitute in the future an  objective in its own right of cooperation and development 
actions with the EuropeAid partners.  
Examples of programmes and actions ma naged by EuropeAid Co-operation Office 
and EC Delegations include:  
“Transcultura”, financed under the pilot budget line Cu lture (2004), focuses on 
developing a worldwide observatory on the cultural content and meaning of words 
and vocabulary in all language s and between civilisations.  
“Apoyo al sector educativo en Guatemal a (PROASE)” (1998-2005), is a programme 
to support the education sector . One of its objectives is to  improve the quality of the 
Guatemalan education system, in particular  through the development of intercultural 
bilingual education, while taking account of  related issues. Through the reduction of 
illiteracy and the improvement of the e ducation system, one finds recognition and 
revalorisation of indigenous languages and cultures whic h are the subject of an 
overall reform of the Guatemalan education system.  
“Formación Profesional Tec nológica y Pedagógica en Perú – FORTE-PE” is an older 
project undertaken in Peru  in 1995. It included a com ponent, “PROEBI”, consisting 
in offering bilingual training in Amazonia,  adapted to the culture and needs of 
indigenous people in order to improve thei r basic education and their integration.  
2.13. Justice, freedom and security 
Multilingualism contributes to better unde rstanding between European citizens and, 
in particular, to improving their awareness of  their rights, and facilitates their access 
to reliable information. In li ne with this, art. 21 of the EC treaty provides all the 
citizens of the Union with the right to write to any of the institutions or bodies in one of the official languages, and to rece ive an answer in the same language. 
Under the financial instruments in the field of integration of non-EU nationals (INTI, 
Integration Fund, European Refugee Fund) , the Commission supports actions which, 
inter alia , address language training for migr ants and refugees. Under the new 
External Border Fund and the European  Refugee Fund, border guards and staff 
dealing with processing asylum claims and interviews can also be given extra 
language training. 
One of the aims of the policy reflected in the Programme ‘Fundamental Rights and 
Citizenship’ is to foster interfaith and mu lticultural dialogue in the European Union. 
Multilingualism should play a si gnificant role in this, espe cially as th e goal is to 
promote exchange of views and experience and to involve Member States as much as possible in proposing common projects.  
Criminal Justice Programme 
 
EN 23   EN The Criminal Justice Programme aims inter alia  to promoting j udicial cooperation 
based on mutual recognition and mutual conf idence, promoting the compatibility in 
rules applicable in the Member States as  may be necessary to improve judicial 
cooperation and to improve exchange of information. For 2008, the Commission has 
proposed a budget for this programme of €29.8 million. 
In order to raise mutual confidence betw een the authorities of the Member States, 
judicial training (of legal prac titioners, i.e. judges, prosecu tors, defence lawyers, etc.) 
is one of the priority areas  promoted by this programme (by means of action grants 
covering 70 % of the total eligible costs of  the projects). Judici al training aims at 
improving familiarity with EU legal instruments and policies, improving language skills of legal practitioners and developing  familiarity with the legal and judicial 
systems of other Member States. The langua ge training covers the development of 
common training modules, the use of mo dern technologies and training on 
interpretation and translation.  
Furthermore, the JPEN programme has en trusted the European Judicial Training 
Network (EJTN) to execute a specific ex change programme which allows financing 
the organisation of internships or secondm ent of judges and prosecutors from one 
Member State to the courts or prosecution offices of another. The Programme should 
also contribute to improving language ski lls. Therefore, langua ge training with a 
view to preparing the exchanges themselves may be included, as well as the development of on-line training and the draf ting of a glossary of legal terminology. 
Civil Justice Programme 
The Civil Justice Programme ai ms inter alia to promoting judicial cooperation based on 
mutual recognition and mutual confidence, prom oting the elimination of obstacles to the good 
functionning of cross-border civil proceedings in  the member States and to improve exchange 
of information and networking be tween legal, judicial and administrative authorities and the 
legal professions, including by way of su pport of judicial trainning. For 2008, the 
Commission has proposed a budget for this programme of €14.3 million. 
In order to raise mutual confidence between th e authorities of the Member States, judicial 
training is one of the priority areas promoted  by this programme (by means of action grants 
covering 80 % of the total eligible costs of the pr ojects). Judicial traini ng aims at improving 
exchange of information and networking between legal, judicial and administrative authorities 
and the legal professions. The langu age training is also a key issu e to ensure the better mutual 
understanding among such authorities and professi onals. European Judicial Network in civil 
and commercial matters 
The European Judicial Network aims to reinforce judicial cooperation in civil 
matters. The two basic objectives of the Network are improving effective judicial 
cooperation between the Members States in civil and commercial matters and 
assuring effective access to ju stice for persons engaging in  cross-border litigation.  
The Network was formed with the aim of making matters easier for those who 
become involved in cross-border disputes, that  is disputes with links to more than 
one country, by providing help with prac tical matters. The Network therefore 
facilitates appropriate contact s between the authorities of the Member States, holds 
periodic meetings of cont act points and members of th e Network and draws up and 
 
EN 24   EN updates information on judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters and the 
legal systems of the Member States.  
The Network has developed an Internet-bas ed system containing information on EU 
and national law. The information is available in all EU official languages (except Irish). Therefore, multilingualism is extrem ely helpful here in facilitating and 
ensuring effective access to justic e for citizens and enterprises.  
Judicial Atlas in Civil Matters 
The European Judicial Atlas in Civil Matter s is a very practical tool created by the 
Commission which can be found online at 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/judici alatlascivil . Through th is tool, any legal 
professional or citizen can accede,  in one of the European Union official languages (except 
Irish), to the designat ions, addresses and terr itorial jurisdiction of all the European Union 
courts. Furthermore, the corresponding procedur es are facilitated as far as possible by 
enabling the user to fill in on line the various  forms that exist for the application of the 
different legal instruments. Therefore, multilingualism is extremely helpful here in facilitating and ensuring effective access to justice and be tter cooperation between judicial authorities. 
e-Justice  
As the demands on judicial systems increas e across Europe and transnational demand 
grows steadily, because of enhanced mob ility of economic operators and citizens, 
traditional systems are failing to provide an adequate response to new needs. Transnational justice presents peculiar feat ures and poses partic ular challenges which 
require adequate and innovative solutions. Among the main drawbacks of transnational justice ar e language barriers.  
e-Justice represents an initial response to the threefold need to improve access to 
justice, cooperation between legal authorities and the effectiveness of the judicial 
system itself. In the framework of the Communication on e-Justice, multilingualism 
represents a major challenge to the developm ent of a genuine European judicial area. 
Judicial proceedings take place almost ex clusively in the national language, and the 
use of foreign languages is admitted only marginally. The Commission is therefore 
proposing actions targeting translation a nd interpretation in judicial settings. 
Moreover, the creation of a European e-Ju stice portal for the public and enterprises 
will serve as the face of th e European area of justice vis-à-vis  citizens, facilitating 
access to information and direct access to certain European procedures. In this respect multilingualism should play a signi ficant role, facilitating access by citizens 
and enterprises to justice in Europe a nd leading to more effective judicial 
cooperation. 
2.14. Communication 
The Commission considers that citizens have the right to be informed on European 
policies in the language that they understand. This has be en formally stated in its 
action plan for communication.  
In concrete terms, the Commission meets th e need to address citizens in a language 
which is appropriate for them in the following way:  
 
EN 25   EN • At national and local level, the Commission Representations  address the public 
in their own national language (s). Ther efore several information messages and 
products relating to the EU are translated  and adapted to the different national 
contexts by the "field offices" of DGT in the Representations. The Commission 
Representations also work with the European Parliament Information Offices in order to provide meeting and debating oppor tunities, national or  transnational, 
between citizens and institutions in orde r to develop a European public sphere 
within which multilinguism plays a key ro le: projects supported by the "Debate 
Europe" initiative or the "European Public  Spaces" currently in preparation are 
concrete examples. Moreover, the informa tion relays spread across the European 
Union, such as "Europe Direct", also address the public in its own national language (s). In some cases (such as boundary or touristic regions) they will also offer information in other languages.  
• Information campaigns on a specific topic incor porate the dimension of 
multilingualism from the design phase, since the number of languages used 
depends on the needs of the audience targeted and the regions covered.  
• The EuropeDirect call centre , accessible via a free num ber, answers telephone 
calls and e-mails in the 23 official languages.  
• The written publications for the general public are also written in the 23 official 
languages. In an ad hoc way, some publicat ions targeted at a specialised public 
can be published only in a limited number of language versions.  
On the Europa website the pages of general interest targeted at the general public 
are essentially multilingual, i.e. publishe d in all the official languages. For the 
specialised pages (targeted at professionals), the choi ce of languages depends on the 
targeted audience. For pages with fleeting contents, the speed of on-line publication is essential and the number of language vers ions has to be limited. In any case, with 
the aim of maximising the number of visito rs, the Commission endeavours to achieve 
the right balance between the number of la nguages used, the quant ity of information 
published, and the resources needed for th e translation and administration of the 
sites.  
Within the framework of its support to the dissemination of information on the 
European Union, the Commission has a c ontract with the Euronews television 
network, which is by nature multilingual, a nd with a network of different language 
radios which share their productions after dubbing (Euradio network).  
2.15. Health and consumer protection 
Public health is a key issue for all European citizens, and many Commission 
activities have a highly visi ble impact in this area.  In May 2006, the Commission 
launched the EU’s public health portal on europa.eu . It is intended as an easy access 
‘one-stop shop’ for Europeans wanting to find out what is happening across a broad 
spectrum of health issues in  their own country and across Europe. It is also a key 
means for the Commission to show citizens in their own language what the EU is 
doing for them, and the means it uses to depl oy them. It is, crucially, a gateway to all 
EU information on public health. In additi on, Member States and other organisations 
provide information for the portal.  
 
EN 26   EN http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/index_en.htm  
2.16. Translation 
The EU is a major employer of translators and an important player in the European 
translation market. Therefore, it has ensure  an adequate supply of highly-qualified 
translators to meet its require ments and those of the wider translation market. This is 
why it follows the developments in transl ation training in Europe closely and 
contributes to them. The Commission ha s built contacts with many European 
universities via the Visiting Translator Sc heme (VTS), where DGT staff participate 
in teaching while improving their own skills in the local language.  
Initiatives to promote th e profession of translator 
The ‘ European Master’s in Translation’  (EMT) is a projec t that encourages 
European universities to establish a co mmon curriculum for translator training.  
The EMT aims to:  
– encourage universities to develop post-gra duate courses in tran slation and provide 
them with a model curriculum of a Master’s degree in translation; 
– develop the labour market for transl ators in the new Member States;  
– make DGT standards visible to the acad emic world across the European Union; 
– promote multilingualism by strengthening the Commission’s ties with universities 
involved in translation res earch and teaching, and train professional translators, 
enhancing standards where necessary. 
Following the second EMT conference, which took place in March 2008, universities 
across the EU are being encouraged to  join the EMT network and actively 
participate. An open call will be made in the second half of 2008. 
The initiative Juvenes Translatores  is a translation contest for pupils of European 
schools intended to disseminate understandi ng of the translation profession and, in 
addition, to familiarise students with European language policy.  
The contest, announced in the 2005 Comm unication on multilingualism, took place 
in 2007 as a contribution to the celebration of  the 50th anniversary of the Treaties. It 
was held simultaneously in all Member States on 14 November 2007. Just under 300 
schools from all over the EU entered the co ntest. The winner in each country was 
invited to Brussels and received an aw ard from Commissione r Orban on 10 March 
2008. The contest will be held again on 27 November 2008. 
Communicating on multilingualism 
The themes of the Commission’s languages portal are linguistic diversity, language 
learning, language teaching, translation, interpretation and la nguage technology. All 
contents are published in 23 languages. 
http://europa.eu/languages/  
 
EN 27   EN The Commission is active in terminology wo rk and, together w ith other European 
institutions, has created the terminology database IATE  (Interactive Terminology for 
Europe), which is accessible on the Internet to  European instituti ons’ staff and to 
external users all over the world, including the public at large. In this way, the 
Commission is contributing to the work of tr anslators and all other users interested in 
terminology work, as well as all those usi ng EU-related expressions in their work.  
http://iate.europa.eu  
Field Offices located in 21 Commission Representations, provide a network for 
multilingualism in the Member States and act  as an interface w ith national language 
communities, institutions and researchers dealing with multilingualism. The members of staff visit univer sities, give lectur es and are prime interlocutors for the 
‘language’ community in the Member State . 
2.17. Interpretation 
The interpreting service of the Commission and the Interpreting Directorate of the 
European Parliament were instrumental in creating the European Master’s in 
Conference Interpreting (EMCI). This pr ogramme is designed for students with 
European and non-European languages. Its aim is to equip young graduates with the 
professional skills and knowledge required for conference interpreting. It seeks to 
meet the demand for highly-qualif ied conference interpreters, particularly in the area 
of the less widely-used and le ss-taught languages and in view of the expansion of the 
Union and of its increasing dialogue with its non-European  partners. The curriculum 
was developed in consultation with the EU institutions and continuation of this cooperation is an integral part of the Commission’s assistance programme. 
http://www.emcinterpreting.org/
 
The Commission awards student grants to post-graduate students in interpretation. 
Since 1998 about 1 185 young people have  benefited from this scheme. A 
considerable number of them completed their studies successfully and work as 
interpreters for the EU institutions. 
Student grants are awarded to nationals of  an EU Member State, or one of the 
candidate countries (Croatia, fYROM and Turkey), who already hold a university 
degree or equivalent qualifica tion, or are in the final year  of a course leading to a 
university degree or equivale nt qualification. To obtain a grant, students must have 
applied or intend to apply for a full post-gra duate course in conf erence interpreting at 
a recognised university or university-level institution. 
http://scic.ec.europa.eu/eur opa/jcms/c_6344/bourse-d-etudes  
The Commission and the European Parliament  jointly provide grants to co-finance 
actions which bring an additional European dimension to a course, e.g. teaching unusual language combinations, funding cross-border cooperation projects and 
running post-graduate conference interpre ting courses — 17 action grants were 
awarded in 2007-2008. 
The main objectives of these actions are: 
 
EN 28   EN • promoting quality and linguistic diversity in the teaching of interpreting in the 
official languages of the EU, including the less widely used languages, the 
languages of the candidate countries (Croatia, fYROM and Turkey) and the 
languages of non-EU countries, where justif ied by current or future needs;  
• promoting the establishment of post- graduate centres of excellence;  
• encouraging cooperation among universi ties from different countries;  
• supporting innovative pilot projects. 
Cooperation programmes exist with China,  Vietnam and Macao. Each year, groups 
of trainees come to Brussels to be trained by the interpreting service of the Commission. The aim of the trai neeships is to teach traine es the basic techniques of 
conference interpreting — consecutive and simultaneous — as practised in the EU institutions. Trainees also learn about EU culture and in stitutions, through lectures 
and visits to Member States. As regard s China, after completing their training, 
former trainees may be called upon to work at meetings (in China) between the EU 
and China. 
A programme of cooperation with Russia ha s recently been revived. This year, an 
English interpreter is vis iting both St. Petersburg (Herzen State University) and 
Moscow State Linguistic University, on pedagogical assistance missions. The two 
universities are in the process of setting up Master’s courses, on the model of the 
EMCI. 
The Commission started cooperation with the African Union in 2007 in the 
framework of the Joint EU-Africa Strate gy. Discussions are ongoi ng on the best way 
to give assistance in the field of in terpretation and conference organisation. 
The Commission also provides pedagogical as sistance to some universities in the 
candidate countries: to the interpreter training course at the University of Zagreb 
(Croatia), and to the course in S kopje (fYROM) that was launched in 2007. 
Regarding Turkey, Bogaziçi University (I stanbul) and Bilkent University (Ankara) 
have benefited from DG SCIC ’s teaching assistance.  
DG Interpretation convened a Reflection Forum on Multiling ualism and Interpreter Training , 
composed of 7 experts of various nationalitie s. The Reflection Forum was set up taking into 
consideration point III.6 of the Commission's Communication A new framework strategy for 
multilingualism  (COM(2005) 596 final): “…Interpreters  also help the institutions of 
multilingual societies to function. They support immigrant communities in  courts, hospitals, 
police and immigration services. Pr operly trained, interpreters t hus contribute to safeguarding 
human and democratic rights.” 
The main purpose of the Reflection Forum is to provide independent, operational 
recommendations concerning the wider scope of  interpreter training – development of 
competence descriptions, guidelines, materials, t ools, level of training,  core curricula, best 
practices, ethics, code of conduct,  and any other related aspects, paying particular attention to 
Legal Interpreting. These reflecti ons can also contribu te to widening training options that may 
ultimately also benefit the European Institutions. 
 
EN 29   EN The work of the Reflection Forum will take into  consideration DG Interpretation's expertise in 
conference interpreter training, as well as other ac tivities, in particular  those already carried 
out in the field of justice, freedom and security  in the past few years. The work of the Forum 
is expected to be finalized at the end of 2008 or early 2009. 
3. STUDIES ON MULTINGUALISM AND THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGES  
3.1. The Intercultural Competences Developed in Compulsory Foreign Languages 
Education in the European Union (LACE) 
This study identified and assessed the nature, scope and extent of intercultural skills 
currently taught in compulsory foreign language education in the European Union. 
The study concludes that fore ign language classes provide appropriate settings for 
developing intercultural competence. They already fulfil this pur pose on quite a wide 
scale, though the range of intercultural competence pres cribed for development by 
the curriculum is often limited. At EU level, research shoul d continue. It should be 
expanded to other levels of education and s hould raise awareness of the nature of and 
need for intercultural comp etence development. Support fo r intercultural competence 
development in foreign-language learning s hould be available w ithin the European 
Commission’s Lifelong L earning Programme. As a pr erequisite to improving 
intercultural competence development at national level, the study recommends 
increased teacher mobility, teacher and sc hool exchanges, partne rships and visits, 
and increased understanding of intercu ltural competence development among 
teachers and administrators. The study also considers it important to allocate more 
funding and give more time to intercultu ral competence development in foreign 
language and other classes. Greater attenti on to intercu ltural competence in initial 
foreign-language teacher education and in professional development courses is 
recommended, as is a clear specification in  foreign language curricula of objectives 
on intercultural competence development, a ttainment levels and assessment. Finally, 
development of suitable approaches, met hodologies, teaching and learning resources 
is necessary.  
The work, completed in 2007, was carried  out by a team of 20 experts and 
researchers from 12 European countries  (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, 
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, United Kingdom and Netherlands). The point of departure was a review of national curricula in the 12 
countries to examine the development of in tercultural competence, the main teaching 
methods they recommend, and how this matc hes with practice in the classroom. The 
study was confined to foreign language teaching at ISCED levels 1 and 2, i.e. 
primary and lower secondary education. Afte r the curricula were examined, an online 
survey of 213 foreign language teachers was held and telephone interviews conducted with 78 of them (34 teaching in primary and 54 in lower secondary education). These interviews provided detail ed information about the practices they 
most commonly used in the classroom.  
Full study and summary can be downloaded from:  http://ec.europa.eu/education/pol icies/lang/key/studies_en.html
 
 
EN 30   EN 3.2. Report on the diversity of language teaching offered in the European Union  
In order to evaluate developments in langua ge teaching in the va rious Member States 
at primary, lower secondary and upper seco ndary level, the report addressed a 
number of questions, including which langu ages are being taught in EU Member 
States, at what stage and in which order th ey are introduced. It also looks at emerging 
trends. 
Many countries pay little attention to th e study of languages othe r than English at 
primary school level, though some are making the effort to increase the number of 
languages taught. Similar findings emerge  at lower and upper secondary school 
levels, but every Member St ate has its own priorities. One way of increasing the 
teaching of languages is to introduce the le arning of several languages in the same 
school year. Certain countries which have several official languages (like Belgium 
and Luxembourg) do this. Others prefer to offer language studies as a specialisation. 
In very few Member States do significan t numbers of pupils le arn languages other 
than those most commonly taught (English, French, German and Spanish), and these 
tend to be cases in which the languages of : neighbouring states (such as Italian in 
Malta), national minorities (Hungarian in the Czech Republic) or former powers 
(such as Russian in Bulgaria or Danish in Iceland) are offered. 
This report shows that there is support for linguistic dive rsity but it also mentions 
competition between languages and between subjects for time in the curriculum as well as competition between schools for pup ils. The main motivating factor behind 
expanding the study of languages is often pres tige: the value of a language for social 
mobility. The most efficient way to teach languages is to introduce a greater number 
of compulsory languages, and/ or to introduce languages at an earlier age. Policies 
should try to avoid placing languages in  competition, perhaps by offering them 
successively so that the gain in one language can be exploited for another. There must be a change away from teaching languages as autonomous subjects. Use of language in a social context emphasises the role of all s ubjects in language teaching, 
and the role of language in every subject. 
The indicators used in the report are the proportion of pupils le arning languages and 
the number of languages taught. The data used  to establish whether or not a county 
had increased the number of languages taugh t or the number of pupils learning 
languages come from Eurostat sources. A collection of examples of good practice 
and recommendations for further development complete the report. 
The full study and summary can be downloaded from:  http://ec.europa.eu/education/pol icies/lang/key/studies_en.html. 
3.3. Effects on the European Economy of Sho rtages of Foreign Language Skills in 
Enterprise (ELAN)  
The objective of the ELAN survey was to  provide the Commission and decision-
makers in Member States with practical information and analysis of the use of language skills by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their impact on business performance.  
 
EN 31   EN According to this study, 11% of exporti ng European SMEs (945 000 companies) had 
lost business due to a lack of language skil ls. It also identified a clear link between 
languages and export success. The four centr al elements of language management 
associated with suc cessful export performa nce are: taking a st rategic approach to 
multilingual communication, appointing native speakers, recruiting staff with language skills and using tran slators and interpreters. Ther e could be very significant 
gains across the whole EU ec onomy if all exporting SMEs employed one or more of 
these techniques. The survey also confirme d the importance of English as the world 
business language. Thus there is a need for a range of other languages if business 
relationships are to be built successfully. Those cited as being the most important 
include the main European languages, su ch as German, French and Spanish, but 
increasingly also other world language s like Mandarin, Arabic and Russian. 
Moreover, according to the research, nearly  half of the exporting SMEs surveyed 
were planning to expand into new foreign markets in the next three years and their 
demand for language skills would increas e accordingly. However, instead of 
investing in language training themselves, they preferred to look to the Member 
States’ education and training systems to provide graduates with the right language 
skills or they simply searched on the labour market for geographically mobile people 
with the required language skills. 
The report recommends identifying and disseminating models of successful 
collaboration between business and educati on, directed towards the promotion of 
language skills, and the examination of  the potential of existing mobility 
programmes to accommodate periods of work  experience in other countries for SME 
employees. Another suggestion concerned developing and supporting programmes to 
raise awareness of th e importance of language skills and of the availability of support 
systems. The researchers recommended supporting businesses to become more 
expert at managing language skills and in applying the elem ents of language 
management which are associated with improved export performance. They also 
proposed strengthening (foreign) language l earning in education and training at all 
levels and improving the supply of interpre ters and translators in less commonly-
taught languages. They would like to see a period of mobility in another European 
country become an expectation for every stud ent in tertiary educa tion and to build on 
existing language skills by encouraging development of the languages spoken by 
children of migrant workers alongside the national language of their host country.  
The results build on a survey of nearly 2000 SMEs from 29 European states (EU, 
EEA and candidate countries). Data was collected on approaches to the use of 
language skills, intercultural competence, aw areness of language strategies, loss of 
business owing to lack of language skills , future exporting intentions and hence 
projected requirements for further langua ge skills. The report was presented in 
December 2006. 
This research was undertaken by CILT, the UK National Centre for Languages in 
collaboration with InterAct International a nd an international team of researchers.  
The full study can be downloaded from: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  
http://ec.europa.eu/educatio n/policies/lang/doc/elan_en.pdf
. 
A summary is available at: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  
http://ec.europa.eu/education/pol icies/lang/doc/elansum_en.pdf. 
 
EN 32   EN 3.4. The main pedagogical principles underlying  the teaching of languages to very 
young learners  
The purpose of this study was to examine th e main pedagogical principles underlying 
the teaching of languages to very young lear ners as evidenced in literature and 
current best practice, taking into account th e conceptual differences between Member 
States. It was launched in the context of  the Action Plan 2004-2006, which furthers 
the principle of ‘mother tongue plus two ot her languages’ from an early age, and the 
numerous initiatives in Member States  to introduce early language learning 
programmes, and was completed in 2007. 
The authors analysed the lit erature and research publishe d since 1998 when a report 
by Blondin  et al  reviewed the literature on early language learning, and extracted the 
pedagogical principles dealt w ith. The studies reviewed o ffer no conclusive evidence 
of the positive effects of early  language learning (ELL). What  they do show is that it 
is in no way damaging and certainly cont ributes to building language competence 
early, assuming that it is not forced and th at it is accompanie d by good teaching 
methods and skills, a supportive environment and continuity. Success in teaching a modern language to young le arners, if it is to exte nd beyond the individual school 
and inspired individual teacher, is heavily  dependent on a whole range of factors: 
sufficient amount and distribution of tim e and intensity, well trained teachers 
supported by suitable language pedagogy, teaching and learning strategies, 
evaluation and ICT tools, etc. National au thorities and transnational bodies should 
support ELL through planned initiatives wh ich include systematic research and 
development. 
Practice in European countries  considered by professionals  to be ‘good’ was then 
discussed thoroughly with researchers and pol icy makers and compared with official 
documents prescribing early language learning at national level. On the basis of the 
analysis, a number of important  principles were identified. 
Principles with a clear relationship to the personality of the child and his or her 
cognitive functioning include : frequent exposure to th e foreign language; taking 
account of the full range of learner charac teristics; encouraging tolerance towards 
others and providing familiarity with different sets of values. 
General principles related to learning, did actical concepts and instruction include: 
taking account of the learning strategies a nd learning styles of children; providing 
meaningful contexts and relevant themes; and putting comprehension skills before production. 
Principles related to language learning incl ude: holistic language learning; a visual 
approach and multi-sensory le arning; learning should be age-related, taking full 
advantage of the children’ s physical predispositions. 
Among the principles defined as unique to  early language learning are: more 
comprehension than production; positive motivation to learn; training of the ear and training in pronunciation, and extension and training of the relationship in a foreign 
language between phonetics and graphemes. 
The full study and summary can be downloaded from 
 
EN 33   EN http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/eu-la nguage-policy/doc126_en.htm   
3.5. European profile for language teacher education 
The objective of this study was to draw up a common set of competencies and values 
for language teachers in Europe. The curricul a and structures for training teachers of 
a foreign language must adapt to the ch anging language skills that pupils and 
students need to acquire, but also to th e new realities of the modern school and 
classroom. The European Profile which resu lted in 2004 was conceived as a frame of 
reference for policy makers and language te acher educators, which should become an 
essential checklist for a ll who are involved in langua ge teacher training and 
education. 
Drawing on good practice across Europe and in consultation with a group of 
international teacher educators, the Prof ile presents 40 key items which could be 
included in teacher education courses. It details how courses can best be structured and delivered to give trainee teachers access to essential learning opportunities 
during initial and in-service teacher educati on. In particular, it focuses on innovative 
teacher education practices and ways of promoting cooperation, exchange and mobility among the new generation of Europe’s language teachers. The issues 
developed in the profile are in step  with a Commission Communication on 
improving the quality of teacher educat ion and the Council conclusions which 
followed in November 2007. 
Building on this, the Commission also ca rried out a preliminary study in 2006 on 
detecting and removing obstacles to the mobility of foreign language teachers. 
Full studies and a summary of the Europ ean Profile can be downloaded from: 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/eu-la nguage-policy/doc126_en.htm
 
http://ec.europa.eu/education/ policies/lang/doc /profile_en.pdf  
Follow up by ELIN 
ELIN — The European Language Inspectors Network set up in 2005 following the 
Commission Action Plan on Promoting Langua ge Learning and Linguistic Diversity 
2004-2006 — discussed the 40 re commendations in the Europ ean Profile with a view 
to extracting those considered most esse ntial for language teacher education. Having 
studied the document in depth, ELIN high lighted the following core elements. 
Dedicated training programme 
In the first place, provision of specific training for language teachers must be 
assured, the existence of which seemed to  be taken for granted in the European 
Profile. This training should include a curr iculum that integrates academic study and 
practical experience of teaching. This teaching practice (the ‘ stage’ or ‘practicum’ ) 
should be guided by an explicit framework which stipulates how teaching practice 
will be organised and who will be responsible for feedback on the school-based experience. 
 
EN 34   EN Foreign-language teacher education should be structured to include experience 
abroad: a period of work or study in a country or countries where the trainee’s 
foreign language is spoken as native; par ticipation in links with partners abroad, 
including visits, exchanges or ICT li nks; and the opportunity to observe and 
participate in teaching in more than one c ountry. Obstacles to mobility such as those 
identified through the study mentioned above  need to be addressed. The Commission 
might consider drafting a mobility strategy sp ecifically for foreign language teachers. 
Working with a mentor and understanding the value of mentoring should be an integral part of the strategy, and for this  purpose, training for school-based mentors 
in how to mentor is essential. Flexible and modular delivery of initial and in-service education is more accessible and attractiv e to a diverse range of trainees.  
During their careers, language teachers requ ire regular paid access to in-service 
training and opportunities for lifelong learni ng to enable individual competence 
development and continuous improvement of teaching skills. 
Knowledge, understanding and values 
Proficiency  in the language to be taught should be  reached by the end of training, but 
a sufficient level of knowledge  is required before starting  training (level B2 is 
recommended as a minimum access level). In itial language teacher education should 
include a course in language  proficiency and assess trai nees’ linguistic  competence. 
The level of proficiency attained w ill differ depending on whether teachers are 
preparing for a career in primary or secondary education. Language teachers’ 
continuing professional development should ensure that personal language 
competence is maintained and enhanced on an ongoing basis. 
Teachers need to be conversant with different pedagogical  methods  and state-of-the-
art techniques to apply them to the diffe rent learning abilitie s and levels of the 
student. This requires: training in language  teaching methodologies , and in state-of-
the-art classroom techniques and activities; training in information and communication technology (ICT)  for pedagogical use in the classroom to enhance 
language learning; ICT for personal pl anning, organisation and accessing new 
resources and information; and awareness raising of the use of ICT to develop 
students’ knowledge. 
Assessment techniques are a crucial part of the j ob and require training in the 
application of various asse ssment (formative, summative an d peer assessment, self-
assessment) procedures and ways of record ing and reporting learners’ progress in the 
skills of language acquisition (listening, speaking, reading, writing), e.g. using the European Language Portfolio. Training in the critical evaluati on of nationally or 
regionally adopted curricula in terms of  aims, objectives and outcomes is also 
necessary. 
Foreign language teachers have a vital role to play in promoting social and cultural 
values. Their training should include awaren ess and understanding of this role, of 
linguistic diversity in Europe, of the linguis tic profile of the countries in which the 
languages they teach are spoken, and of how th ey themselves can cr eate interest in 
cultures and languages.  
 
EN 35   EN It is important to strengthen the self-ima ge of foreign language teachers and their 
identification with language teachers in gene ral and not with teach ers of a particular 
language only. Team-work, collaboration a nd networking with peers are relevant 
areas to be developed in order to achiev e this. Contacts and e ffective professional 
support networks between language teachers  at a regional, national and European 
level should be encouraged, to enable teacher s to keep up with developments in their 
profession. 
The Network judges Content and Language In tegrated Learning (CLIL) to be an 
aspect of language teaching that merits  development and wider application.  
3.6. Study on Dubbing and Subtitling Need s and Practices in the European 
Audiovisual Industry 
The purpose of the ‘Study on Dubbing and Su btitling Needs and Practices in the 
European Audiovisual Industry’, is to expl ore dubbing and subtitli ng practices in the 
31 countries participating in the ME DIA 2007 programme. The study is also 
intended to provide recommendations rega rding measures to be taken by the 
European Community in order to encour age linguistic divers ity, whilst reducing 
obstacles to the movement of audiovisu al works on the international market. 
This assessment of current dubbing and subtit ling practices was carri ed out to reflect 
the goals of the MEDIA programme: increas e the circulation of European works; 
boost the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector; and promote cultural and linguistic diversity. 
Among many results are some which concer n multilingualism in particular. Firstly, 
the various language-teaching modalities, and the number of languages spoken from country to country, make for a European map quite different to that suggested by the 
dubbing/subtitling professions. Television play s a minor role in the learning of 
languages; in fact, the only situation in whic h television could be considered to really 
play a role is in the case of intralinguistic subtitli ng (not common in Europe) 
combined with total immersion in the foreign country. Secondly, some university 
specialists suggest that sub titling can have a positive eff ect on reducing the level of 
illiteracy in a country. However, a comparativ e analysis of data did not lead to any 
empirical conclusion to this effect. 
In the field of multilingualism, the study hi ghlights that an absence of dialogue 
between research carried out on digital technologies, notably under the Seventh 
Framework Programme, and financed research on multilingualism is harming prospects for technological innovation, wh en the two fields overlap as regards 
audiovisual broadcasting. 
It concludes too that language transfer  (dubbing/subtitling)  is necessary but 
insufficient to enhance the circulation of European audiovisual works and that the 
choice of distributors and br oadcasters for small countries is determined by the 
language choices made by the lead countries.  
The study also makes two recommendations in the area of multilingualism. 
Synergies and convergence between European  research programs and developments 
in the digital sector should be promoted. Research into potential co-relations between 
 
EN 36   EN subtitling and the development of multilingualism (fur ther research into the field of 
teaching and training, best prac tice) should be carried out. 
More information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/m edia/overview/evaluation/studies/index_en.
htm. 
4. EXTERNAL REPORTS  
4.1. Report of the High Level Group on Multilingualism  
The High Level Group on Multilingualism (H LGM) was an external group set up in 
September 2006 to bring about an exchange  of ideas, experien ce and good practice, 
to develop ideas relevant to policies and practices on multi lingualism across the 
European Union and to make recommendati ons to the Commission on action in this 
area. Its creation was announced in the Commission communication A new  
framework strategy for multilingualism in November 2005. The Group was given the 
general remit of providing support and advi ce on developing init iatives, together 
with fresh impetus for and ideas on a comp rehensive approach to multilingualism in 
the European Union.  
The HLGM’s final report, presented to the Commission on 26 September 2007, 
presents various aspects of multilingualism such as strategies to promote language 
learning: raising awareness and enhanci ng motivation, languages and the media, 
languages for business, interpretation and tran slation, new trends and needs, regional 
or minority languages, and research into  multilingualism. It recommends launching 
information campaigns among inter alia  young people, parents and organisations 
related to education and cultu re in order to raise awaren ess of language learning. It 
also advises including languages in extra- curricular activitie s for young students and 
in leisure activities, as well as providi ng ‘edutainment’ (combining education and 
entertainment) on television. These elemen ts can increase mo tivation. The report 
mentions too that it is necessary to use the potential of immigran ts as a source of 
language knowledge and as a good opportunity for companie s to profit from their 
cultural and linguistic abilitie s in order to ga in access to market s in immigrants’ 
countries of origin. Moreover, it recomme nds improvement of training in important 
non-EU languages in order to increase comp etitiveness. Finally, it highlights the 
importance of developing Master’s qualificat ions in translation and interpretation, 
and higher education programmes in the field of legal, court and community 
translation and interpretation. 
The report is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/ policies/lang/doc/multishort_en.pdf
. 
4.2. Report of the ‘Group of Intellectuals’  
The objective of the Group of Intellectua ls, set up by the European Commission to 
mark the 2008 European Year of In tercultural Dialogue, was to make 
recommendations on the role that multilingualism could play in intercultural dialogue and mutual comprehension am ong citizens of the European Union. 
 
EN 37   EN The report highlights the importance for the European Union of preserving its 
linguistic heritage. It puts forward two centr al ideas. Firstly, the EU should promote 
the idea of a ‘personal adoptiv e language’, to be seen as a ‘second mother tongue’, 
with every European citizen being motivated to learn one. It would need to be part and parcel of everyone’s education and prof essional life, linked to aspects involving 
history, culture and literature. This adopt ed language would not be the one normally 
used for international comm unication. It should thus ove rcome any perceived rivalry 
between English and other la nguages. Secondly, bilateral relations between the EU 
countries should hinge on the languages of the two countries invol ved rather than on 
a third language. Each country shoul d have enough speakers of the other’s 
language(s). 
The group, composed of 10 personalities with a multicultural and/or literary 
background, chaired by the Lebanese wr iter Amin Maalouf, also makes some 
interesting recommendations. Those Eur opeans whose mother tongue occupies a 
dominant position in the worl d should learn a personal adop tive language in order to 
avoid remaining isolated in monolingua lism. Immigrants’ personal adoptive 
language would normally be the language of the country in which they have chosen 
to live. However, non-EU immigrants’ own languages should also be included 
among the languages which EU citizens would be invited to learn. To ensure that this 
linguistic diversity is maintained, countri es should set up an organisation which 
promotes knowledge of each ot her’s languages and culture. 
The Group’s findings fuelled the discussion at  the first-ever Ministerial Conference 
on multilingualism, held on 15 February, and represent a valuable contribution to the Commission’s work on multilingualism policy.  
The report is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/educatio n/policies/lang/languages_en.html
 
4.3. Report of the Business Forum 
An important factor in examining the c ontribution of multilingualism to growth and 
jobs was the setting up in 2007 of an advisory group with distinguished 
representatives from large and small companies around Europe, chaired by Viscount Etienne Davignon, well-known businessman and former politician. The group was 
called the European Business Forum for Multilingualism and its aim was to identify how companies can make operational use of language management when seeking to maximise their economic performance. The Business Forum also focused on 
employability and worker mobility, and on raising awareness of the benefits of multilingualism. The Forum produced a set of recommendations for the European 
Commission’s policies in this field. 
Its report concluded that there is i ndeed a strong case for multilingualism in 
European companies, regardless of size and line of business. Eur ope is not using its 
multilingual resources optimally and the Bu siness Forum would like to see this 
change urgently. Otherwise, according to its report, ‘Europe is running the risk of 
losing the war of competences, as emer ging economies mainly in Asia and Latin 
America rapidly acquire language skills and other skills necessary for competing 
successfully on tomorrow’s markets.’  Even nationally operating SMEs increasingly 
 
EN 38   EN have to address integration issues as a re sult of international mobility leading to a 
more and more multilingual and multicultural workforce. However, most companies are looking at global market s and not only their sales bu t also their supply chains 
across borders.  
The report sees multilingualism as ‘a hidden resource which needs to be unlocked’ . 
It wants to do away with the complacency  concerning English as the only necessary 
language for international busin ess. According to the Business Forum, it is time to 
classify English as a basic skill and look at  other languages with the aim of acquiring 
a competitive edge. Many companies feel the need to strengthen their language resources in the main European languages like German and French and in Russian. Large companies, especially, are increas ingly looking for new opportunities outside 
Europe and thus needing Spanish and Portugue se for Latin America, for example, or 
Mandarin for China. A differentiated appr oach is recommended. While recruiting 
native speakers bringing proficiency in th e languages of the main business partners 
can be a very good solution for certain tasks, it can be just as useful to acquire basic language skills, including cultural skills, fo r the purpose of building long-lasting and 
profitable relationships. 
‘The challenge is to inte grate multilingualism firmly in all strategies aiming at 
developing human capital for the future.’ That is one of the key statements in the 
report. Large companies mainly need to reor ient their strategies for recruitment and 
development of human resources, taking la nguage skills into account to a much 
larger extent than today. 
However, SMEs will need support and assist ance to become more multilingual. The 
Business Forum emphasises the crucial role of  networks and strategic partnerships in 
this context and urges trade organisations and chambers of commerce to take more 
action. 
Among the practical recommendations from  the Business Forum are the following. 
Companies can create a language-friendly mu ltilingual environment in the workplace 
by acknowledging and cherishing all the langu age skills possessed by members of 
staff and by looking at new and creative ways of using them. They can open up more 
exchanges with business partners or recr uit trainees and temporary staff speaking 
different languages. They should look clos ely at European and regional funding 
possibilities for mobility programmes, langua ge training and other means to enhance 
companies’ language resources. The busin ess sector would benefit from close 
cooperation with local universities and bus iness schools. Companies need to be 
specific about languages as part of the sk ills needed for future employment.  
It is worth while investigating the availabil ity of Internet-based tools to help with 
machine translation for information purpos es, for instance when browsing public 
procurement sites in different countries . Technology can help companies improve 
their language skills in many ways. It is possible to find flexible and time saving 
Internet courses that are adapted to i ndividual companies’ needs, resources and 
constraints. When it comes to external communication, companies need to develop 
proficiency in translating and localising me ssages for target audiences in different 
countries. Especially for small companies, good multilingual communication via Internet can make the difference between success and failure. 
 
EN 39   EN The report of the Business Forum can be downloaded from:  
http://ec.europa.eu/educatio n/policies/lang/languages_en.html  
5. RESULTS OF THE ONLINE CONSULTATION  
Context  
Greater mobility within the Union’s borde rs, migration from third countries and 
globalisation have all brought an increasi ng number of languages into the everyday 
lives of citizens and companies. The European Commission is committed to promoting language learning and linguisti c diversity, in accordance with the 
European Union’s founding principles. Between 14 September and 15 November 
2007, it carried out a public consultation to soli cit citizens’ views and expectations in 
relation to language policy. The findings of this survey, which forms part of a broad consultation process, have served as a basis for the new Commission Communication 
which this document accompanies.  
Methodology
 
The questionnaire covered six different areas,  all closely linked to the ways and the 
extent to which languages are used and promoted within the EU, from learning 
provision, through social, cultural and economic aspects, to the functioning of the EU 
institutions. The sixteen questions either called for comments or offered multiple 
choice answers. Some were a mixture of both. 
This document presents the main findings of the consultation. While it was possible 
to compile statistics for all the closed que stions, the responses to  the open questions 
were analysed at length a nd clustered around recu rrent themes to establish trends and 
correlations. These free comments also offe red an insight into the reasons behind 
respondents’ choice of the various options.  
Participation  
The consultation was open to all interested parties, inside or outside the Union. The 
number of finalised responses  received came to 2 419, in all official  languages of the 
EU.  
The survey was publicised by means of notices on various web pages of the Europa 
site, references in the press and in public speeches, and direct publicity sent to a large 
number of individuals, organisations and ne tworks that had formerly expressed their 
interest in European policies. As no information was gathered on how the 
participants learnt about the consultation, it is difficult to estimate the proportion of 
respondents who were either ‘spontaneous’ vis itors to the Europa site or readers of 
the European press compared with the proportion of those who had been contacted directly. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that contributions came from 
individuals and organi sations interested in European policies in general and in the 
place and roles attributed to languages in th e EU in particular. Despite the relatively 
high number of participants, the outcomes of  this consultation should therefore by no 
means be interpreted as those of a public opinion poll, but rather as the views of 
 
EN 40   EN citizens who have opted to enter into a dialogue with the European Commission 
about the way they would like to see the European Union in the future. 
An outstanding response rate  
The 2 419 finalised contributions to th e survey on multilingualism represent an 
outstanding participation rate for public c onsultations on European policies, which 
on average receive between 200 and 500 responses.  
Another striking feature of the particip ation is the prevalence of individual 
respondents over people responding on behalf of  their organisations. There is not one 
EU, EFTA or candidate c ountry missing from the br oad range of countries 
represented by the respondents; moreover, a significant number of contributions were 
received from other continents. 
The consultation was available in 22 offi cial EU languages, but altogether the 
participants represented 57 mother t ongues, including nume rous regional and 
minority languages and some spoke n in countries outside the EU. 
This high rate of participa tion, across such a vast geogr aphical area and mainly by 
private individuals, clearly shows that the way languages are taught, treated and 
spoken in Europe is an issue partic ularly close to people’s hearts.  
Moreover, the significant pr oportion of respondents whose mother tongue is not one 
of the EU official languages provides evidence that multilingualism in the Europe of today is a reality whose complexity goes far beyond the management of 23 operational languages. It sets out a context ca lling for answers at levels other than the 
merely functional one, covering a much wider spectrum of languages than those 
enjoying official status. 
In a nutshell: what do respondents to the consultation think about languages?
 
More than 96% of the respondents agree that  the linguistic diversity of the EU calls 
for special attention from European politicians and that language skills are important for both their everyday a nd their professional life. 
According to respondents, the most impor tant factors for su ccessful language 
learning are an early start and direct experience of the count ry of the target language.  
Most people think that the li nguistic diversity of the EU is an asset to be safeguarded 
and wish to see it placed in a context going beyond economic and functional aspects, which recognises the identities and cultures represented in languages.  
Advocates of the cause of regional and mi nority languages think more respect could 
be shown to these languages especially in  education and public  services and would 
like to see the EU adopting a more protective role in  this respect. 
Most respondents would like to see the media promoting an intercultural society 
model, valuing linguistic a nd cultural identity, and focusing on tolerance, not 
confrontation. 
 
EN 41   EN The vast majority of respondent s share the view that it is easier to do business abroad 
if you know the local language and that, therefore, compan ies have an interest in 
investing in the development of th e language skills of their staff. 
The majority share the view that migrants should preser ve their language of origin 
and treat their linguistic and cu ltural identity as a necessary  basis for integrating into 
a linguistic and cultural community  different from their own. 
Most people find that the costs related to  working in 23 offi cial languages are 
justified or should even be increased. 
More information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/pol icies/lang/consult/report_en.pdf
. 
 
EN 42   EN ANNEX  
1.1.  FOLLOW -UP TO THE 2005  COMMUNICATION ON MULTILINGUALISM  
Nr. 
 Action State Output Who 
I. A MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY: language learning and research   
1. Implement, in cooperation with Member States, 
the European Indicator of Language Competence ; COM(2007) 184 final, COM(2005) 596 final EC 
2. Promote discussion and produce a aaaaaaa  
recommendation on ways of bringing language teacher education up-to-date  See section 3.5  of this document. 
Mainstreamed in work on quali ty of teacher education: 
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/objectives_en.html#training  EC 
3.  Publish a study on best practice in early language 
learning in 2006 ; http://ec.europa.eu/education/languag es/eu-language-policy/doc126_en.htm  EC 
4.  Provide support through the LLP for studies on 
the state of multilingualism in higher education and the creation of chairs in fields of study related 
to multilingualism and interculturalism ; http://ec.europa.eu/education/ programmes/llp/index_en.html  EC 
5. Continue to support the teaching and learning of 
languages through cooperation programmes in the field of education, trai ning, youth, citizenship and 
culture  http://ec.europa.eu/culture/our-pro grammes-and-actions/doc411_fr.htm  
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-in -action-programme/doc247_en.htm  
http://ec.europa.eu/education/pr ogrammes/llp/valor/index_en.html   EC 
 
EN 43   EN 6. Investigate ways of sup porting language diversity 
networks through the LLP ; Minority languages were given priority. 
http://ec.europa.eu/education/ programmes/llp/index_en.html  EC 
7. Reinforce research and technological development 
activities on langua ge-related IT, with a specific 
focus on new technologies for machine translation, and study the ways in which the EU could encourage further cooperation in new translation and interp retation technologies  See section 2.6  of this document. 
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/2070/5927  
  EC 
A. Establish national plans to give structure, 
coherence and direction to actions to promote multilingualism, including increasing the use and presence of a variety of  languages in daily life  In 2007, an independent consultant to the Commission, Professor Jean-
Claude Beacco (New Sorbonne Universit y, Paris), carried out an analysis 
of the national reports and additi onal information provided by the 
Working Group on Languages. His report outlines the main trends in language teaching in Eur ope and highlights good practice, some of which 
was included in the Commission Report. 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/archiv e/policy/report_en.html
  MS 
B. Review current arrangeme nts for foreign language 
teacher training in the light of the findings of the study ‘European Profile for Language Teacher Education’  See the Report on the implementation of the Action Plan ‘Promoting language learning and li nguistic diversity’. CO M(2007) 554 final/2 and 
related national reports. 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/archiv e/policy/report_en.html
  MS 
C. Review current arrangements for early language 
learning in the light of best practice from across 
Europe  See the Report on the implementation of the Action Plan ‘Promoting language learning and li nguistic diversity’. CO M(2007) 554 final/2 and 
related national reports 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/archiv e/policy/report_en.html
  MS 
 
EN 44   EN D. Implement the Conclusions of the Luxembourg 
Presidency concerning Content and Language Integrated Learning, incl uding raising awareness 
of the benefits of this approach, exchanging information and scientific evidence on good CLIL practice and specific CLIL training for teachers  See the Report on the implementation of the Action Plan ‘Promoting language learning and li nguistic diversity’. CO M(2007) 554 final/2 and 
related national reports 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/archiv e/policy/report_en.html
  MS 
II. MULTILINGUAL ECONOMY   
8. Publish a study on the impact on the European 
economy of shortages of language skills in 2006 ; http://ec.europa.eu/education/languag es/eu-language-policy/doc126_en.htm  EC 
9. Publish on the web an inventory of the language 
certification systems avai lable in the EU in 2006 ; http://ec.europa.eu/education/languag es/eu-language-policy/doc126_en.htm  EC 
10. Lunch a study on the potential for greater use of 
sub-titles in film and television programmes to 
promote language learning ; http://ec.europa.eu/information_socie ty/media/overview/evaluation/studie
s/index_en.htm  EC 
11. Publish the inter-institu tional, multilingual 
database IATE ; http://iate.europa.eu  
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/2294/16#what  EC 
12. Organise a conference on translator training in 
universities, in 2006 ; http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/extern al_relations/universities/master_en.htm  EC 
 
EN 45   EN  
13. Launch under i2010  a flagship initiative on digital 
libraries making multimedia sources easier and more interesting to use ; http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ activities/digital_libraries/index_en.htm  EC 
14. Bring together and coordinate the work of 
European research teams in the fields of human language technologies, machine translation, and the creation of language resources such as dictionaries and thesau ri, and set technical 
challenges specific to the European context (such as the focus on the quality of multilingual applications and machine translation systems) 
 See section 2.6  of this document. 
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/2070/5927  EC 
E. Review training programme s at universities to 
ensure that they equip students in the language 
professions with the ri ght skills for rapidly 
changing working conditions  See the Report on the implementation of the Action Plan ‘Promoting language learning and li nguistic diversity’. CO M(2007) 554 final/2 and 
related national reports 
http://ec.europa.eu/e ducation/languages/archiv e/policy/report_en.html
  MS 
III. MULTILINGUALISM IN THE COMMISSION ’S RELATIONS WITH CITIZENS   
15. Ensure, through an internal network, that all EC 
departments apply the multilingualism policy in a coherent way  The status of multilingualism has risen and the internal network has been 
transformed into an Interservi ce Group on Multilingualism.  EC 
16. Continue to foster multilingualism on the Europa 
portal and in EU publications. All the Publications Office websites, EUR-Lex, EU-Bookshop and TED (Tenders Electronic Daily where procurement notices are published), are fully  
http://ec.europa.eu/publications/  
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/index_fr.htm  EC 
 
EN 46   EN multilingual. 
17.  Launch a languages portal on Europa providing 
information about multilingualism in the EU and accommodating new portals dedicated to language learners and language teachers ; http://europa.eu/languages/en/home  
http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/index_en.htm  EC 
18. Give a greater role to translation field offices in 
the Member States in promoting multilingualism, 
particularly by customising EC messages for local target audiences ; http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/external_relations/field_offices/index_
en.htm  EC 
19. Organise high-level semi nars on multilingualism 
in the Member States, targ eted at journalists and 
other opinion multipliers  http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/transla tion/bookshelf/brochure_en.pdf  EC 
20. Continue to offer universities grants and teaching 
assistance in the field of  conference interpreting, 
help develop distance learning tools and fund 
student grants and training visits  http://scic.ec.europa.eu/europa/j cms/c_6333/aiuto-alle-universita  
http://scic.ec.europa.eu/eur opa/jcms/c_6344/bourse-d-etudes  EC 
21. Continue to develop cost-effective multilingual 
conferencing and communication tools under the Commission’s project on the inter-operable 
delivery of pan-European e-government services to public administrations, businesses and citizens  http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/chapter/3
 EC 
22. Support the European Master’s in Conference 
Interpreting and the European Master’s in Conference Management ; http://scic.ec.europa.eu/europa/jcm s/c_5374/international-cooperation  
http://www.emcinterpreting.org/  EC 
 
EN 47   EN  
23. Continue to play a full part in the International 
Annual Meeting on Language Arrangements, Documentation and Publication, a body which discusses new job and skills requirements  http://scic.ec.europa.eu/europa /jcms/c_6354/dg-interpretation-and-
iamladp-ndash-the-internationa l-annual-meeting-on-language-
arrangements-documentation-a nd-publications ?qs=id%3Dc_5666  EC 
24. Continue to provide universities with a model 
curriculum of a Master’s degree in translation and supply visiting translators to  help train students in 
translation  http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/ex ternal_relations/universities/master_
curriculum_en.pdf  EC 
25. Organise an international translation competition 
between schools in Member States, to promote language knowledge and th e language professions ; Translation School Contest  
http://ec.europa.eu/translat ion/contest/2007/index_en.htm  EC 
IV. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS   
26. Set up a High Level Group on Multilingualism ; http://ec.europa.eu/education/ policies/lang/doc/multireport_en.pdf  EC 
27. Organise a Ministerial Conference  ; 15 February 2008 EC 
28. Present a further co mmunication proposing a 
comprehensive approach to multilingualism in the EU ; 17 September 2008 EC