WRITTEN QUESTION E-2590/96 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (11 October 1996)

Subject: Information and linguistic diversity

Regarding the proposal for a Council Decision on the adoption of a multiannual programme to promote the linguistic diversity of the Community in the information society (COM(95)0486).

Europe's citizens and SMUs will be unable to benefit from the global information society unless they have multilingual tools enabling them to produce, exchange, and obtain information wherever they may be.

Given that the possibility of achieving easy two-way communication is the biggest problem in the present-day world, which is becoming increasingly globalized from the economic, cultural, and political points of view, it will be necessary to take up the political challenge before the year 2000 to ensure that European languages can be effective means of communication.

Will the Commission take practical steps to enable the majority of Europeans to become proficient in two or three Community languages in the near future, in particular by boosting school education, still the principal source of instruction where languages are concerned?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (5 November 1996)

The Commission is well aware of the importance of a knowledge of languages in the age of the information society. Together with an adequate grasp of one's mother tongue, a knowledge of foreign languages is increasingly becoming an essential requirement for all the citizens of Europe if they are to enjoy Europe's extraordinary cultural heritage and benefit from the opportunities offered by the advent of the information society. This requirement is explicitly set out in the multiannual programme to promote the linguistic diversity of the Community in the information society MLIS (Multilingual Information Society) ((OJ C 198, 8.7.1996. )).

The MLIS programme comprises three action lines and a series of accompanying measures; 1. 'Supporting the construction of an infrastructure for European language resources'; 2. 'Mobilizing and expanding the language industries'; 3. 'Promoting the use of advanced language tools in the European public sector'. Action line 1, in particular, is aimed at the compilation, dissemination and use of multilingual electronic resources (dictionaries, terminology banks, collections of texts, voice recordings, etc.) at European level. Such standardized resources can be usefully incorporated into a wide range of linguistic applications, including systems for language learning and teaching. The principal beneficiaries will be industry, and in particular small and medium sized entreprises as well as schools and other institutions in the field of education and vocational training.

The MLIS programme is one of a series of Community measures aimed at improving the knowledge of languages. Language learning is one of the main objectives of the Socrates and Leonardo programmes, which are continuing the activities undertaken by the Commission, in close cooperation with the Member States, under the previous Lingua programme. The activities financed under these programmes aim at improving the learning environment. This can be achieved through activities targeted at language teacher training and at the development of didactical material, as well as the motivation of the learners, such as example through exchanges of young people in the context of joint educational projects. Moreover, the Commission adopted a white paper entitled 'Teaching and Learning. Towards the Learning Society ((OJ C 182, 24.6.1996. )) in which the promotion of language learning occupies an important place, namely in objective 4 'Proficiency in 3 Community languages'.

Finally, in the 'Telematic applications' programme, both the training and the language engineering sectors include the development of instruments for the training and learning of languages. Research and development activities in this field will be continued and possibly reinforced in future under the fifth framework programme.