Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on Multilingualism
Date: 2008-06-18
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: continuing vocational training, language policy, language teaching, multilingualism, social integration

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘Multilingualism’

(2008/C 257/06)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— highlights that throughout the European Union, the regional and local tiers bear responsibility for the
protection and promotion of linguistic diversity. They are ideally placed to build a constructive part-
nership with language-teaching institutions in order to devise teaching and training courses that meet
specific local needs and demands;

— believes that, given the importance of linguistic diversity in the European Union, the intention when
creating a multilingual society must be to maximise the benefits of diversity and minimise its draw-
backs;

— believes that everyone in the EU, while preserving his own mother tongue(s) as the badge of his own
cultural heritage, must in the course of his life additionally acquire an active and passive knowledge of
a shared second language and a third language chosen on the basis of cultural affinity or the social
and economic mobility requirements of the country or region of origin;

— highlights that with a view to achieving the objective of ‘mother tongue plus two’, the regions must

play a leading role, especially in implementing the education programmes;

— proposes that all regions be encouraged to set up local multilingualism forums which would monitor
local social, economic and educational trends and put forward measures to raise public awareness and
motivation in relation to lifelong learning of ‘mother tongue plus two’.

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Rapporteur: Roberto PELLA (IT/EPP), Member of Biella Provincial Council and Vice Mayor of Valdengo

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

congratulates the European Commission on the powerful
1.
impetus given to the multilingualism agenda by the creation on
1 January 2007 of a portfolio dedicated to it and assigned to
Commissioner Leonard Orban. Given the importance of this
portfolio and the challenge which it represents,
it should be
strengthened so that it can develop and effectively achieve the
objectives assigned to it;

underscores the priority that multilingualism has in the
2.
European policy agenda — a priority which embraces every area
of Europe's social, economic and cultural life.

endorses the work programme set out by Commissioner
3.
Orban, who considers multilingualism to be instrumental
in
achieving a more integrated Europe and increased dialogue
between cultures;

4.
believes that, given the importance of linguistic diversity
in the European Union, the intention when creating a multilin-
gual society must be to maximise the benefits of diversity and
minimise its drawbacks, rather than merely exploiting diversity
as the means to an end;

draws attention to the study of the high-level group on
5.
multilingualism set up in 2005 and endorses the action it calls
for, namely:

— more work to raise awareness, especially though information
campaigns targeted at parents, young people and organisa-
tions in education and culture;

— initiatives to improve people's motivation to learn new
leisure and

languages, especially through extracurricular,
informal activities;

— greater attention to the cultural and linguistic potential of
immigrants as part of the goal of both integrating migrants
into the host society and enabling them,
through their
multilingualism, to achieve their full individual potential;

— and extending European multilingual

to the
languages of third countries in order to maximise European
competitiveness;

activity

— language learning is a key element for retaining or raising

the individual's chances of employment;

— the best way to encourage language learning is to begin
early in the education process and to provide incentives for
spending time studying and working abroad;

— making teaching methods as effective as possible requires
above all work on non-standard methods of transferring
linguistic competence that take the needs of the individual
on board;

— linguistic diversity is best respected at local, national and
European level by learning more about the culture behind
the languages to be learned or encountered;

— language makes a big impact on the economy, since it is
easier to do business with a foreign company if one knows
the language of the country in which it is located;

— a good way of

improving language skills at work is to
promote language courses in the workplace, provided it is
viable for the workplace in question;

— the use of more official languages in the work of the Euro-
pean Union and the administrative costs this entails is seen
as desirable to boost the institutions' multilingual ethos;

7.
highlights and endorses the proposals of the group of
intellectuals for intercultural dialogue established at the Euro-
pean Commission's behest and chaired by Amin Maalouf,
affirming in particular:

— that in bilateral relations between the peoples of the Euro-
pean Union, preference should be given to the use of the
languages of these peoples;

— that it is important for the European Union to champion
the idea of a foreign language chosen by the individual;

8.
stresses that the promotion and safeguarding of cultural
and linguistic diversity is a top priority. In the European Union,
linguistic diversity should be also understood as the recognition
and use of:

— the official languages of the EU;

— the official languages of the EU Member States;

— the minority languages spoken but not officially recognised

in the EU Member States.

6.
points to the findings of the on-line consultation initiated
in September 2007, which makes the following key points
regarding action on multilingualism:

The Union and its Member States should promote linguistic
diversity in their respective fields of activity;

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9.
Throughout the European Union, the regional and local
tiers bear responsibility for the protection and promotion of
linguistic diversity. The regional and local levels are also respon-
sible for education, training and adult education, as well as
being one of the social partners and coordinating regional and
local growth and development;

the
10. When training continues throughout
concepts of
‘knowledge’ and ‘learning’ grow in importance,
partly because the world of work with its diverse opportunities
requires better language skills;

the career,

11.
Regional and local authorities are ideally placed to build
a constructive partnership with language-teaching institutions in
order to devise teaching and training courses that meet specific
local needs and demands;

12. maintains, therefore, that regional and local authorities
are the best equipped to satisfy the various local language needs,
without prejudice to any support
they might receive from
central/national authorities;

General comments

between citizens and the affirmation of the value of differ-
ences and of cultural identity (an intercultural society);

d) promoting active citizenship, the institutional involvement of
the regions, consulting and listening to the people and social
inclusion are all needed to ensure more effective European
action on the legislation front which must be increasingly
supported and shared by the regions and individuals. The
European Community must therefore speak the language of
its own citizens in its documents and in its external and
inter-institutional relations so that they can be understood,
so that local institutions (local and regional authorities) are
able to interact and so that members of the public can get
the message and participate in the life of Europe and act as a
sounding board for the strategic objectives proposed;

15.
Regarding the open-coordination method in respect of
multilingualism, the Commission must be at pains to involve
not only the national level of administration, but also the local
and regional ones, since it is often these that bear most respon-
sibility for implementing the relevant measures in their area;

16.
In this connection, attention must also be given to the
respect and dignity of non-official languages spoken by minori-
ties, which — no less than the official languages — constitute
an element of the diversity of regional culture that must have its
place in European programmes of inclusion;

13.
considers that Europe must build its social and economic
cohesion by making the most of the opportunities afforded by
mobility, globalisation, European culture and the sense of Euro-
pean citizenship;

Recommendations and key actions

14.
A key way this can be achieved is by eliminating the
linguistic hurdles that countries and individuals have to face,
since:

a) knowledge of

foreign languages greatly enhances profes-
sional, educational, cultural and personal mobility. The Euro-
pean Union will never be a true union if its people fail to
achieve a greater level of internal mobility;

b) knowledge of languages markedly improves competitiveness
by enabling new contacts to be made, practices to be
exchanged, products to be sold and services to be provided.
Globalisation opens up commercial and labour markets.
Knowledge of foreign languages is one of the requirements
for setting up partnerships and establishing closer partner-
ships with other Community countries and companies and
thus being able to use the opportunities of globalisation;

considers it important to enshrine the aims of Europe's

17.
multilingual policies in the ‘mother tongue plus two’ objective;

believes that everyone in the EU, while preserving his
18.
own mother tongue(s) as the badge of his own cultural heritage,
should in the course of his life additionally acquire an active
and passive knowledge of a shared second language and a third
language chosen on the basis of cultural affinity or the social
and economic mobility requirements of the country or region
of origin;

The choice of the third language must be made not only
19.
from what are considered the official languages of the EU, but
also from European minority languages and, above all, non-
European languages that offer major cultural, economic and
social opportunities for the growth of Europe's competitiveness;

c) language is the most immediate expression of culture and
helps to improve communication between the people of
‘European culture’ cannot be based on the accep-
Europe.
tance and passive establishment of a mosaic made up of the
cultures of the Member States (a multicultural society), but is
consolidated through the comprehensive cultural encounter

20.
proposes that the following key recommendations be
adopted as priorities in Europe's multilingual policy and imple-
mented in order to motivate the population, preserve diversity
and put local and regional bodies centre-stage in the choice of
approaches to learning;

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Regional involvement

21.
Local and regional authorities are key players, not just
because many of them have political and administrative powers
in the sphere of education and training, but also because of
their ability to better monitor the situation of public multilingu-
alism and trends in the application of relevant Community
directives and programmes. It is at regional and local level that
powers acquired and measures carried out are tested, which can
give a strong impetus to European political action;

pean society must be encouraged and facilitated, while ensuring
that their right to preserve their language of origin is fully
respected. The languages they should learn and acquire are the
official EU language of the territory as well as the co-official
languages of the areas or regions where they live, as laid down
in with their constitutional provisions;

In short,

30.
institutions must
local, regional and national
encourage the education system to include a broad range of
languages
in the education curriculum. Education systems
should cover a broad range of languages tailored to regional
social, economic and cultural requirements;

22. With a view to achieving the objective of ‘mother tongue
plus two’, the regions must play a leading role, especially in
implementing the education programmes;

31.
believes that language skills are a key factor in competi-
tiveness. Studies have shown that European businesses lose
markets by not having the relevant language skills;

In any country, each region may have its own specific

23.
historical, civic, cultural, social and economic characteristics;

thus calls on the Commission to keep up its efforts in

32.
this area;

24.
Regional diversity must be encouraged, which means that
regions must be called upon to provide language on the basis of
studies and research, surveys of cultural traditions carried out by
local authorities and regions, the wishes of the general public,
and the socio-economic outlook and requirements of
the
region;

Better linguistic integration

25.
It would thus be possible to monitor consistency
between local needs and current educational programmes and
to take advantage of flexibility at local and regional authority
level to adjust educational initiatives that have not produced the
results hoped for;

As far as smaller languages and languages spoken by a
33.
minority are concerned,
it should be remembered that these
help to boost the basic European cultural value of diversity and
should therefore not only not be placed at a disadvantage in this
process but should be a particular object of protection;

The designation ‘minority’ or ‘smaller’ must not become

34.
a reason for discrimination against the language;

26.
The language selected must be freely chosen. In case a
Member State has more than one official EU language, the
learning of the other language(s) has also to be encouraged;

proposes the promotion of debates to establish more

35.
appropriate terms that better reflect the actual situation;

that

believes

27.
the multilingualism policy should also
include a significant external component. Promoting European
interest both culturally and
languages beyond the EU is of
economically.
the EU should be open to
In the same way,
languages from third countries, such as Chinese, Arabic, Indian
languages, Russian, etc.

28. We would therefore propose that all regions be encour-
aged to set up local multilingualism forums which would
monitor local social, economic and educational trends and put
forward measures to raise public awareness and motivation in
relation to lifelong learning of ‘mother tongue plus two’;

36.
Thus it is important to continue the process of officially
recognising minority languages which represent firmly rooted
European traditions and cultures;

37.
This would allow official recognition by the EU, so that
it would translate its own texts into more languages than the
current 23, thus fostering direct dialogue between Europe and
its citizens;

The European process of officially recognising languages

38.
and regional diversification will enhance social inclusion;

29.
Programmes to include migrants must also be strongly
promoted. Knowledge of the relevant languages they and their
children need in order to develop their full potential in Euro-

welcomes the conclusions of the European Council of 13
39.
June 2005 allowing the use within the EU bodies and institu-
tions of
than those recognised as official
languages other
languages under Regulation 1/1958;

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40.
Languages that are not recognised as official languages,
either at European or local or regional level, must nevertheless
continue to be covered by programmes to protect cultural iden-
tity;

Intergenerational solidarity

There is also the problem of how to support citizens in

41.
the lifelong learning process;

Although it may be easier to ‘direct’ language learning at
42.
school and help today's young people not to later lose the inter-
cultural linguistic awareness acquired at their desks, the problem
becomes more complex with generations who have left the
education system a long time ago and have never followed a
multilingual
to secure
It
access to language learning for the older generation, many of
whom have never engaged with other languages, either in their
everyday lives or for professional reasons. This would enhance
their means of expression in their old age, leading to a more
fully engaged European citizenship on their part;

is also important

training process.

It is therefore necessary to promote systems of learning
43.
that are not only affordable (the cost of language courses often
hinders the delivery of education to older people), but also avail-
able to people who have mobility problems or cannot make the
active commitment required in terms of time;

44.
points out that efforts must be made to learn as correctly
as possible a foreign language, especially in view of the ever
growing migrant community;

45.
It is important to stress, therefore, that less rigorous ways
of learning do exist which enable people to acquire rudimentary
language skills with which they can understand and be under-
stood. These methods of
learning should be promoted by
national, regional and local educational institutions and funded
by the EU to disseminate learning opportunities and bridge the
generation gap in language learning;

46.
This also means supporting alternative forms of learning
through multimedia by promoting media transmissions in the
original
films,
language with subtitles (e.g. TV programmes,
news), as well as broader use of computer language courses or
online translation programs. In other words, a sort of lifelong
‘self-learning’;

Progress

in language

acquisition at primary

48.
and
secondary school should be developed. The education process
must provide more opportunities to speak a foreign language at
primary school and to learn a third language at secondary
school;

University education must provide facilities for perfecting
49.
or further improving a person's linguistic skills, which also
means boosting the Erasmus and Socrates programmes;

But universities must open their doors not just to mature
50.
students who want to brush up their language skills but also to
businesses, which must be helped and encouraged in enabling
their staff and management to take on the challenge of learning
new ‘commercial’ languages by promoting partnerships between
businesses and universities;

It

involve not

51.
is also necessary to develop translation and inter-
institutions (from the
preting courses that
just
general public to the regions and the European Parliament:
promoting and rewarding cities that can present
their own
websites and external documentation in several languages is a
good incentive for local institutional multilingualism), but also
points of contact with the general public;

Interdisciplinarity

52. Multilingualism can be promoted on the basis not just of
education and training but through recreational activities;

53.
For example, learning more languages through sport or
culture is a way of raising awareness among a wide range of
people, from children to adults;

54. Music songs are already in themselves a global and multi-
lingual market:
it would be useful, for example, to promote
events such as EuroMusic Open Day focusing on lyrics in songs;

Circulation of

editions
literary works
55.
(original and translation) should be stepped up, not just on the
initiative of
individual publishing houses but also through
public partnerships set up to encourage local and regional
governments to promote private multilingual initiatives;

in bilingual

EU institutions

47.
In young people and children, on the other hand, the
motivation to learn new languages must be kindled at an early
age. Language learning should begin as early as possible — so
that children become familiar with the sounds of a foreign
language — because this makes it easier for them to learn the
language faster and more comprehensively;

56.
accepts the need for ‘institutional’ multilingualism within
the EU. EU institutions should therefore ensure without delay
that at least passive interpreting from EU official languages is
provided to enable participants in discussions to express their
views in their own languages;

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57.
feels that preserving cultural diversity means guaran-
teeing a system of formal and informal translation into all offi-
cial European languages. It is absolutely necessary in encoura-
ging multilingualism that bilateral communication takes place in
the languages of the participants at informal meetings too;

58.
For formal meetings and for working and official docu-
ments there must be translation into all the official Member
State languages. Respecting each Member State as a cornerstone
of the EU, the EU in return must be accessible by giving each of
them, in accordance with their respective constitutional provi-
sions, the documents through which an active European citizen-
ship can be exercised;

EU external borders

59. Multilingualism must not be limited to developing social
and economic mobility within the EU, but should also allow

European citizens to become open to markets and cultures
outside Europe;

60.
This is also important in the light of current trends that
are pushing the EU towards increasingly closer economic and
cultural contacts with markets such as China, Russia and Japan;

Improved EU external competitiveness thus also depends
in non-EU

61.
on upgrading education and training courses
languages;

The selected third language can also be chosen from all
62.
the languages that European countries use in their contacts,
bearing in mind especially the languages of emerging non-EU
countries and the cultural profile of countries with which
Europe is building up its trade relations.

Brussels, 19 June 2008.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Luc VAN DEN BRANDE