"Lexicograffiti" at the European Parliament

The Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament organised The Lexicograffiti Seminar,  the 4th seminar of the cycle Terminology in the Changing World of Translation, aimed to expand translators’ knowledge in the field of terminology and other related domains essential to their profession. Among the speaker was Prof. Gerhard Budin, partner in the CELAN project.
Visit the TermCoord website for links to terminology data bases, terminology networks worldwide and EU bodies dealing with translation.

Executive Training Programme in Japan and Korea

The European Commission supports European company executives who want to get immersed into the business culture of Japan and Korea. 45 weeks in the country, of which 12 actively in a Japanese or Korean company. The course includes cultural, economic, historic and linguistic aspects and is open to all sectors. More information can be found at www.euetp.eu. 
Deadline for the next submission of applications is 31 May 2012.
You may be also interested in the EU Gateway programme in which the European Commission funds business missions to Japan and Korea.

Round Table and Business Platform Report

Despite of the strike emptying the streets of Brussels that Monday, 30 January 2012, the CELAN Round Table attracted 35+ high level stakeholders in the Language for Business arena. During the first part, Wolfgang Mackiewicz, CELAN coordinator, gave a short introduction after which the Steering Committee members presented the activities carried out so far. Here are the presentations for downloading:
CELAN Overview - Margaretha Mazura, EMF
Language needs for European Businesses - Gustavo Gonzalez-Qujano, COTANCE
Language Industry Stock Taking - Christian Galinksi, INFOTERM
CELAN platform and tools - Mike Hammersley, FAV

Chaired by Professor Stephen Hagen, an expert panel consisting of representatives from industry and the learning environment reflected on CELAN results and discussed the best way to raise awareness about the importance of multilingualism to businesses. Some of the key outcome were: Sensibilise the young for languages; give real-life use cases as examples, ideally around a successful (language) business model; raise  awareness of opportunities in a global world; and finally, the confirmed fact that "not one size fits all".

The Business Platform for Multilingualism meeting the following morning enlarged the audience while contributing to the findings of the Round Table. The meeting was kick-started by Belén Bernaldo de Quirós, Head of Unit for Multilingual Policy at DG EAC. She gave an overview of the political landscape of multilingualism at EU level, emphasising the most recent Council Conclusions on Mobility that gave a clear mandate to the EC to support initiatives like the Business Platform. [Presentation of B. Bernaldo]
Kristina Cunningham, Deputy Head of Unit, gave an overview on "Languages for competitiveness and employability",  while Peter Birch, Head of Sector, EACEA, pointed out the synergies with other LLP projects in his presentation "Languages for business - the LLP experience". The presentations were followed by interactive "World Café" type sessions that discussed the role of higher education for language learning, the way businesses can be reached, and gave indications on the future activities of the Business Platform.

Speakers at CELAN Round Table

Have a look at the speakers at the CELAN Round Table and take the opportunity to talk with reknown experts on language and business at the networking lunch before, the networking cocktail after the event.If you want to register please contact us.

Download the draft programme
Download the speakers list

Language needs of businesses - Round Table 30 Jan 2012

The CELAN project investigates the language needs of businesses and provides solutions to language strategies. The Round Table is geared at businesses, business representative organisations, language service and technology providers, training institutions, etc. It will discuss where market meets training and what should be done in the future to improve competitiveness and employability through language strategies.

The Round Table is followed by the meeting of the Business Platform for Multilingualism on Tuesday, 31 January morning. For more information, have a look at the programme.


Download the draft programme

Le cyberspace, chance et défi pour les langues

Dans la conférence du 22 novembre 2011 organisée par DLF Bruxelles-Europe, le « Le cyberespace, chance et défi pour les langues », les intervenants sont tombés d’accord que la survie des langues est liée à leur présence sur l’Internet. Le cyberespace est résolument l’avenir du multilinguisme. Le développement des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) y jouent un rôle déterminant. Pour lire la synthèse, cliquez ici.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

CELAN wishes all Blog readers, contributors and visitors a peaceful Christmas season and a healthy and wealthy New Year 2012!

Curious how to say these wishes in other languages? For a polyglot Merry Christmas click here. And the Happy New Year can be found here. ENJOY!

Multilingualism for jobs mobility, but not only

On November 17, the Council of the European Union issued conclusions on language competences to enhance mobility. In the document the Council not only addresses multilingualism for jobs mobility but also mentions the importance to foster better use of language competences as a mean of increasing the competitiveness of EU business, and especially that of small and medium-sized enterprises. In this context, the Council welcomes the work of the Business Platform for Multilingualism of which EMF is a member of the Steering Committee, and invites the European Commission to further pursue its support and stakeholder initiatives of this kind.

Download the document

CELAN at the LILAMA conference in Brussels

The LILAMA Network, Linguistic Policy for the Labour Market, hosted on November 24th the conference “Europe 2020: Language Policy and Training Impact on EU’s Employability and Competitiveness”. 
The Network launched its best practice guide on language policies for the labour market and training initiatives to boost employability. LILAMA also delivered policy recommendations useful for the next generation of EU programs scheduled for 2014-2020.

CELAN was invited to take part in the conference and present the result of its first working package. Mirela Mazalu from EUCA showed what the CELAN questionnaire unveiled about the language needs of European businesses.

New EU Strategy for SME internationalisation

The EC issued a new communication on the internationalisation of SMEs yesterday, 9 November 2011 in which it laid down a new strategy to pave the way for SMEs to expand their business outside the EU. Among the activities are:



1. Strengthening and mapping the existing supply of support services
2. Creating a single virtual gateway to information for SMEs
3. Making support schemes at EU level more consistent
4. Promoting clusters and networks for SME internationalisation
5. Rationalising new activities in priority markets
6. Leveraging existing EU external policies

More on SME internationalisation

Communication text

P.S. I made it a habit to look for the word "language" in strategy papers that deal with internationalisation, globalisation, mobility and the like. In this Communication, it appears once: as the promise to translate the pilot portal of Enterprise Europe Network into all EU languages.