European Day of Languages

Yesterday, 26 September, the EU celebreated the European Day of Language. The importance of languages is recognised at political as well as practical level. The twitter of the Digital Agenda stated that "Language is key for the digital single market. 

Only 18 % of Internet users regularly buy on-line in another language than their native one"; or the tweet of Jochen Hummel, chairman of LT Innovate: "Vielsprachigkeit ist die grösste  Huerde der Digital Agenda; loesen wir sie, ist Europa fitter als jeder andere fuer den Weltmarkt" (Multilingualism is the biggest challenge of the Digital Agenda; when we are able to solve it, Europe will be more fit than anybody else for the global market). 

Visit our websites - CELAN and LT-Innovate to learn about how we can support your multilinguality.

"Opening up Education": Let's shape the future of Europe's education

DG Education and Culture is currently working on a proposal for an initiative on "Opening up Education", which aim is to exploit the full potential of Open Education Resources and digital technologies for the modernisation of education and training systems, in order to supply the necessary skills for a knowledge-based economy, growth and jobs (EU2020). A public consultation is now online. We invite you to shape the future of Europe's education and answer the survey. It will be open until 13 November 2012.

More information about "Opening up Education".

Is Linguistic Diversity the next greater business challenge?

A recent study by The Economist "Competing across borders: how cultural and communication barriers affect business" reveals the importance of languages for businesses. Two-thirds of respondents say that differences in language and culture make it difficult to gain a foothold in unfamiliar markets.

Some 47% say their companies do not offer enough training to hone their employees’ language and communication skills, and 40% believe there is not enough emphasis placed on recruiting or selecting people who are suited to cross-cultural environments. Misunderstandings rooted in cultural differences present the greatest obstacle to productive cross-border collaboration

Interestingly, linguistic diversity – or the lack of it – is considered by some margin to be a greater business challenge in Latin America and southern Europe than elsewhere. For example, 38% of those surveyed in Brazil and 40% in Spain believe the difficulty in communicating in non-native languages to be a significant hindrance to effective cross-border relations.

More information about the full report (.pdf).

CELAN Partner meeting in progress - 8th June, 2012

Language = Intelligence: LTi Summit in Brussels, 19 June 2012

Europe's language technology stakeholders will meet in Brussels on 19 June 2012 at the first LT Innovate Summit (www.lt-innovate.eu) to showcase best solutions for areas such as eSkills, eHealth, eGovernment and to discuss future challenges of language technologies with industry, users and decision makers. 

More information: Programme

Participation in the event is free of charge, but registration is obligatory

Twitter: #LTi2012

Almost Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Translation

Ms. Lola Bendana, Director of Multi-Languages Corporation, and Mr. Alan Melby, Professor of Linguistics at Brigham Young University, just published a book together: "Almost Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Translation".

There are two parts : the first one is for everyone and "especially for those involved in requesting translation services" and the other one is especially for Translators and Project Managers.

This publication is freely available : click here

Share, Cooperate, Grow - the LIND Web Forum

More than 180 participants met in Brussels for the first LIND Web Forum on 24 May 2012, organised by DG Translation of the European Commission. Rytis Martikonis, Director-General of DGT, opened the Forum, followed by high-level key note speakers and panelists, covering the broad spectrum of the Language Industry. The industry faces several challenges that were the topics of the afternoon parallel sessions: Statistics, classification for the sector, qualifications & employability and the societal role of the Language Industry. CELAN put forward its classification suggestions developed in the course of the project. The coffee and lunch breaks provided a convivial atmosphere of networking amongst representatives from industry, academia, associations, EC and individual translators which made the event an attractive meeting point. The LIND website promotes visibility and recognition of the Language Industry by collecting data and information concerning the sector.

The European Commission is rethinking skills in the context of Europe 2020

The EC published a roadmap for “Rethinking skills in the context of Europe 2020”. Amongst others, the roadmap mentions the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET2020) that stresses the importance of transversal competences such as entrepreneurship, digital competence and multilingualism. As such, it endorses the findings of many eJobs profiles.  Another roadmap deals with the Internationalisation of Higher Education. As with the roadmap before, the emphasis on language learning and multilingualism is considered an important asset for internationalisation.

More information about all the published roadmaps

Les compétences transversales sont déterminantes

Le secteur des techniques d'information et de communication (TIC) estime qu'il va générer plus de 700.000 emplois en Europe dans les prochaines années. Paradoxalement, ce ne sont pas les compétences techniques qui semblent poser problème mais bien les compétences transversales telles qu'être en accord avec la strategie d'entreprise, être orienté client, être attentif aux détails, ...

François Adoue, responsable français de l'Observatoire Européens des métiers de l'internet, interviewé par RMC, explique que ce sont pourtant ces compétences qui seront déterminantes à l'embauche.

Plus d'information à propos de l'interview de François Adoue sur e-Jobs Observatory.

Certified Terminology Manager Webinar

TermNet, the Network for Terminology, organises a Webinar on "ECQA Certified Terminology Manager", on 24 May, from 4.00 to 5.00 pm. This is the English version for international attendance, after a successful Webinar in German held recently.
Reserve your Webinar sear now at: 
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/439810278