Multilingualism is key for business, growth and the Europe2020 strategy

The Final Workshop of CELAN – Language strategies for competitiveness and employability took place on 15 November 2012 in Brussels and was attended by key stakeholders such as business associations, Higher Education representatives, decision-makers but also companies that implemented language strategies successfully and language technology providers. 

"Multilingualism is key for business, growth and the Europe2020 strategy" emphasised Sonia Peressini, DG EAC, Multilingualism Unit, in her welcome address. And Wolfgang Mackiewicz, Freie Universität Berlin and CELAN coordinator evoked again the two main tenets CELAN came to: "multilingualism needs to be business-driven, and "no size fits all", in particular for SMEs". 

Workshop presentations :

• CELAN Final Workshop Wolfgang Mackiewicz
• CELAN Final Workshop Gustavo Gonzales
• CELAN Final Workshop Christian Galinski
• CELAN Final Workshop Mike Hammersley
• CELAN Final Workshop Margaretha Mazura
• CELAN Final Workshop Gerald Lobermeier

The beta version of a needs assessment tool is available now. Any feed-back is highly appreciated to letter-box@emfs.eu.

NEW VENUE for CELAN Final Workshop

The CELAN Final Workshop on "Language Strategies for competitiveness and employability" will take place at the Hotel Leopold, rue du Luxembourg 35, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.

The workshop starts at 13.00 hrs until 17.00 and is followed by a networking cocktail.

Final Programme. 

CELAN Final Workshop 15 November, Brussels

The Final Workshop of the CELAN project - Language Strategies for Competitiveness and Employability - will take place on 15 November 2012 in Brussels. 

"In the age of globalization, an ever increasing number of products and services are offered to a growing number of language communities... I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by these findings – and their economic implications" says Wolfgang Mackewicz, coordinator of the CELAN project. Join us and find out your language needs and be part of the panel discussion on future strategies. 

Programme 

Registration

EU-China Language Forum: cooperation and bilateral relations

On 16 October 2012, a EU-China Language Forum will be held. With trade and political relations between China and Europe on the rise, the role of language and language education is crucial. More than 2000 Chinese students have benefited from Erasmus Mundus grants to study in the EU, while the Chinese government yearly provides 200 scholarships for European students to study Chinese in China. This conference will analyse and explore potential policy measures and practices to improve language education, cooperation and bilateral relations between China and Europe.
Registration are still possible until Monday, 15 October 2012.

More information about EU-China Language Forum.

The 3rd International Symposium on Multilingualism on Cyberspace

As emphasized repeatedly in Net.lang, towards the multilingual cyberspace [1], cyberspace presents both, a threat and an opportunity, for languages. Threat, because the most equipped languages impose themselves ; opportunity, because, by its accessibility and universality, cyberspace can give a channel to those who need it, directly, as a recording option, and indirectly, through the dissemination of knowledge.

The 3rd International Symposium on Multilingualism on Cyberspace, organized by the World Network for Linguistic Diversity, is going to take place in Paris from 21 to 23 November 2012.  It will be open to a wide audience in order to make available the issues of linguistic diversity in the digital world and to facilitate understanding of the issues by all persons interested in the development and promotion of languages. Cyberspace will be taken in the broad sense including new media.

4 subjects have been selected by the III SIMC Scientific Council members : 

• Governance and international cooperation for multilingualism
• Languages and multilingualism in virtual education
• Multilingualism and language technologies 
• Multilingualism, cyberspace and labour market

More information about The third International Symposium on Multilingualism on Cyberspace

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