Poster for EDIC Sligo Celebration of European Day of Languages 2020

EDIC Sligo Celebrates European Day of Languages on Saturday 26th September 2020

Saturday 26th September

Europe Direct Sligo Central Library

There have never been more opportunities to work or study in a different European country - but lack of language competence prevents many people from taking advantage of them.

Globalisation and patterns of business ownership mean that citizens increasingly need foreign language skills to work effectively within their own countries. English alone is no longer enough.

Europe is rich in languages - there are over 200 European languages and many more spoken by citizens whose family origin is from other continents. This is an important resource to be recognised, used and cherished.

Language learning brings benefits to young and old - you are never too old to learn a language and to enjoy the opportunities it opens up. Even if you only know a few words of the language of the country that you visit (for example on holiday), this enables you to make new friends and contacts.

Learning other peoples' languages is a way of helping us to understand each other better and overcome our cultural differences.

Language skills are a necessity and a right for EVERYONE – that is one of the main messages of the European Day of Languages.

The overall objectives are to raise awareness of:

  • Europe’s rich linguistic diversity, which must be preserved and enhanced;
  • the need to diversify the range of languages people learn (to include less widely used languages), which results in plurilingualism;
  • the need for people to develop some degree of proficiency in two languages or more to be able to play their full part in democratic citizenship in Europe.

Ours series of Grimm Fairy tales celebrates some of the languages of Europe, having four stories delivered in a 'performance reading' by Niall De Burca in English, and then read in another European language by our volunteer readers. The majority of our readers are reading in a language that they learned as a second language in a school setting.

They were available on the EDIC Sligo YouTube Channel for a week period from September 23rd until September 30th 2020 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpqxKFAF6lShw1SD1emrMUA