Speaking in tongues: Celebrating linguistic diversity
“To have another language is to possess a second soul” – Charlemagne
Today, the EU has 24 official languages and three official alphabets (Roman, Greek and Cyrillic), with some 60 other languages being spoken in particular regions or by specific groups. Waves of immigration over the last few decades have led to many other languages being spoken in the streets of Europe’s cities and towns, ranging from Arabic, Turkish and Urdu, through to Tuareg, Swahili and Vietnamese. As a second language and a common language for business and travel, English of course continues to be dominant. Then, within major language groups, distinct dialects also live side-by-side with their own unique take on vocabulary, grammar and syntax. In Belgian French, it’s fully acceptable to say ‘septante’ to mean 70 which would make French speakers from France swoon in dismay (they would passionately argue in favour of ‘soixante-dix’). The German spoken in Kiel is markedly different from the German spoken in Zurich or Innsbruck, whilst a native of Trieste would probably not understand a native of Sicily if the two didn’t make the effort to speak ‘Standard’ Italian to each other (which itself is based on the Florentine dialect of Italian). British people can easily be confused by informal grammatical structures in Irish English, many of which originate from Gaelic and have transferred over. Meanwhile, Czechs and Slovaks can speak to each other using only their official national tongues and still have a high degree of mutual intelligibility, the same to a certain extent with Danish, Swedish and Norwegian – some linguists even argue (controversially to some) that the latter three languages are merely dialects themselves of a larger ‘Scandinavian’ core language. And then of course Europe also has several languages amongst its ranks that are completely distinct from their linguistic neighbours, Basque and Hungarian being just two examples. This sheer tapestry of languages, dialects and different forms of communication is one of Europe’s most amazing strengths. Admittedly, in the past, the continent’s language diversity has also been a source of conflict – the major religious schisms of the 16th and 17th centuries in Western Europe were in part caused by disagreement over whether to maintain Latin as the sole language of the Church or whether local languages should be adopted for religious rites and services, thus bringing God ‘closer to the people’. However today, language diversity is celebrated through the European Day of Languages which has taken place every year on 26 September since 2002, and its commemoration also aims to actively encourage language learning across Europe. That’s why this issue’s special feature is also celebrating Europe’s wonderful linguistic diversity by featuring EU-funded projects that are working in a variety of ways to enrich and preserve Europe’s linguistic heritage. These range from an innovative platform to showcase various European Sign Languages, a technological solution to help children confidently learn to read and understand their native tongue and a number of fascinating studies on the phenomenon of bilingualism. We look forward to receiving your feedback. You can send questions or suggestions to editorial@cordis.europa.eu.
