26th September is
celebrated every year as European Day of Languages (EDL). Therefore, 800 million Europeans from 47 countries
are encouraged to learn more languages, at any age, in or out of school to
enhance communication and achieving greater intercultural understanding and a
key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent.
Few interesting facts:
- There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe and at least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual
- Bilingualism brings many advantages: it makes the learning of additional languages easier, enhances the thinking process and fosters contacts with other people and their cultures
- Languages are related to each other like the members of a family. Most European languages belong to the large Indo-European family.
- Most European languages belong to three broad groups: Germanic, Romance and Slavic.
The Information Store has a wide range of information resources on
Languages (Dewey class number 400, with further divisions and sections
for more detailed categories. Please
come to visit us and ask for more information about our dictionaries, and the
sections with different language subdivision we have available.
Please see more information,
events, facts and activities on the Council of Europe (EDL) web site: http://edl.ecml.at/Home/tabid/1455/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
