Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-14-Speech-2-423"
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"en.20061114.40.2-423"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to welcome the Commission's first communication dealing with multilingualism and setting major objectives for the European Union’s linguistic diversity: to promote language learning and a beneficial multilingual economy, as well as to provide all EU nationals with the opportunity to familiarise with the Community laws and other information in their mother tongue.
Today, the European Union represents 450 million people from various ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Therefore, the benefits of foreign language knowledge are obvious. Language helps to understand different lifestyles and opens a door to cultural tolerance. Moreover, language competence helps in work, study, travel and communication anywhere in the world.
Foreign language learning should start at a very early age, when the human brain is most receptive to taking in new information. This is my firm opinion as a medical doctor. Thus far, various surveys show that almost half of respondents admit to knowing only their native language. Thus, we have a long-term objective that cannot be postponed. At least 84% of Europeans agree that each EU national should know at least one foreign language. Consequently, we have great support from the society, the importance of which is increasingly acknowledged when adopting laws in the European Union.
On the other hand, we must not forget the old European languages, of which my native Lithuanian language is one of the oldest. I would like to emphasise the importance of preserving such languages in the context of European linguistic diversity. We should not only learn foreign languages, but also keep in mind another challenge – preserving and cherishing the old European languages by legally ensuring their rights.
I see the multilingual European as an educated person, who is able to live in a country other than his or her native land and who speaks foreign languages for professional reasons, and is willing to undertake further study. Sadly, quite a large part of the European society still fails to benefit from multilingualism, and the motivation of citizens to learn foreign languages is not very strong. We should promote that by any and all available means."@en1
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