Linguapax
EUNoM Symposium Koper - Managing multilingual and multiethnic societies and institutions
Multilingual policy in European contact areas, Managing linguistic diversity at work, and Languages and identity were the themes addressed at the third EUNoM symposium that was held in Koper/Capodistria, Slovenia on 19-21 June. Key speakers were Paolo Balboni (Università Ca' Foscari), Venezia), Lid King (The Languages Company, London), and Colin H. Williams (School of Welsh, Cardiff University, UK). Paolo Balboni discussed the quality of policy/ies for multilingual areas and stressed that there are at least 6 different visions of what a multilingual society is; the vision determines the further development of policy. Lid King addressed European language policy and went into the results of the Languages in Europe, Theory Policy Practice initiative . Colin H. Williams, finally, focused on regional and minority languages and how changes in society affect the relationship between selected minority language communities, the state and the international system and globalisation. One of the challenges for Regional and Minority languages is that there is a decline in financial support from the state; another that even though there may be many regulations for RMLs nowadays, the situation and provisions in practice are not so positive.
Plenary discussions were part of the symposium. Items that were discussed included the role of English as a lingua franca and the possibility of stimulating receptive linguistic competence.
Abstracts of the keynote and other speakers can be found here. The PowerPoint presentations will be added later.
The next EUNoM symposium will be held in Belfast on 14-15 November 2011 on "Multilingualism in the knowledge economy: labour markets revisited, and corporate social responsibility."