Unity in diversity
'Unity in diversity': the motto of the present day European Union, which aims to defend common values such as freedom, peace, and solidarity in a Union made up of diverse cultures and languages. But how well is the EU living up to this challenge? LANMOB, a completed EU funded project, examined the role that the EU plays in protecting and promoting language diversity, particularly regional minority languages and those of immigrant minority groups. Only 3% of the world's languages are spoken in Europe, making it linguistically one of the most homogeneous continents in the world. It may therefore come as a surprise that over 50 languages are traditionally spoken as regional or minority languages by some 50 million people in the EU. Looking beyond the current borders of the EU, the figure grows considerably. It is estimated that 150 traditional regional or minority languages are spoken in the entire Europe. Funded under the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5), the LANMOB project focused on the history and status of those minority languages spoken in five European countries: France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain. 'We found that the status of minority languages differs a great deal from country to country,' Professor Giovanna Campani told CORDIS News. Many factors play a role in defining this status, including, among others, the historical and political background of each of the countries; the demographic and geographic location of the minority communities, and whether the languages were traditionally written or oral. In each of the countries, governments since the 18th and 19th centuries had tried to impose cultural and linguistic homogeneity in order to support the 'nation-state project', but beneath the surface, real cultural and linguistic diversity persisted. In Catalonia, the upper classes continued to speak and write Catalan, while in Scotland, high court judges continued to deliver their judgements in Scots. It was not until the second half of the 20th century that a debate started around the importance of these languages. 'In the last 15 to 20 years, the trend has been towards the recognition of regional minority languages,' explained Professor Campani. All the countries considered in the project have implemented policies to protect these languages. In Italy, a new law was passed in 1999 protecting 12 of the 15 regional languages, although other minority languages such as that of the Gypsy community were omitted. However, the topic of teaching these regional languages has proved controversial. While proponents say teaching is necessary for the preservation of those regional languages and to show respect to the local culture, 'there are those that argue against bilingualism in general in the first three years of education,' explains Professor Campani. Opponents also contend that local languages are often non-standardised (thus making curricula difficult), of dubious practical usefulness (since most are spoken by a small number of people, without any sizable corpus of publications), and that the curriculum and funding of public schools are already too strained. The topic also leads to wider controversial questions over regional autonomy. 'There are therefore very big differences in each country's policies,' said Professor Campani. The differences in the choice of languages which have been protected may be explained by a lack of an overarching EU definition or policy on what constitutes a minority or a minority language, in addition to the other factors already described. In 1992, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, an international treaty supervised by the Council of Europe and adopted by many EU Member States, was drawn up. In it, it defines these languages as those 'traditionally used by part of the population of a state that are not dialects of official languages of the state, languages of migrants or artificially created languages'. 'But the charter only takes into account regional languages, not languages of immigrant groups for which there is no official recognition,' explained Professor Campani. In each of the countries examined, the project found no clear statement about the rights for immigrants to maintain their language. For the most part, measures to protect immigrant minority languages have been implemented as part of a general approach to promote intercultural education in schools. Many of these measures, however, have involved bilateral agreements with the countries of origin. This suggests that these languages are not considered as cultural and linguistic heritage in the receiving country. Because of the limited opportunities available to them, the survival of immigrant languages depend very much on well organised Diaspora, which have their own newspapers and other media, explained Professor Campani. Professor Campani believes that giving recognition and protection to all minority languages is important for the future of the European Union. 'The emergence of nation states is a recent one. In the Renaissance, for example, it was quite normal to speak several languages,' Professor Campani told CORDIS News. 'Nation states have meant the oppression of minority languages. But these cultural experiences have to be recognised as part of the EU. ' Professor Campani believes that unleashing the cultural energy of minorities and their languages will help in the process of building a stronger Union, which she noted is often a cumbersome process due to the protection of the Members States' own interests. Immigrant languages should not be overlooked either, even if they are more controversial, said the professor, 'because it is important to consider immigrants not just as economic tools, but as cultural resources. In a globalised world, it is essential to develop all the possible cultural resources.' Among its recommendations, the project consortium called for the setting up of a common official bureau to which minority groups can address themselves; further investment in education and media resources for these languages; and greater recognition by the EU of the importance of immigrant languages. Since the project ended in 2005, EU politicians and policymakers have been at work to address language diversity. In its 2005 action plan on multilingualism, the Commission stated that the teaching of regional and minority languages should also be taken into account as appropriate in national language strategies, as should opportunities for migrants to learn the language of the host country (and the teaching of migrant languages). In 2007, the new Lifelong Learning Programme is expected to provide financial means for projects addressing all languages of the EU, including regional and minority languages.
Countries
Germany, Spain, France, Italy, United Kingdom