July 2021
Open Mercator Network Newsletter #174 in your browser
Open in browser
Mercator Network PictureMercator Network PictureMercator Network PictureMercator Network PictureMercator Network PictureMercator Network Picture

Thousands protested in support of minority languages in France        

After the French Constitutional Council partially censored the historic approval of the 'Molac Bill' on May 21st, demonstrations were held on Saturday May 29th throughout the country. Bretons, Basques, Catalans, Corsicans, Occitans, Alsatians, Flamands, Gallo, Picards, Savoyards – they all demonstrated on Saturday to defend immersion education in minority languages. 48 separate demonstrations were organised by ELEN member organisations and partners, including the Pour Que Vivent Nos Langues collective. The largest demonstration was in Gwengamp, Brittany, with almost 15,000 people joining the protest.

Read more

Strong support for MSPI at DG Parliament committee meeting

FUEN members presented the current developments concerning the Minority Safepack Initiative (MSPI) to the Committee I on General Policy of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community in Belgium. Parliament President Lambertz, also member of the MSPI Citizens' Committee, called on the MPs to support the implementation of the MSPI.

Read more
 

Equal opportunities through multilingual primary teacher training

To conclude the NRO Comenius project "Equal opportunities through multilingual primary teacher training", the involved researchers from the research group Multilingualism & Literacy (NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences) have published a report on the project's activities, including the integration of multilingualism and application of CLIL in initial teacher education.

Read more

INTERESTING LINKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EUROPE

● Courriel européen des langues: issue no. 45 just published!

● Commissioners for the Irish language and Ulster-Scots in Northern Ireland

● Podcast - How to make use of bilingual children’s home languages in the classroom: Translanguaging

● Interslavic as a lingua franca for the Slavophone world

● Latvia's presidents says the country is dedicated to guard the Livonian minority

● Europe's language that few speak

● Sorbs: The ethnic minority inside Germany

● Cymraeg 2050: Welsh language strategy action plan 2021 to 2022

● Protection of national minorities’ rights in Serbia needs to remain a priority of the authorities

● Calabrian Greeks: Pocket of Hellenism in Italy has Survived Millennia

● Sales surge for Welsh language toy firm during pandemic home schooling

New challenges for protecting national minority rights        

On June 29 2021 the conference “Council of Europe norms and standards on national minority rights: Results and challenges”, organised by the Council of Europe under the Hungarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, took place. The Secretary General noted that the Council of Europe’s action on national minorities is particularly necessary with new problems arising, such as COVID-19. Shortcomings pointed out included the lack of coronavirus-related information, health advice and services in regional and minority languages. Also less than half of the member states were providing online education in these languages during the first lockdown in the spring of 2020, preventing equal access to learning.
Read more

VirtuLApp's Fourth Multiplier Event   

On 12 May 2021, VirtuLApp held its fourth Multiplier Event, during which several experts discussed the challenges faced by minority languages in the current context of new digital environments and multilingualism in the classroom. A demonstration of the new multilingual game BabelAR and the first experiences with its application in the classroom were shared. You can (re-)watch the event by clicking “read more”.

Read more
 

International Decade of Indigenous Languages

A hundred of representatives of Member States, regional institutions, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations, experts and academics in the field of indigenous languages from Africa attended a two-day regional consultation organized as part of the global consultative process for the preparation of the Global Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022 – 2032.

Read more

Raising bilingual children 

Parents with a migration background: What does it take to raise bilingual children?

Interesting meeting 

Summit of young speakers of minority languages

Call for papers: Special Issue

The Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe is looking for contributors for its special edition on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on minority language media. This special issue focuses on Minority Language Media and the COVID-19 pandemic.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Read more
 

New issue: Journal of Language and Law

The Revista de Llengua i Dret , Journal of Language and Law published its 75th issue in June 2021. The journal promotes research in the following fields: administrative and legal language, linguistic law, and language and sociolinguistic policy. This issue includes, among others, the articles “New Chinese adult learners of Catalan in Catalonia: motivation, attitude, and identity in postgraduate Chinese students” (Ning & Bach, 2021) and “Language management in multilingual educational environments: a Valencian perspective” (Baldaquí & Pasqual, 2021)

Read more

INTERESTING LINKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD

● State Duma approved language bill that would allow the government to standardise indigenous languages [Russian Federation]

● Protecting Native American Languages: Introduction of the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2021 [USA]

● Publication about language policy in China (partially open access for Mandarin excerpts) [China]

● Minority languages in gaming: Twitch streamers are campaigning to have their languages added to the stream tags' list [www]

● Modernisation of Official Languages Act proposed [Canada]

● Decline in Papua New Guinea's linguistic diversity [Papua New Guinea]

● New study finds no disadvantages to bilingual children's language acquisition [USA]

● Indigenous languages in Southeast Asia at risk of dying out [Asia]

25th Anniversary Conference: The Hague Recommendations

To mark the 25th anniversary of The Hague Recommendations regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities organised a conference on 7 June 2021. Practitioners, academic experts, and officials from other international organisations came together to present good practices in multilingual education and how they can support access to education for national minorities. To watch the conference, click here.

Read more
 

New booklet on protecting and promoting minority languages

In June 2021, the Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages published a booklet titled “Protection and promotion of regional or minority languages: promising practices across Europe 2015-2020”. In line with the digital era, the booklet reports on a range of practices that can serve as models for knowledge transfer among stakeholders.                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Read more

INTERESTING EVENTS

ONLINE: 10 - 14 July 2021, Warsaw (Poland)
International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB13)
Organised by the University of Warsaw.

15 - 20 August 2021, Groningen (the Netherlands)
AILA 2020: World Congress of Applied Linguistics
Organised by the University of Groningen, Multilingual Matters and others.

26 August 2021, Online
Dynamic Assessment in Content and Language Integrated Learning and beyond – Looking at the future of creativity in teaching and learning
Organised by the Erasmus+ project consortium Playing beyond CLIL (PbC).

6 - 8 September 2021, Graz (Austria)
Language Teacher Psychology Conference 2021 (LTP)
Organised by the University of Graz.

8 - 9 September 2021, Warsaw (Poland)
Conference: Conventional and unconventional ways of transmitting and revitalizing minoritized languages: in European context and beyond
Organised by the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Polish Academy of Science.

16 - 19 September 2021, Poznań (Poland)
50th Poznań Linguistic Meeting
Organised by the Adam Mickiewicz University

24 - 25 September 2021, Graz (Austria)
5th International Conference on Kurdish Linguistics (ICKL-5)
Organised by the University of Graz

14 - 15 October 2021, Flensburg (Germany)
International conference: Multi-platform and Connecting Communities: Contemporary Challenges for Minority Language Media
Organised by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)

29 - 30 November 2021, Paris (France)
2nd International Symposium on Family Language Policy
Organised by the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco)

ONLINE: 15 - 16 December 2021, Sydney (Australia)
The Value of Languages in a Multilingual World
Organised by Multilingualism Research Centre (MRC)/ Macquarie University

16-19 December 2021, Tirana (Albania)
Conference 'Endangered Languages and Diaspora'
Organised by the Foundation for Endangered Languages and the Center for Research and Publication on Arbëresh

Please send us your comments and suggestions!
twitter link

Please add us to your contacts to ensure the newsletters land in your inbox.