Research theme: Multilingualism and Language learning
Project leader: Cor van der Meer
Mercator Staff: Jorrit Huizinga
Duration: February 2013 - February 2016
Funding: European Commission
Collaboration with: The Mercator Network
More information: The LEARNMe White Paper on Linguistic Diversity

Less widely spoken languages have very special needs when it comes to education. Often practitioners but also policy makers are over-strained when it comes to finding solutions for these needs. The LEARNMe (Language and Education Addressed through Research and Networking by Mercator) project is an EU funded project providing policy guidelines and recommendations for policy stakeholders in the field as well as for practitioners. These guidelines and recommendations are meant to provide a very practical outline of how multilingual needs of less used languages can be approached. We furthermore will find out how implicit or explicit policies on multilingualism and linguistic diversity can be effective through education and for what purposes.

Project activities

During the period 2013-2015, the Mercator Network, through the LEARNMe project (Language and Education Addressed through Research and Networking, Mercator) will host a series of three specialist international workshops (held in Aberystwyth, Stockholm and Barcelona), leading up to an international conference in Budapest in 2015. The focus of these events will be to revisit, reanalyse and redefine the dynamic concept of linguistic diversity and its impact and relevance across the European Union.

Each of the three workshops will conclude in the production of a position paper which will in turn form the basis of a white paper which were presented at the final conference. This final conference in Budapest in September 2015 was attended by academics, politicians, policy makers, practitioners, activists and other key stakeholders across the European Union.

The White Paper has been translated into the languages of the Mercator Network partners, including Hungarian Sign Language.