Multilingualism seminar

12/12/2008 - 14:00 - 14:00

Add to calendar

iCal calendar
A short introduction will give an idea of the European reglementation on
multilingualism, followed by three round table discussions with the
participation of French, Estonian and European specialists in three fields:
education, translation and economy.


The essence of the phenomenon of multilingualism is reflected in the
ability of an individual or a community of people in general of being
multilingual, i.e. capable of communicating in several languages. This
phenomenon is of special importance, in the first place for the proper
functioning of the European Union, a unique institution with 23 official
languages and 3 alphabets, but also for raising the awareness in these
communities of the common European project as such.

In this light multilingualism presents itself as a daily reality, a
phenomenon to be discussed in its own right, which is also shown by the
fact since January 2007 the European Union has a commissioner, Mr Leonard
Orban, to coordinate multilingualism questions. With the
institutionalization of this position the European Union has put special
emphasis on this issue.


All the lectures will be translated into French and Estonian.

Admission is free; registration for the loan of headphones is on the spot.

Program

09.30-10.00 Coffee and registration

10.00-11.00 Opening
Mr Daniel Labrose, French embassador in Estonia

Mr Toivo Klaar, Head of the European Commission Representation in Estonia

Introduction, “The Politics of Multilingualism”

Benoit Paumier, French Ministry of Culture and Communication

Tõnu Tender, Estonian Ministry of Education and Research

11.00-12.30 “Multilingualism and Education”
Presides Aleksandra Ljalikova, Institute of Germanic-Romance Languages and
Cultures, Tallinn University


"Multilingualism and Institutions” Pierre Frath, Professor of English,
Reims University

Konrad Fuhrmann, The Directorate-General for Education and Culture European
Commission

Discussion and questions

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-15.15 "Multilingualism and Translation"
Presides Arvi Tavast (Tallinn University)

Astrid Gillaume (The Paris-Sorbonne University)

Arvi Tavast (Tallinn University)

Anne Lange (Tallinn University)

Discussion and questions

15.15-15.30 Coffee

15.30-17.15 “Multilingualism in the Sphere of Economy: Problems and
Perspectives“, Christian Tremblay

Mart Rannut, Tallinn University “Multilingualism and Business: Large and
Small Languages”

Discussion and questions

17.30 Summing up of the seminar