European Day of Languages

European Day of Languages 2022

The annual language festival – the European Day of Languages – is approaching. Since 2001, EU member states celebrate the European Day of Languages – a celebration of linguistic diversity – on September 26 by urging everyone to keep learning new languages throughout their lives. These events are organized and coordinated in Latvia by the Latvian Language Agency and its partners for the 18th year.

The 9th international Baltic student conference “Bridges in the Baltics” will be held on September 23–24 at the University of Warsaw.

The event “Play Scrabble at the House of Languages!” will take place on Saturday, September 24, at 15.00. The games will be held in Latvian, English, German, Norwegian, and Estonian. Host: Valodu māja (Riga, Avotu street 3).

On Sunday, September 25, at 18.00, the House of Languages is hosting a Scandinavian book club event. We’ll discuss the book “Bird” by the Sámi writer Sigbjørn Skåden. The event will be held in Scandinavian languages, and it is hosted by the House of Languages (Riga, Avotu street 33).

On Monday, September 26: 

• From 10.00–18.00 – European language marathon. Learn popular phrases in different EU languages! Students and young children will be able to assume the roles of teachers. Dozens of students will become talented teachers and help attendees learn phrases in English, German, Polish, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, and other EU languages. The event is organized by the House of the European Union (Riga, Aspazijas bulvāris 28). Info: esmaja.lv.

• At 12.00, “Afternoon with Ukrainian culture”, a concert of Ukrainian and Latvian songs by Katrīna Gupalo as well as activities for children: the learning of new Latvian words in a novel way and the making of postcards. Ukrainian chefs will give masterclasses on making Borscht. Roberto Meloni will be the host of the event. Location: Riga Support Center for Ukrainians (Riga, Amatu Street 4). Attendees are required to pre-register here.
• At 16.30, a lecture “Language as a mirror of change” by Lauma Terēze Lapa. English Department of the University of Latvia Faculty of Humanities at Visvalža street 4a.
• At 18.00, Aiga Veckalne’s lecture and discussion “How to avoid excluding others with language?” The event is organized by the House of Languages (Riga, Avotu street 33).
• At 19.00, Žulijens Nuhums Kulibali’s discussion with various actors “Tongue-twisters – language on screen, actor’s language, the language of cinema”. The event is organized by the House of the European Union (Riga, Aspazijas bulvāris 28).
• The search for dialect words continues. Anyone interested is invited to get involved and submit a noteworthy dialect word they’ve noticed and found noteworthy by visitng the initiative’s website: https://apvidvardi.lu.lv. The event is organized by the University of Latvia’s Institute of the Latvian Language and the UNESCO LNK.

 On Wednesday, September 28, at 16.00, participants are invited to attend the seminar “Latin-Latvian dictionary. Solutions for reproducing proper nouns in Latvian” (prof. Ilze Rūmniece, asoc. prof. Gita Bērziņa, doc. Brigita Cīrule, doc. Ilona Gorņeva). The event is organized by the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Humanities Department of Classical Philology (Visvalža street 4a, Riga).

 On Wednesday, October 5, participants are invited to attend language masterclasses.

• 17.00 Masterclass in Greek (lecturer Gatis Ezerkalns, prof. Ilze Rūmniece).
• 18.00 Masterclass in Latin (doc. Ilona Gorņeva, prof. Ilze Rūmniece).

The event is organized by the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Humanities Department of Classical Philology (Visvalža street 4a, Riga).

On Friday, October 7, at 18.00 – a Spanish language evening.  Organized by the Center for Spanish Culture “Seneca” (Riga, Barona street 62-3).

The European Day of Languages festival will continue by honoring the Latvian language as the national language of the Republic of Latvia.

Every Sunday morning in October (October 9, 16, 23, 30) at 10.35 – readings of students’ creative works “You are the treasure of Latvia” on the program “Ielūdz Radioteātris” on Latvian Radio 1. The creative works will be read on air by Santa Didžus and Mārtiņš Budovskis. Director Valdis Lūriņš. Latvian Language Agency, Latvian Radio 1 “Ielūdz Radioteātris”.

 On Friday, October 7, at 14.00 – the book launch of the Latvian translation of Daniel Everett’s book “Language – a cultural tool”. Organized by the Latvian Language Agency and the University of Latvia (LU small hall, Riga, Raiņa bulvāris 19).

On Friday, October 14, at 15.00 – the book launch of the book “Latvian surnames in archive materials: Vidzeme”. Organized by the Latvian Language Agency. Valmiera Library (Valmiera, Cēsu street 4).

 October 15 – November 18. The initiative “A celebration of language”. The Latvian Language Agency invites everyone to share stories, examples, and thoughts on the people, books, and events that made you realize the value and beauty of the Latvian language. https://vards.valoda.lv/.

September 26 – November 18.  Students’ creative works competition “A language lives if it is spoken”. (National Latvian schools and Latvian schools abroad). The Latvian language agency announces the annual competition of students’ creative works “A language lives if it is spoken” and invites students from Latvian schools and Latvian schools abroad to submit their works and participate. The competition will be held from September 26 – November 18. We will expect each school to submit its nine best works (essays and drawings) by e-mail to evd@valoda.lv or by post to the Latvian Language Agency’s new address – Riga, Meistaru street 10–401, LV-1050.

For more information on the European Day of Languages program, visit www.valoda.lv.

A LANGUAGE LIVES IF IT IS SPOKEN

Events.

The European day of Languages 2021

The Latvian Language Agency invites everyone to take part in an annual series of events that celebrate linguistic diversity – the European day of Languages. Since 2001, the European Day of Languages is celebrated in the Member States of the European Union on September 26 of every year, and the occasion highlights European languages, linguistic diversity, and language learning. These events have been organized and coordinated in Latvia by the Latvian Language Agency for seventeen years. The European Day of Languages is usually very eventful with many events taking place both before and after September 26.

From September 22 to 23, everyone is encouraged to take part in the competition “iESkaties” that can be accessed remotely from the European Union Information Point at the Library of Saldus. The competition is held on the library’s website https://biblioteka.saldus.lv/esip-lapa/.

On Friday, September 24, at 16.00 we will unveil a unique treasure hunting competition on the Latvian Language Agency’s Facebook page titled “My treasure in Latvia”. The competition involves 33 hiding places created by Latvians living in the diaspora. The treasure hunting competition will begin on September 24, and everyone is invited to participate. The competition will run until October 22, and the task is to find as many hiding places as possible. The most successful competitors will receive valuable prizes.

On Sunday, September 26, from 12.00 to 18.00 the House of Languages in Riga, Avotu iela 33, is hosting an Open Doors Day. The attendees will have the option to take express courses in Norwegian and Estonian, take part in a language quiz, or purchase several books published by the House of Languages.

On Sunday, at 16.00, the Institute of the Livonian Language of the University of Latvia will host a live Facebook broadcast – the event “The horror legends of the Livonian people”. The event is an opportunity to get acquainted with the Livonian language, listen to Livonian horror legends in both Livonian and Latvian, and learn about the unusual, interesting, somewhat funny, and scary heroes and events depicted in these stories.

On Sunday, at 18.00, the House of Languages in Riga, Avotu iela 33, will host a Scandinavian book club event – “Skandinavisk bokklubb”. The club members will come together to read one book in a foreign language and discuss it in Scandinavian languages. On Sunday, the participants will discuss the book “Anxiety” (“Uro”) by the Norwegian psychiatrist and writer Finn Skårderud. The book was recently translated and published in Latvian.

On Monday, September 27, the European Union House at 28 Aspazijas bulvāris in Riga will organize several Language Workshops. Each language workshop will make use of songs and colloquial phrases to give the participants an idea of how those languages sound and what the cultures are like in the countries where they are spoken. The participants will learn to speak five sentences and hopefully decide that they might learn some of the languages they’ve discovered. Register for the Language Workshops at https://esmaja.lv: 15.00 Hungarian masterclass (“Sarunu” room), 16.00 German masterclass (the hall), 16.30 Spanish masterclass (“Sarunu” room), 17.30 Italian masterclass (the hall), 18.00 French masterclass (“Sarunu” room).

On Thursday, September 30, at 15.00, the House of the European Union at 28 Aspazijas bulvāris in Riga will host a book launch of the collection of writings “Language in Practice: Observations and Recommendations” No. 16. This 16th edition of the series of popular scientific articles covers a wide range of issues related to various linguistic areas. The book will undoubtedly be useful to both people who are interested in specific linguistic issues and advice and to people who prefer philosophical or historical reflections on the nature and role of language in society. The collection will be available for purchase at the Latvian Language Agency.

On October 13, at 11.50, the Department of Latvian and Baltic Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia at 4a Visvalža iela in Riga will invite everyone to attend the event “Jānis Poruks turns 150: readings of translations of the poem “Tracis””.

The University of Vilnius will host the 8th Baltic Student Conference “Bridges in the Baltics” from October 22 to 23. Students from the Baltic States will meet at this annual conference to make new friends and introduce other students to their academic interests and research. The conference will take place in person and will be available online.

 In anticipation of the State Language Day on October 15, the Latvian Language Agency invites everyone to attend the premiere of the film “The Story of the Latvian Language” and to meet with the creative group behind the film at 15.00 at Rainis’ and Aspazija’s house in Riga, Baznicas iela 30. The film will detail the story of how the Latvian language became the official state language of Latvia.

On October 21, at 13.00, The Latvian Language Agency invites everyone to attend the seminar “The Linguistic Situation in Latvia 2016-2020” at the library of the University of Latvia at Kalpaka bulvāris 4 in Riga. This study has analyzed the changes in the overall linguistic situation from 2016 to 2020 by examining the Latvian population’s proficiency in the state and foreign languages and language use in various sociolinguistic fields.

We invite everyone to participate in the campaign “What the Latvian language means to me is…” and to finish the aforementioned statement, by sharing their thoughts and views on the Latvian language until October 15. Visit the website vards.valoda.lv to take part in the campaign.

On September 26, the Latvian Language Agency announces an annual students’ creative work competition whose topic this year is “You are the treasure of Latvia”. We invite students from Latvian schools at home and abroad to send in creative works and drawings on the topic. The competition will run until November 18. We will expect every school to send us their nine best literary works and nine best drawings. As usual, the best creative works are published in books. Fourteen books have already been published in this series.

On the European Day of Languages, we encourage everyone to take part in the events celebrating the occasion, to enrich the proficiency of the languages ​​spoken in Europe, and appreciate and actively use Latvian – our state language – in their everyday lives.

The European Day of Languages ​​is an initiative of the Council of Europe, and its events are organized and coordinated in Latvia by the Latvian Language Agency and its cooperation partners: the European Commission, the European Union House in Riga, the Ministry of Education and Science, the University of Latvia, the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia, the Institute of Livonian Language of the University of Latvia, the Goethe Institute of Riga, the French Institute of Latvia, the University of Vilnius, the Center of Spanish Culture “Seneca”, the Language House, the European Union Information Point of the Library of Saldus.

All events are free. The program may be subject to minor changes. When attending the events, the attendees are expected to comply with all Covid-19 containment regulations. Find more information at www.valoda.lv.

The European day of Languages 2020

European Language Day is an initiative launched by the Council of Europe. Latvian Language Agency has been responsible for carrying out events in Latvia under this initiative for already sixteen years. Events are planned and completed in close collaboration with local partner organisations. European Language Day is usually marked in September 26th, however there are a wide variety of events happening also before and after this exact date. This year European Language Day events in Latvia will be held between September 21th and October 17th. We invite everyone in Latvia and abroad to join us in enriching the experience of learning and using the languages spoken in Europe, while simultaneously appreciating and using our national language – Latvian – in their everyday affairs.

Events include lectures, exhibitions, classes, and more. Most events will be held in Latvian with elements of the language in focus, but some will also be held in other languages.

September 22 at 17:30, the EU house (Aspazijas bulvāris 8) will host an Italian language evening with focus on Italian cinema.

Morning of September 23, the most Latvian word will be sought in Bastejkalns and National Library. At 17:30 the Goethe Institute hosts a German language evening, whereas at 19:00, the Language House at Avotu Street 22 invites to Estonian language club Tere!

September 24, at 13:00 the LU Faculty of Humanities (Visvalža Street 4a) will have a lecture on Old English elements in modern-day texts and films. According to the organizers, the lecture will be in either English or Latvian depending on audience.

Also September 24, 16:00 Zirgu Street 1 will have a Latvian-Italian-German event discussing Italian culture from Latvian and German viewpoint, At 17:30, the Swiss Embassy at the EU house will have a multi-lingual evening: discussion about multiple official state languages.

September 25, at the EU house, a Spanish evening will take place starting 17:30.

September 27 at 18:00, Avotu Street 33, Scandinavian book club will have a discussion on Åsne Seierstad’s Bokhandleren i Kabul.

September 28, European Commission will hold an online conference European Day of Languages 2022.

September 29 at 16:00, Georgian Embassy will hold an exhibition on the Georgian alphabet at LU Library (Kalpaka bulvāris 4).

October 7 at LU Faculty of Humanities, a lecture on the Czech language and culture will take place. It will be held in Czech but anyone can attend, even with no knowledge of the language, according to the organizers.

Full program of events is available in Latvian on the Latvian Language Agency website. All events are free of charge.

The European day of Languages 2019

The Latvian Language Agency held the European Day of Languages events – an annual celebration of language that has taken place every year on September 26 since 2001. The European Day of Languages is celebrated in all the member states of the European Union and it focuses on European languages, linguistic diversity and language learning. Involving several partners, these events have been organized and coordinated by the Latvian Language Agency for the fifteenth year.

The first event of the European Day of Languages ​​event program was held on September 1 in the Sauriešu library in Stopiņi district, where the photo exhibition “Kļūdies tā, lai citiem prieks” (“Make mistakes so that everyone can enjoy them”) was open until September 30.

From September 2 to September 26, the Daugavpils City Board of Education organized a series of events titled “Kopā valodu daudzveidībā” (“Together in the diversity of languages”). The main topic of the events was “A multilingual person – a rich person”.

Early on the morning of September 26, everyone traveling to Daugavpils on the 7.40am train had the opportunity to enrich their journey and learn something new about language, literature and the people working in the culture sector on the Language Train from Riga to Daugavpils. The Latvian Language Agency accompanied the passengers aboard the train and the event was hosted by Roberto Meloni with musicians Julgī Stalte and Ēriks Zeps who performed during the trip.

A discussion was held at 4pm at “Birojnīca” (84 k-2 Dzirnavu street, Berga Bazārs) between linguists Anna Stafecka and Vilma Šaudiņa who discussed various dialects and the richness of language. This event was one of a series of events titled “On language – it can be interesting?!”.

At 4.30pm a lesson on Estonian language and culture was organized by the lecturers and students of the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Humanitarian Sciences (at 42a Visvalža street, room 402) which gave the attendees an opportunity to learn something new about our Estonian neighbours.

At 5.30pm, in collaboration with the Swedish embassy and the European Union House in Riga we held a Swedish language event during which we also screened the Swedish romantic drama “A Serious Game”.  Anders Olsson – a Swedish language professor at the University of Latvia and the Academy of Culture of Latvia – gave a masterclass that evening alongside another professor of Swedish at the University of Latvia – Ivars Orehovs.  The film “A Serious Game” (“Den allvarsamma liken”, 2016, director Pernilla August) is an adaptation from Hjalmar Söderberg’s 1912 novel. The film was screened in Swedish and featured subtitles in Latvian. The plot follows journalist Arvid Stjärnblom and the daughter of a local artist Lydia Stille who both share a dream of one day finding true, pure love. Making the dream a reality, however, requires greater sacrifices than they could have ever imagined. The film is about certain choices that we may or may not encounter in our lives, as well as their consequences.

On September 27, the Spanish cultural centre “Séneca” in collaboration with the European Union House in Riga organized an interesting and practical Spanish culture evening titled “The customs and manners of Spain”.  The director of the Spanish cultural centre “Séneca” – Javier Fernández Cruz – also held a masterclass that evening about Spanish greetings. The event provided an opportunity to learn a variety of interesting facts about the Spanish language and Spanish customs and challenged a few stereotypes about Spain. The event was held from 5pm at the European Union House in Riga, at 28 Aspazijas Blvd.

An event offering future written and oral translators an opportunity to challenge themselves was held at 3pm on September 30 at the Baltic International Academy at 4 Lomonosova street, auditorium 116. The event was titled Translation wars: an event for future written and oral translators, and the organizers of the event sought to capture everyone’s attention with the following challenge: “Find out what you’re capable of when not using a smartphone and Google translate!”

The lecturer Nadežda Kopoloveca held a lesson on Czech language and culture on October 2, 4.30pm at the Faculty of Humanitarian Sciences at 4a Visvalža street, room 215a. The lesson explored the traditions of Czech national holidays, as well as words and phrases associated with the celebration and commemoration of such events. The lesson was held in Czech, but the attendees were not required to have any previous knowledge of the language.

The Faculty of Humanitarian Sciences (4a Visvalža street) held an event on October 4 gathering people interested in several roman languages: Spanish, French and Italian. The professors and students from the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Studies organized the event “El Español, Lingua Franca” from 2pm offering a variety of topics and activities:

• a journey into the history of the Spanish language (an interactive presentation on the origin of the Spanish language, its interaction with other languages in Europe and Latin America, concluded with a word game at the end of the presentation);

viaje a la Historia del Español (una presentación interactiva sobre el origen del español, su historia y contactos con otras lenguas en Europa y America Latina seguida por el juego de palabras);

• the known and the unknown in Spanish culture (a quiz);

lo conocido y lo desconocido de la cultura española (concurso);

• ERASMUS studies in Spain (the experience of ERASMUS students);

estudios ERASMUS en España (experiencias compartidas por los estudiantes ERASMUS); 

• singing in Spanish (a small concert);

cantemos en español! (Concierto.)

A competition was held from 2.30pm for those who do not speak or think they do not speak French titled “Parlez-vous français?/Do you speak French?”

The event “An insight into the history of Italian-Latvian relations” was held from 3pm and the attendees were offered little known facts about the relations of both countries as well as the opportunity to converse in Italian during the language activities.

Continuing the series of events “On language – it can be interesting?!”, the Latvian Language Agency organized a discussion with Andrejs Veisbergs at “Birojnīca” (84 k-2 Dzirnavu street, Berga Bazārs) on October 10. The linguist and translator spoke about the translating profession and language culture.

October 10 is Aleksis Kivi’s birthday so the event “Kivi is rock!” was held for those interested in the Finnish language at the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia at 13 Marijas street (Berga bazārs). The event started at 6pm and was organized by the lecturers and students from the Faculty of Humanitarian Sciences.

The 7th international Baltic student conference “Bridges in the Baltics” was held from October 11 to October 12 at the University of Latvia at 19 Raiņa Blvd.

The Latvian Language Agency organized an event asking pupils and students in Latvia and those attending Latvian schools elsewhere in the world to submit their creative essays and drawings in the competition “Describe a dream”. The competition took place from September 26 to November 18.

The European Day of Languages is an initiative by the Council of Europe and organized in Latvia by the Latvian Language Agency in collaboration with its partners: the European Commission, the House of the European Union in Riga, the University of Latvia, the National Library of Latvian, the Georgian Embassy in Latvia, the Swedish Embassy in Latvia, the Goethe Institute in Riga, the French Institute in Latvia, the Spanish Culture Center “Séneca”, the Italian Language Teachers Association, the Daugavpils City Education Board, the Baltic International Academy, and AS “Pasažieru vilciens”.

All events were free of charge, except for the tickets necessary to board the Language train from Riga to Daugavpils.

We invite everyone in Latvia and abroad to join us in enriching the experience of learning and using the languages spoken in Europe, while simultaneously appreciating and using our national language – Latvian – in their everyday affairs.

„School Bridges” – Cooperation Project of Educational Establishments of Latvia and Sweden

„School Bridges” – Cooperation project between schools and other educational establishments in Latvia and Sweden was successfully carried out in Valmiera, Latvia, from 26th to 29th September, 2018. The objective of this project was to promote and facilitate cooperation between schools in Latvia and Sweden.

First of all 14 guests from Sweden arrived in Riga. Among them were Katrina Freidenwall and 4 other teachers from the Hamnäs School, Nina Lindfors, director of Gripsholm Primary School, one teacher from Mariefred Primary School and Headmaster of the Stockholm Latvian School, Ieva Reine with 3 other teachers.

This four day long visit started with a festive reception for the guests at the Embassy of Sweden in Riga, where the Swedish ambassador, Annika Jagander discussed the project and the  visit with participants and wished everyone fuitfull work and successful exchange of experiences.

The introductory evening event at the Vamiera City Museum was inspiring: folklore group „Griezes” gave an interactive performance and engaged the participants giving a chance to join in with their song and dance.

On the 27th of September guests visited Pre-School Educational Establishment „Burtiņš”, where they had a meeting with the rector and a guided tour of the premises and classrooms, observation of some classes and discussion about working methods, as well as participation in interest education classes of choice.

The guests from Sweden were positively impressed with the interest education classes in folkdance, martial arts and the daily integrated education classes. Swedish colleagues also acknowledged and appreciated director Vita Lelle’s capacity and success in having all the staff work together in an organized and high quality work from paedagogic perspective.

As a positive surprise pre-school „Burtiņš” premises were top notch clean and tidy, and children had prepared an exhibition on autumn harvest themes.

On the 28th of September guest teachers and school directors visited Valmiera Primary School, observed some open classes with students on a theme „Learn by Doing”, followed by a meeting and discussion with the school administration and teachers.

This was a very practical event, when guests opened a classroom door, it was full of pupils doing their assignments, and one was really given a chance to observe the teaching and learning process in action, classes were well organized and pupils worked diligently.

During the final round table discussion Swedish colleagues spoke with appreciation of the education system in Latvia and said that Latvia is following in the right direction. We can totally agree!

At the conclusion of this exchange visit Swedish guests visited waste management and recycling company SIA ZAAO at its specialized Environment Study Centre URDA, where Swedish teachers were impressed about the opportunities offered there for school pupils to study environment and natural sciences related themes.

Regional TV company Vidzemes TV created a reportage of the whole visit, which can be watched now by following link below.

• Video:

www.valmiera.lv/lv/video/412_latvijas_un_zviedrijas_izglitibas_iestazu_sadarbibas_projekts_ldquoskolu_tiltirdquo/

This project was jointly organized by the Latvian Language Agency, Latvian Association in Europe, Valmiera City Municipality, Burtnieki Novads Municipality.

Join Us to Celebrate Languages in September – European Language Day 2018 Events

European Language Day is an initiative launched by the Council of Europe. Latvian Language Agency has been responsible for carrying out events in Latvia under this initiative for already fourteen years. Events are planned and completed in close collaboration with local partner organisations. European Language Day is usually marked in September 26th, however there are a wide variety of events happening also before and after this exact date. This year European Language Day events in Latvia will be held between September 18th and October 18th. Events are aimed at enriching the experience of learning and using a wide variety of European languages, whilst also honouring the Latvian language as the official state language of this country.

European Language Day programme in Latvia will be launched on September 18th at the Ventspils University of Applied Sciences – with an event „Globalisation and Language” produced by the Baltic – German University Liaison Office. Most of the other events will be held between September 25th and October 18th.

Daily events from September 25th to September 28th at the European Union House in Riga,  28, Aspazijas Boulevard will offer language classes and provide an experience of the wide variety of languages in Europe. Please see more information about language workshops at: : www.esmaja.lv/eiropas-valodu-diena/no-25-lidz-28-septembrim-iepazisti-eiropas-valodas-es-maja

European Language Day 2018

Latvian Language Agency is honoured to present the annual celebration of languages – a whole programme of events under the European Language Day. This day is celebrated in Europe on September 26th since the year 2001. This year, for the fourtheenth year in a row events in Latvia were organised and coordinated by the Latvian Language Agency, in close partnership with a number of cooperation partners.

Our programme of European Language day started On Seotember 1st at the Saldus City Library where we inaugurated photo exhibition „If It’s a Mistake, Make it Funny”. On September 18th Ventspils University of Applied Sciences and Baltic – German University Liaison Office hosted a theme event „Globalisation and Language”.

On September 25th we held a though exchange workshop under the title „Translating the World into Latvian Language”, showcasing such participants as Andrejs Vasiļjevs, Baiba Moļņika, Arno Jundze, Sigita Kušnere, Juta Pīrāga and Janušs Kaminskis. This event gathered distinguished experts from the literature and literary translation field to a panel discussion on teaching and preparing a new generation of translators and interpreters, but also on the diverse opportunities that a translator can encounter by becoming an ambassador of their language through the medium of literature. This event started at 11:00 a.m. and same day at 14:15 Latvia Univeristy Faculty of Humanities hosted a ceremonial inauguration of portraits of outstanding linguists J.Endzelīns and P. Šmits, which was followed by a lecture „English Language: Is It Really Illogical?” by lecturer Lauma Terēze Lapa. Later that day, at 17:00 Europe House was the venue for Masterclass in Greek Language, that offered an introduction to the basics of the Greek language and a glimpse into Greek culture. This class was lead by Prof. Ilze Rūmniece from the University of Latvia, founder of the Latvia University Centre of Hellenic studies. The other teacher was Gatis Ezerkalns, who had just graduated from his studies of Contemporary Greek language in Greece.

On September 26th, EU House offered a musical event „Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – 100 years! Listen and Sing the Languages of Baltic States!”, where participants were invited to learn the basics and try singing in all three languages: Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian. At the beginning of the event, from 18:00 participants were offered to learn short phrases in Lithuanian and Estonian languages as well as hear some exciting facts about these languages. This was followed by singing together, interactively lead by folklore group „Budēļi”.

Other European languages were also presented during this week. Special classes were held offering participants to listen to the sound and melody of a language, learn to say a few important words and phrases, as well as get inspired to eventually learn some of these languages more in-depth.

German language workshop on September 26th, at 15:00 showcased well known German ex-pat musician Jorans Steinhauers, who speaks several languages freely but regards German as his native language.

French Language workshop at 17:00 on September 27th offered a presentation of the French language with lecturers from the French Institute in Latvia. Participants engaged in interactive discussions about French words and phrases. Class offered a chance to hear many common words spoken in daily life, as well as a special selection of words that are similar in French and Latvian.

At 17:30 on September 27th started yet another class at „Birojnica”- „Latvian Language in the Family of European Languages”. This event was hosted by Elvis Jansons and included presentations by linguists Ilze Rūmniece and Jānis Silis.

On September 28th, at 17:00 in the afternoon Director of the Spanish Culture centre „Seneca” Javier Fernandez Cruz delivered at lecture „Spain: Myths and Truths”. Javier Fernandez Cruz has been teaching Spanish in Latvia for over ten years. His lecture provided a chance to learn some new exciting facts about the Spanish language and Spanish traditions, while also opened our eyes to certain misleading stereotypes about life in Spain.

Valmiera city hosted a larger cooperation project „School Bridges” between Latvian and Swedish educational establishments, with several events running from September 26th to September 29th.

The project aimed at promoting further cooperation between schools in Latvia and Sweden, including with Latvian diaspora schools abroad. This exchange event offered a chance for representatives from schools in Sweden and teachers from Latvian diaspora schools to get a deeper insight into the Latvian education system and school programmes, as well as to see with their own eyes how the schools actually work on normal day-today basis. Teachers from Latvian schools got an opportunity to know more about possibilities for learning Latvian language abroad and to exchange valuable experieces.

Baltic International Academy held a quiz show for students of humaniora „100 years of Latvia (1918 – 2018) in European Translations” on October 1st.

On October 5th to 6th Tartu University hosted the 6th International Baltic Students Conference „Bridged in the Baltics” .

On October 18th at 10:30 the EU House in Riga hosted international language consultant symposium „Challenges in the Life of Language Consultants”.

Our Agency announced yet another school student creative writing competition „My Childhood Story” on September 26th. This competition was open to schoolchildren and teenagers from Latvia and abroad, while adults and young adults were inivited to participate in story and photography competition „Word in the Right (Wrong) Place”. Competitions ran until November 18th, and rules of the competitions can be found on the homepage of Latvian Language Agency : www.valoda.lv

We invited enthusiasts in Latvia and abroad to participate and enrich the learning and usage experience of languages spoken in Europe, while also honouring and recognizing the Latvian language as our official state language.

European Language Day is an initiative of the Council of Europe. Latvian Language Agency implements the initiative in Latvia in cooperation with a whole number of partner organizations. European Language Day is held annually on September 26th, while many exciting events are held both before and after this date as well.

European Day of Languages 2017

The Latvian Language Agency held the European Day of Languages events – an annual celebration of language that has taken place every year on September 26 since 2001. The European Day of Languages is celebrated in all the member states of the European Union and it focuses on European languages, linguistic diversity and language learning.

European Day of Languages 2016

Celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the European Day of Languages, the Latvian Language Agency organised and coordinated events devoted to the EDL for the twelfth time already. Solveiga Akmentiņa, a teacher from Riga Jugla Secondary School, suggested uniting all the EDL events 2016 under a motto “Kind words in European Languages”. This year, like never before, language diversity was celebrated by the agency and our cooperation partners all September long.

On September 1, a quiz “European Day of Languages in Latvia and all over the world” started asking participants to find answers to questions about EDL both in the homepage of the agency and the official EDL website htp://edl.ecml.at/. The winners of the quiz were greeted on September 26 in the main event of EDL.

From September 5 to September 16 pupils at Riga Jugla Secondary School were asked to think about kind words in European languages. They dubbed fragments of popular cartoons making their heroes give compliments, praise each other and exchange good and kind words.

Taking a glimpse back to EDL 2015, from September 5 to October 3 an exhibition was held at Aluksne Library presenting the best works from EDL 2015 photography and story competition “See the language, see the story” and encouraging possible participants to take part in the competition also this year.

On Thursday, September 8, librarians from Aluksne and Ape counties had a possibility to discuss language and lexis issues and hear about the Latvian Language Agency consultants’ experience and situations at their everyday work.

On Monday, September 19, regional journalists were invited to the “Brunch for Language Ambassadors”. The aim of the event was to turn journalists’ attention towards language culture issues, encourage their initiative to participate in saving and taking care of the Latvian language, and to research and write more about language issues. During the 6 hour masterclass the journalists got information about: the language situation in Latvia – monitoring results 2010–2015 (presented by G. Kļava and Dr. philol. S. Pošeiko, LLA project managers – sociolinguists), language consultants’ experience (presented by Dr. philol.Dite Liepa, LLA Chief linguist), language culture issues (presented by Prof. Dr. habil. philol. Andrejs Veisbergs) and the Linguistic map (presented by D. Kreilis, head of project development at SIA “Maplant”). The journalists also took part in a discussion about creative linguistic environment (together with Andris Akmentiņš, poet and translator) and created stories for Latvia in the workshop organised by the Institute of Latvia.

On September 20, the Baltic–German University Liaison Office invited everyone to the scientific evening where prof. Ulrich Ammon gave a lecture on German as a second language in the world and Kerttu Kibbermann and Gunta Kļava introduced with the status of Latvian, Estonian and Livonian in the context of European languages.

On September 23, the Baltic–German University Liaison Office, in cooperation with the National Library of Latvia and the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, invited to attend a guest lecture by Dr. Rolf Fielmann “Nāves ēnā/Im Schatten des Todes (1899) by Rūdolfs Blaumanis as a Christian allegory: the meaning of two-level writing in two languages”.

On September 26, the European Day of Languages, the European Union House invited to the traditional crash courses of EU languages, whereas the Latvian Language Agency organised a celebration “15^th Anniversary of the European Day of Languages” where it was possible to take a look back on the very first years of celebrating EDL in Latvia, winners of quizzes and contests were greeted, the official website of EDL was opened in Latvian, and creative competitions 2016 both for adults and children were launched. The language festival was celebrated at “Rocket Bean Roastery” and the participants of the event had a chance to listen to the story about coffee’s breath-taking trips in the world, Europe and Latvia comparing the vast range of coffee varieties to language diversity.

Creative contests 2016 invited participants to look for, notice and appreciate good and kind words all around us. Photography and story competition “I see a good word, I write a good story” encouraged both adults and children to find good (kind) words in our surroundings, make a picture and add a story to it about how and why the picture was made. The traditional creative writing competition for school students from Latvia and abroad invited pupils to write about the feeling when “Kind words warm heart and soul”. The deadline of the competition was November 18, as usual.

From September 26 to September 30, the French Institute, EDL friends and partners, offered to test one’s knowledge in a quiz devoted to the French language.

On Tuesday, September 27, the symposium “Development of Baltic German” was held. It was organised by the Baltic–German University Liaison Office in cooperation with the German Embassy in Riga and Harrassowitz Publishing House. It was also the opening event for the book “German in the Baltic States. An annotated bibliography of research”.

On September 28, the University of Latvia awarded Honorary Doctorate to Gerhard Stickel, the President of the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL) and Dr. G. Stickel held a lecture “National and European language policies. Where are we now?” In the evening, language enthusiasts could participate in speaking workshops in French, Latvian and English “How to learn languages” organised by the language centre “Valodu darbnīca”.

On September 29, French Institute invited everybody to an evening of games “Rencontres à la française”.

On Friday, September 30, the Baltic International Academy presented the back-translation of Laima Kota’s (Muktupāvela) literary essey “Latvieši un toDieviņš” (“Five faces of Latvians and their small Gods”) carried out by the students of the academy to revive the disappeared version of the essay in Latvian.

From September 30 to October 1, already the 4^th International Baltic Student Conference “Bridges in the Baltics” took place at the University of Warsaw, Poland.

On October 1 – 2 Ventspils greeted Livs, their language and traditions. Liv culture days in Ventspils 2016 were organised by the foundation “Ventspils lībiešu apvienība „Rānda””.

The events of EDL 2016 finished with the presentation of the study by the Latvian Language Agency “Language situation in Latvia 2010–2015”. It was held at the Centre of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Latvia where the authors and editors of the study presented the most important trends in the language development and use in Latvia over the last five years.

Events of the European Day of Languages 2016 were organised by the Latvian Language Agency with the support from partners: European Commission Representative in Latvia, Ministry of Education and Science, University of Latvia, French Institute, Baltic-German University Liaison Office, Institute of Latvia, Baltic International Academy, University of Warsaw, Riga Jugla Secondary School, the foundation “Ventspils lībiešu apvienība „Rānda””, language centre “Valodu darbnīca”, Aluksne City Library.

All the events were free of charge.

The official EDL statement 2016.

European Day of Languages 2015

In 2015, events to honour the European Day of Languages, organised by the Latvian Language Agency and our partners, started on August 11 and ended on November 18. The programme of events was wide and diverse.

The very first activity to start celebrating languages was launched already in the beginning of August. It was the photography and story competition “See the language, see the story! All the interested were invited to take part in the competition by sending their photographs where a word, phrase or expression in any of the European languages can be seen and a story is added about how the picture has been made and what is its relation to Latvia. The best works were to be presented in an exhibition devoted to EDL. The opening of the exhibition was held on September 28, 2015.

On September 22, the first book opening event started EDL 2015 celebration. The book by Jean Aitchison “The Articulate Mammal” (translated into Latvian by Ina Druviete) was presented at Daugavpils University.

On Wednesday, September 23, the opening event for the book “The Articulate Mammal” by Jean Aitchison and a discussion with the book’s translator and publishers took place at the Faculty of the Humanities of the University of Latvia.

On September 23, a discussion about dialects in Latvia and Sweden was held at the language learning and translation centre “Bābele”.

On Thursday, September 24, the book opening event for Jean Aitchison’s “The Articulate Mammal” and meeting the book’s translator and publishers took place at Liepāja University.

On September 24, the Baltic–German University Liaison Office invited everyone to the scientific evening at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia. Lectures were given by prof. Björn Rothstein from Ruhr University Bochum and prof. Andra Kalnača from the University of Latvia.

A lecture on language in commercials and advertisements was held on the same day at “NicePlace Mansards”. The organiser of the event was “Skrivanek Baltic”.

On Friday, September 25, the language of Rainis and Aspazija was revealed in lectures by prof. Janīna Kursīte, prof. Ina Druviete and literary scholars Kristīne Rotbaha and Ingus Barovskis. The lectures were held within the project of the State Culture Capital Foundation “Laikmeta rokraksti” (“Handwritings of the Century”) at Smiltene Centre Secondary School and Smiltene Grammar School.

On September 25, the EU House invited to the crash courses – workshops of European languages “to taste” Swedish, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and sign language. The French Institute organised a rendezvous with French for the speakers of French at various levels. Whereas in Ape Culture House Karl Pajusalu from Tartu University, Uldis Balodis from Helsinki University, translators Hannes Korjus and Guntars Godiņš, and representatives from the publishing house “Apgāds Mansards” told Lutsi (Ludza) Estonian fairy-tales and discussed Estonian in Latvia.

On Saturday, September 26, people were invited to discuss Lutsi Estonian heritage and Estonian in Latvia and listen to Lutsi fairy-tales in Ludza Library.

On Monday, September 28, the exhibition opened at the Northern Language Centre “Nordisk” presenting the winning photographs and stories of the competition “See the language, see the story”. The aim of the competition was to enhance noticing language items and elements in the surroundings. Stories emphasised the diversity of European languages in relation to Latvia and the Latvian language.

During the festive event, also the European Language Label laureates were awarded. The ELL initiative is announced and represented in Latvia by the State Education Development Agency.

On Thursday, October 1, year 9 students had a possibility to check their knowledge about German and English speaking countries, their history, culture, geography and languages in a competition organised by the Grammar School of Nordic Languages.

From October 2 to October 3 the 3^rd international Baltic students conference “Bridges in Baltics” was held in Vilnius, Lithuania.

From September 24 to October 11 the French Institute invited to participate in a contest “European Day of Languages 2015” in their Facebook site.

As a tradition, the creative writing competition for school students was launched on EDL. This year, pupils were asked to think about Jānis Peters’ line “How can you learn another language? If you know your own one”.

November 18 was a deadline for applications in the campaign “Novada valodnieks” (“Linguist of the County”) looking for language enthusiasts who always know and share an appropriate saying, folksong or tasty anecdote, who don’t take it long to find the right word, who appreciate foreign languages and who live in languages.

EDL 2015 events were organised by the Latvian Language Agency with the support from partners: European Commission’s representatives in Latvia, Ministry of Education and Science, “Skrivanek Baltic”, Northern Language centre “Nordisk”, State Education Development Agency, State Culture Capital Foundation, University of Latvia. French Institute, Ape Municipality, Smiltene Municipality, Ludza Library, language learning and translation centre “Bābele”, Grammar School of Nordic Languages and other EDL supporters.

As always, all the events were free of charge.

More information: evd@valoda.lv

European Day of Languages 2014

Every year on September 26^th the European Union member states celebrate the European Day of Languages, when special attention is paid to the different European languages, language diversity and learning them.

This is already the 10^th year the Latvian Language Agency together with its partners organize events of the European Day of Languages.

This year’s events are planned over a period of two weeks from September 22^th until October 4^th.

European Day of Languages 2010

This year different events are being organised: Culture Event of European countries, The Norwegian Language Club; the conference “Language, Environment, Economics” and an interactive game “Arranging languages on the map of Europe!”. Everyone can participate in the quiz “Language Carousel”, the quiz “The Language Explorer” or attend the National Film Show. At the Botanical Garden you will be able to follow bilingual poetry readings, participate in the discussion “Language in translation” in Ventspils, and in its turn gain an insight of one of the languages chosen by attending one of 19 Language Workshops.

All the events are free of charge.

European Day of Languages 2010

Events

Conference „Language, Environment, Economics” 

EUROPEAN DAY of LANGUAGES 2009

Every person had a chance to participate in any of 20 events included in the programme of the European Day of Languages organized by the Latvian Languag
e Agency and its partner organisations.

On 26 September member states of the European Union celebrated the European Day of Languages paying special interest to the European languages, their diversity and language acquisition. The aim of the European Day of Languages is to show the language variety and diversity, promote the importance of language learning as well as to encourage lifelong language learning among people.

The events dedicated to the European Day of Languages started on Monday 21 September with bilingual poetry readings in the regions: in Gulbene Library (Gulbene, 60 A O.Kalpaka street) at 2:00 p.m., in Valmiera Joint Library (Valmiera, 4 Cesu street) at 7:00 p.m. and on 22 September in Jelgava District Council (Jelgava, 37 Pasta street) at 4:30 p.m. During literary evenings you could hear poetry readings in eight different languages: Greek-Latvian, French-Latvian, German-Latvian, Hungarian-Latvian, Spanish-Latvian, Czech–Latvian, Armenian-Latvian.

In its turn, readers of the newspaper “Latvijas Avize” had a chance to participate in the Quiz “The Language Explorer”. 60 answers were received to the Quiz questions. The winners of the Quiz are the following: 1st place – Līva Štāle, student of grade 11 from Nereta Janis Jaunsudrabins secondary school; 2nd place – Signe Jānelsiņa, student of grade 11 from Valmiera Pargauja Gymmnasium; 3rd place – students of grade 9 from Barkava Elementary School; prize for the best design – Klinta Gaisa, student of grade 6 from Jelgava Elementary School No 3; prize for diligence – Jānis Dāvis Siliņš un Kristers Purvišķis, students of grade 5 from Kegums Secondary School of Commerce.

Every day from 21st to 25th September at 4:40 p.m. radio „Skonto” broadcasted the Quiz “Language Carousel” when every day the listeners had to answer to the question about one of the European languages. This year the questions were about Danish, Liv, Swedish, French and Norwegian languages. Participants of the quiz had to recognize the language and had to name the quotation they heard translated into Latvian. The prize – coursebook to learn particular language skills.

Conference “Using Technologies in the Language Acquisition” took place on 22 September at the Hall “Mazā Aula”, University of Latvia at 3:00 p.m. and the society could learn about the best research results in the field of language acquisition in 2008/2009. Research papers were evaluated, discussed and the theme for next year research papers was proposed.

“In the Language Café” (at Bergs Bazaar Riga, 85a Elizabetes street) on 22 September at 5:00 p.m. intellectual conversations about “The benefits of thorough language and culture knowledge” were lead by Silvija Andernovics and Ieva Sentivani. “Language Café” is a well-known initiative in Europe – people knowing the same language meet in an informal atmosphere for discussion – gradually this tradition is introduced also in Latvia.

During the National Film Show on 23 September spectators could see different feature films created by European countries: at 3:30 p.m. Danish film “Fighter” at the cinema “K-Suns” (Riga, 83/85 Elizabetes street), at 7:30 p.m. German film „Rennt, Lola, rennt” at Goethe Institute (Riga, 1 Tornu street), at 7:00 p.m. French movie “Games of Love and Chance” at Centre Culturel Francais (Riga, 59 Elizabetes street )

On 26 September at 6:00 p.m. Czech film “Fimfárum 2” at “Skrivanek Baltic” (Riga, 40 Brīvības street).

“Language-tasting” took place on 24 September from 6:00 till 8:00 p.m. at the shopping centre “Alfa” (Riga, 372 Brīvības street) in the main square on the 1^st floor next to the Information centre. During this interactive event all the visitors of the shopping mall could ‘feel’ the ‘taste’ of different languages and test themselves in which country they would not get confused and could buy the necessary food stuff – customers had to recognize the names of different food items in seven different languages. 133 participants were successful with this task. The winner was chosen in raffle and won the gift token for studies in the Language School at “Skrivanek Baltic”.

The Scientific conference “The First Word” that took place on 25 September from 10:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. at Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy was another event to celebrate the European Day of Languages. The Scientific conference was dedicated to language acquisition in childhood and in kindergarten. During the conference the winners received the Award of the European Label in language learning. European Label is presented to students and teachers for successful initiatives in the field of language learning and teaching. The aim of this initiative is to search for and find new, original foreign language learning methods and techniques we can acquire from different countries and languages.

“Spanish Culture Event” took place on 25 September at 7:30 pm (at “Skrivanek Baltic” Language School, Riga, 40 Brīvības street) and you could follow flamenco dances, listen to Spanish poetry and music, visit the photo exhibition and learn more about Spanish culture.

Language Workshops – “Get to Know Languages” were held on the European Day of Languages – 26 September – from 10:00 till 11:30 a.m. at Riga State Gymnasium No 1 and they brought together pupils and students. Language Workshops were organized in groups and the participants had the chance to learn Spanish, Lithuanian, Estonian, German, French, English, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Armenian, Esperanto, Liv, Latvian, Czech and Swedish. Participants were the most interested in the Spanish and Italian languages.

The Closing Ceremony of the European Day of Languages 2009 and Awarding Winners took place on 26 September at 11:30 a.m. in the Hall of Riga State Gymnasium No 1. The awards were presented to the best participants in the quiz “The Language Explorer” and the most successful participants in the Language Workshops. All the events were free of charge.

During the European Day of Languages 2009 two more competitions were announced that will take place from 21 September till 18 November 2009: Competition of drawings for primary school students of grades 1 – 4, “My Motherland – It is the Most Beautiful Country”, and Competition of literary works for students of grades 5 – 12 “Light up for Your Nation, State and the Language!” The 3 best drawings or literary works from each school should be sent to the Latvian Language Agency, Riga, 35-5 Lāčplēša street, LV-1011. You can read more about the regulations of the competition on our website at www.valoda.lv.

Events to celebrate the European Day of Languages 2009 were organized by the Latvian Language Agency together with its cooperation partners:

European Commission Representation in Latvia, „Skrivanek Baltic”, Centre Culturel Francais, the Danish Cultural Institute, Goethe Institute, Latvian Association of Language Teachers, UNESCO, Latvian Association of Teachers of Italian, the “Latvijas Avīze”, Academic Programme Agency, Public Service Language Centre, Riga State Gymnasium No.1, Association of Italian Language and Culture “Dante Alighieri”, Embassy of the Republic of Hungary, Embassy of the Czech Republic, The Centre for Nordic Studies, Liv Culture Association, shopping centre Alfa, University of Latvia, Latvian Association of Esperanto, Riga Lithuanian Secondary School, Ministry of Education and Science .

The Latvian Language Agency was established on 1st July 2009 after merging two agencies – the State Language Agency and the National Agency for Latvian Language Training – into one and its aim is to promote the status of the Latvian language as the State language of the Republic of Latvia and as an official language of the European Union, to strengthen it and ensure its sustainable development.

EUROPEAN DAY of LANGUAGES 2008 

TAG DER EUROPÄISCHEN SPRACHEN 2008

„UNSER EUROPA IN MEINEM LETTLAND“

12. Mai – 12. September

– Preisausschreiben der Zeichnungen der Schüler der 1.- 4. Klassen

„O, mein Vaterland, du bist schön“

– Preisausschreiben der Literaturwerke der Schüler der 5.- 12. Klassen

„Meine Sprache ist meine Ehre“

22. – 26. September, Radio „Skonto“ um 9.40 Uhr

Morgenwettbewerb „Das Karussell der Sprachen“

1. – 10. September, „Latvijas Avīze”

Ein Frage – und – Antwort – Spiel, gewidmet dem Tag der europäischen

Sprachen

22. September, die Große Aula der Universität Lettlands um 13.00 Uhr

Konferenz „Die neuesten Forschungen in der Aneignung der

Sprachen“

(Zusammenarbeit mit der Universität Lettlands und der Assoziation der

Sprachlehrer Lettlands)

23. September, die Kleine Aula der Universität Lettlands um 16.00 Uhr

Die bilingualen Lesungen der Dichtwerke

24. September, die Große Aula der Universität Lettlands

10.00 Konferenz „Lettland – das Volk, der Staat, die Sprache“

13.00 Auszeichnung der Sieger des Anerkennungszeichens Europas in der

Aneignung der Sprachen

(Zusammenarbeit mit der Agentur der akademischen Programme)

25. September, Galerie „Centrs“ um 16.00 Uhr

„Die Sprachkarte“

(Zusammenarbeit mit dem Büro der Übersetzungen „Skrivanek“)

26. September

16.00 Buchhandlung „Globuss“

„Im Cafe der Sprache“

(Zusammenarbeit mit dem Zentrum des Sprachunterrichts)

19.00 Freilichtskino in Vermanesdarzs – Filme „In einer

Sprache“ und „Sprich mit mir. Lettisch“

Musikalische Begleitung: O. Petrauskis (Saxophon), R. Petrauskis (Klavier),

Z. Dombrovska (Stimme)

27. September, das 1. Rigaer Staatsgymnasium

12.00 Sprachwerkstätte – „Lerne Sprachen kennen“

Werkstätte der tschechischen, spanischen, griechischen, polnischen,

dänischen, französischen, italienischen, armenischen, finnischen,

schwedischen, isländischen, norwegischen, japanischen und lettischen

Sprachen

Ihre Teilnahme an den Sprachwerkstätten bitten wir vorher per e-mail:

agentura@valoda.lv anmelden

14.0       Abschlussveranstaltung des Tages der europäischen Sprachen 2008

und Auszeichnung

Saal des 1. Rigaer Staatsgymnasiums

EUROPEAN DAY of LANGUAGES 2007

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES 2006

programme

 25 – 29 September

         Series of stories “European Day of Languages” for programme “Culture Rondo” on Latvian Radio 1 from 14²⁰ till 14³⁰

Quiz devoted to European Day of Languages in “Latvijas Avīze”

26 September

Conference in the Grand Hall of the Latvian Society House (13 Merķeļa iela)

9⁰⁰ – 10⁰⁰   Registration of the Participants

10⁰⁰ – 10⁴⁰ Opening of the Conference

10⁴⁰ – 11⁰⁰ Prof. G. Stickel (Germany). Multilingual Europe and Plurilingual Europeans

11⁰⁰ –11²⁰  Prof. U. Frauenfelder (Switzerland). Psycholinguistic Research Approaches to Language Acquisition and Processing

11²⁰ – 11⁴⁰    Coffee Break

11⁴⁰ – 12⁰⁰   J. Grigorjevs (Latvia). Psychoacoustic Aspect of Language Sounds

12⁰⁰-12²⁰      O. Arkle (Latvia). Multicultural Approach in Education System in Latvia

12²⁰-12³⁰   Greeting of W. Aitchison, Administrator of European Commission – Directorate General for Education and Culture

12³⁰-13⁰⁰     Awarding European Label for Innovative Initiatives in Language Teaching and Learning

13⁰⁰-13³⁰         Presentations of the Winners of Student Public Speaking Competition

14⁰⁰-17⁰⁰ “Language Carousel in Vērmaņdārzs”  Concert in different languages on the Open-air Stage in Vērmaņdārzs (Director J. Silins, the Latvian Academy of Culture)

27 September 15⁰⁰-17⁰⁰ Seminar of State Language Commission „Psycholinguistic Perspectives on Bilingualism” (Head, prof. U. Frauenfelder) at Konventa Sēta (Convent Court) in the Kampenhauzens Hall (9/11 Kalēju iela).