EUROPEAN DAY of LANGUAGES 2012
Every year on September 26th 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.
Latvian Language Agency, in collaboration with its partners, offers, for the eighth successive year, European Day of Languages events, in which you are welcome to take part! This year’s events are planned over a period of two weeks.
The event cycle begins on Friday, September 21st, at 11:30 in the EU house with language workshops, where those interested can get acquainted, in an attractive and creative way, with Spanish, Latvian, English, sign, Norwegian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Italian languages. In each language workshop it will be possible to hear each language, find out their significant details, learn to pronounce the most popular phrases, and understand which language you want to learn more thoroughly. The event is made possible in collaboration with the European Commission representatives in Latvia, European Parliament Information Centre in Latvia, European Commission Translation general directorate, Spanish Culture Centre “Seneca” and the Norwegian embassy.
At 17:00 in the interactive game “Guess the legend with Skrivanek Baltic”, in the 1stfloor hall of Latvian Railway station, you’ll be able to test your intuition and language knowledge.
On Monday, September 24th, at 18:00, there will be the British cinema night, where the cinema expert Viktors Freibergs will appear with a lecture. The event will feature a programme of British short films. The event will occur at the British council.
On Tuesday, September 25th, at 17:00 in the Rainis and Aspazija museum, there will be a discussion “Language plays in translations”, the invitee of which is the translator Dace Meiere.
On Wednesday, September 26th, at 9:30 you’ll learn about the innovations in the choice of learning materials at the conference “Innovative and traditional Latvian language learning tools”. During the conference the respective recipients will receive the European Recognition awards for learning languages, which are given by the State Education Development Agency for new and original methods for learning foreign languages.
At 17:00 there will be the discussion “Languages take you further”, in which the writer Inga Žolude, anthropologist Dagmāra Beitnere, archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs will attempt to answer the question why the bad news are good news in the Latvian media and literature; the discussion will be led by journalist Arno Jundze.
At 17:00, at the French Institute, there will be a story afternoon for children, at 18:00 – a French language club called “Listen, guess, try yourself” for the youth and the French cinema club film “Mademoiselle Chambon” at 19:00 for adults.
On Thursday, September 27th, at 13:00, young people from the Vidzeme region will have the opportunity to compete in the school competition at the Valmiera Pārgauja gymnasium. The student teams will have to prepare homework – a language advertisement clip, which will be evaluated by a jury, and Andris Akmentiņš will share his experience on how to use the media when addressing the public. In multiple stages, the knowledge and erudition of the students will be tested.
On Friday, September 28th, at 13:00, in the Valmiera pizzeria “Liepziedi un rozmarīns”, there will be an Italian language club and a pizza baking competition.
At 18:00 in the Turaida museum-reserve, at the Liv poetry evening “Jõvā ȭdõg!” creative people will meet and resound the Liv language in words and music, encourage discussion and will share their experience about the presence of the Liv language in modern Latvian language. The poetry evening will feature such people as Gundega Blumberga, Baiba Damberga, Kārlis Vērdiņš, Raimonds Tiguls and Kristīne Kārkle.
At 18:00, in Riga, at the Spanish Culture Centre “Seneca”, there will be the discussion “Spain: myths and truth”. Do all Spaniards know how to dance flamenco and play the guitar? Do the people in the north of Spain cheer at bull fights? Does it ever snow in Spain? Come and find out the myths and truths surrounding Spain, Spanish language and their culture overall together with the Spanish Culture Centre’s “Seneca” director Javier Fernández Cruz.
On Tuesday, October 2nd, at 18:30, during the Swedish language club for beginners “How Swedes wait for a bus” there will be an attractive evening in a Swedish atmosphere for those who haven’t heard the Swedish language and for those who have some knowledge about the Swedish language. You’ll find out the most common stereotypes about Swedes, and what jokes they tell about themselves. There will be tasks and group activities. The event will be coordinated by the Swedish language teacher Kalle from the Northern language centre Nordisk.
On Wednesday, October 3rd, at the Northern Ministers’ council office, in the cinema lecture “In what language does the cinema speak?”, V. Freibergs will talk about the differences between silent films and sound films. There will be examples from older periods of cinema, as well as modern examples.
On Thursday, October 4th, at 13:00, at the University of Vilnius Baltic language day, there will be guest lectures from V. Muktupāvels, and events with the participation of folklore group “Skandenieki” and “Laukis”.
At 14:00 there will be a Danish language workshop at the Danish Culture Centre.
At 16:00 at K-Suns there will be the Danish film “Best in the world”.
On Friday, October 5th, at 10:00, in the University of Vilnius there will be a Baltic student conference “Current topics of Baltistics”.
During the European Language Days, the tradition is to organize a competition for school students; this year’s theme is “Latvia, I am your child”. All children from Latvia and abroad are welcome to participate.
Collaboration partners: European Commission’s representatives in Latvia, European Commission Translation General Directorate, “Skrivanek Baltic”, French Institute, Northern Ministers’ Council Office in Latvia, British Council, Valmiera Pārgauja gymnasium, State Education Development Agency, Northern Language Centre “Nordisk”, Liv Culture Society, Danish Culture Institute, UNESCO LNK, Embassy of the Republic of Norway, Ministry of Education and Science, Spanish Culture Centre “Seneca”, University of Vilnius, Turaida museum-reserve, Valmiera theatre, pizzeria “Liepziedi un rozmarīns”, Latvian Italian language teacher association, Valmiera library, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences.
Photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65432159@N05/sets/72157631675321463/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65432159@N05/sets/72157631682355712/
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.423253161056537.88426.208080212573834&type=1
Meet you in the European Day of Languages 2012!
