By David Matthews for Times Higher Education. Some British universities still lack clear policies on whether international students may use proofreaders or translators to help them with their work, it has emerged. The issue has flared up amid concern that English-language entrance requirements are set too low, with one former proofreader saying that she often had to tidy up a "mish-mash of translation, 'paraphrasing' and Wikipedia citations." Ros Hampton, head of conduct and appeals at the University of Wolverhampton, wrote on the public academic discussion service Jiscmail that she was "looking at the advice (or lack of it) that my institution provides with regard to the use of translators and proof readers." Read more...

By Graeme Paton. An investigation is to be launched into the state of foreign language teaching in schools after the number of pupils taking A-levels in French and German plummeted to a record low.
Examination boards said they were working on a rescue plan in an attempt to revive interest in the subject following a year-on-year fall in entries over the last decade.
The inquiry is likely to look into areas such as the types of students studying a language and why relatively few A-levels are awarded a top grade.
It came after French and German – traditionally the two most popular language courses in schools – both appeared in a list of the 10 fastest declining subjects this summer. Some 11,272 pupils studied French in 2013 – a drop of 10 per cent in a year and a near 50 per cent decline over the last decade. More...

By Daniel Boffey. Number of universities offering modern languages degrees plunges from 105 in 2000 to 62 at start of this academic year.  As many as 40% of university language departments are likely to close within a decade, the former government adviser charged with bolstering foreign language uptake in higher education has warned, delivering a huge blow to the UK's diplomatic and economic hopes. Amid a deepening crisis in language learning – which is causing alarm at the highest levels of government – the number of universities offering degrees in modern languages has already plunged from 105 in 2000 to 62 at the start of this academic year. More...

By Daniel Boffey. Applications for language courses slump – which is bad news for British diplomacy and business. Eighteen months ago, William Hague told a group of language professors whom he had invited to the Foreign Office that Britain's global standing in business – and, perhaps most pertinently, in the diplomatic world – was at grave risk from a lack of men and women with language skills. One academic who attended the meeting said: "He laid it on the table. He told us there is an urgent need for Britain to improve its language capability."
Whether it be staffing UK embassies or key EU institutions, the language problem was beginning to have a major impact on a diplomatic service once famed for its ability to shape events in the Britain's national interest. Last week's A-level results, and Ucas figures will not have lifted the foreign secretary's mood. French and German – traditionally the two most popular language courses in schools – both appear in a list of the 10 most rapidly declining subjects this summer. Some 11,272 pupils studied French in 2013, a fall of 10% in a year and a near 50% decline over the last decade. German entries fell to a record low of just 4,242. It was a drop of 11% in 12 months and half the number since 2000. Other modern languages – which include Mandarin, Arabic and Italian – dropped this year from a combined 9,136 entries to 9,087. Read more...

Le Label européen des langues suit son cours dans le nouveau programme avec deux nouvelles priorités européennes pour 2014-2015 : les langues pour favoriser l'inclusion sociale et les langues en lien avec le sport.
Ce dispositif mis en place il y a plus de 10 ans récompense les initiatives innovantes en matière d'apprentissage et d'enseignement des langues. Avec ces deux priorités la Commission européenne souhaite d'une part valoriser toutes les méthodes permettant une meilleure intégration sociale des publics à besoins spécifiques et d'autre part soutenir l'enseignement et l'apprentissage non formel et informel des langues à travers le sport, nouveau volet d'Erasmus plus.
Contact Label européen des langues : susana.major@2e2f.fr
Plus d'informations.

Different European language communities speaking with one voice.
The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) is a pan-European network created with the support of the European Commission and led by different state and regional governments comprising universities, associations and NGO’s working in the field of language policy and planning for Constitutional, Regional and Small-State Languages (CRSS) across Europe.
The NPLD works to raise awareness at a European level on the positive aspects of linguistic diversity, to portray languages as an opportunity for the personal, social and economic development of Europe and to exchange best practices among policy makers, practitioners, researchers and experts across Europe.
The NPLD includes a broad range of languages – from official EU languages such as Estonian, Irish, Swedish or Finnish – to languages with official statuts in their territories such as Basque, Catalan, Galician, Welsh, Frisian and other language communities without official recognition but highly vibrant such as Breton, Corsican, Occitan, Cornish or Sami, among others.
The NPLD is open to all CRSS language communities, including public bodies, institutions, associations, universities, and civil society working in the field of linguistic diversity and multilingualism across Europe. For more information, visit the NPLD’s website

The University of Naples "L'Orientale" invites researchers and scholars to submit proposals for individual papers on the theme "Language and Diversity Discourse".
The Conference, scheduled on 10-12 October 2013 in Naples, will prompt a reflection on:

Under the patronage of UNESCO, the 19^th European Symposium on Languages for Special Purposes (LSP2013) will be held at the Centre for Translation Studies of the University of Vienna, from 8th to 10th of July 2013.
The three-day international event will focus on Languages for Special Purposes in a Multilingual, Transcultural world and will feature three keynote presentations.
The Symposium will offer parallel tracks on domain-specific languages, professional communication, theoretical and methodological issues of research and training, terminologies, specialized translation and socio-cultural issues of LSPs. The Symposium will also include a Forum for Early-Stage Researchers, allowing graduate students, post-docs and junior researchers to discuss their research and methodology with distinguished senior researchers.
For more information or to register (deadline: 30th June 2013) for the Symposium, please visit the website.

Greek is one of the less widely taught languages in Europe. However, many European languages include words of Greek origin, resulting in many Europeans (but also people from all around the world) wanting to learn Greek, to better understand and appreciate their own languages as well as learning one of the most ancient. Some of these learners reach advanced level in Greek and so the GLOSSA project was developed to support these language learners who wish to continue learning Greek and do not have either suitable learning materials and resources or the chance to visit Greece.
GLOSSA is unique in that it has developed an online multimedia course for levels C1 and C2, as well as two educational methodologies, one for the development of e-learning content for languages at an advanced level, and one for self-learning using an on-line environment. In addition a common European professional profile for language teachers has also been created, which is transferable to other languages, plus an accreditation tool has been adapted in order to promote the certification and validation of language teaching skills in non-formal and informal environments. Two books are available and published in both hard copy and electronic form.
The course, which has been developed with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme (Key Activity 2: Languages), has attracted participants from 29 different countries from all over the world. The partners, all experienced in teaching languages, have enjoyed working together and have already developed a new idea for the continuation of the project.
The GLOSSA online advanced level Greek language courses are offered twice a year (the next courses will start in September 2013) and registrations are open for everyone who has a B2 level knowledge of the Greek language. The courses are offered at a low cost and include synchronous and asynchronous learning practice.
For more information about GLOSSA, you can visit the website or send an e-mail to: euprograms@action.gr