A language symposium organized within the Austrian-Hungarian educational project EDUCORB extended is taking place on April 11, 2013 in Lanzenkirchen, Lower-Austria.
“EDUCORB extended" builds upon the results of the previous project EDUCORB and aims to promote young people's cross-cultural communication skills in the region to increase their competitiveness in the common labour market.
After introducing the neighbouring languages, German and Hungarian, in pilot kindergartens the focus now lies in promoting the continuous acquisition of the foreign language from kindergarten to the last school year, the deepening of methodological innovation and cross-border cooperation between kindergartens and schools. An important factor for positive learning results is the motivation of the learners, which is promoted by personal contacts and practical experiences in the other country in the form of bilateral events, school projects and internships. Regular network meetings for kindergartens and schools and common language symposia provide a platform for shared ideas, methodological exchange and knowledge transfer. To ensure the quality of language, teaching training opportunities for language teachers are offered as well. A study accompanying the project evaluates its outcomes and provides sustainability.
Within the next months, various activities are planned: cross-border events for kindergartens and schools – intercultural project days for children and pupils; network events for pedagogues; internships in Hungary for Austrian trainees in tourism.
The next upcoming event is an international symposium: "Multilingualism as a resource" will be held on April 11, 2013 in Lanzenkirchen, Lower-Austria. The event provides an insight into the benefits of learning different languages at an early stage and shows how the neighbouring languages are implemented in practice. More on language symposium. More on EDUCORB extended.

The plenary meeting of the Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism took place in Brussels on the 8 March 2013. It was chaired as always by Uwe Mohr, Head of Language Department, from Goethe Institute.
The meeting started with an interesting update about the state of arts of Multilingualism policy at the European level by Pierre Mairesse, Director of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission.
- The fact that the Multilingualism Unit has been merged with the Skills and Qualifications Unit as from January 2013 will not undermine the Commission's commitment to Multilingualism, but instead enhance it, he believes.
The platform´s members were then welcomed by Kristina Cunningham, Head of Sector (DG EAC) and had the opportunity to discuss with her the concerted reaction from the Platform to the Rethinking Education package, including the Staff Working Document on language competences for employability, mobility and growth.
Afterward, Sonia Perissini (DG EAC) informed the platform about the latest developments of the new programme for education and training, youth and sports (Erasmus for all/YES Europe) and the opportunities it will bring to the European citizens in learning languages and to the Civil Society in fostering multilingualism. She explained the types of mobility schemes foreseen by the Commission's proposal.
- Multilingualism will be fundamental in helping European citizens to benefit from those opportunities, Ms Perissini said. Read more...

By Lucy Ferriss. They’re going the way of the Lord God bird. Those umlauts, tildes, cedillas, accents aigus and graves and very occasionally the circumflex—all those funny little decorations that we used to have to retype or ink in, that we now access by way of the Option key, that get their own keys on those maddening foreign keyboards—they’re on their way out. Are you mourning yet?
The New Yorker is apparently a holdout, at least when it comes to the diaeresis—those two dots over a second syllable that are often confused with the German umlaut. As Mary Norris posted at the magazine’s Culture Desk last year, the decision was made when The New Yorker was just getting under way, when someone debating among cooperate, co-operate, and coöperate “decided that the first misread and the second was ridiculous, and adopted the diaeresis as the most elegant solution with the broadest application.” These days, “The diaeresis is the single thing that readers of the letter-writing variety complain about most.” In 1978,  The New Yorker’s style editor indicated that he would soon send out a memo changing the style rule for words like reëlect and zoölogical, but he died soon thereafter, and no one has dared upset the applecart since. Read more...

Les nouvelles technologies ont envahi le domaine de la formation. Même si certains l’avaient déjà anticipé, les nouvelles technologies apparaissent comme la réponse au besoin d’individualisation des programmes de formation.
Certes, les nouvelles technologies ne sauraient être la panacée, mais elles offrent une réelle souplesse aux utilisateurs (formateurs et formés) et, à condition d’être judicieusement utilisées, permettent aux entreprises qui les utilisent de réaliser de substantielles économies. Là est effectivement le point clé, car mal utilisées, les nouvelles technologies peuvent être ruineuses et constituer une sorte de tonneau sans fond qu’on s’épuise à remplir avec de l’eau sans cesse renouvelée.
Certains éditeurs de logiciels de formation linguistiques ont vu leurs ventes exploser. Toutefois, après quelques années d’exploitation, l’expérience a montré ses limites dans bon nombre d’entreprises et il apparaît clairement que des aménagements doivent être apportés. Article entier...

By Sophie Arkoudis, Chi Baik and Sarah Richardson. English Language Standards in Higher Education - From entry to exit
English Language Standards in Higher Education has been written in a context in which the English language skills of students are increasingly under the spotlight due to the monumental impact of globalisation on the higher education sector. The underpinning tenets of the book are that in all contexts in which English is the medium of instruction English language acquisition is central to academic success, and that this requires continuous and systematic development throughout the course of study. The authors are unwavering in this conviction and offer a variety of constructive approaches, acknowledging that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to developing English language proficiency in higher education.
This book synthesises current research in English language standards to offer new approaches to addressing a growing challenge for those leading and teaching in higher education institutions around the world. A concise, accessible book, English Language Standards in Higher Education provides both a comprehensive analysis of English language challenges in higher education and more importantly offers a framework for institutional and pedagogical planning, with practical advice and suggestions. The focus of this book and the evidence-based suggestions it provides will strongly resonate in countries where English is the main language of communication, as well as in countries where English is used as the medium of instruction in higher education.
Read an article about English Language Standards in Higher Education published in The Australian by Bernard Lane.

CELAN final meeting and results
The CELAN final project meeting took place on 18 March 2013 in Berlin. The core partners discussed exploitation plans and the future of CELAN and its community. Amongst the results are:

• Corporate language needs in Europe  - the report covering three sectors Europe-wide
• a benchmarking tool for all: Language needs analysis tool
• a concise language industry catalogue

A "Vademecum" for language policies for companies is currently in print.
Visit www.celan-platform.eu for more information. 

Helping teachers get the most out of interactive whiteboards in schools across Europe
Helping language teachers to use technology like the interactive whiteboards (IWB) can be tricky. Some teachers have access to IWBs, but lack the time and training to get the most out of them in teaching a foreign language. Other teachers have technology training, or are keen to try out IWBs, but don’t have one in their classrooms. So where should we begin? With training or equipment, the chicken or the egg?
The Lifelong Learning project iTILT, or interactive Technologies In Language Teaching, aims to support language teachers whatever their current context via open education resources. In the website you can find multilingual video resources and training materials on the use of IWBs in language classes, including:

• the iTILT video resources with examples of over 250 classroom activities for different languages, proficiency levels, and age groups from seven European countries;
• the iTILT training handbook in six languages;
• iTILT teaching materials for several languages, levels, and age groups;
• the iTILT library with links to IWB material collections, IWB literature, information on copyright and more;
• ideas for exploiting iTILT resources for teacher training.

All materials can be accessed and downloaded free of charge. They should help teachers who already use IWBs to go a little further in their teaching, and perhaps inspire those not yet using this tool to explore ways to try it out.
More about iTILT
Find out more by visiting iTILT website or sending an e-mail to info@itilt.eu. iTILT is also available on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. IWB news and links to relevant resources can be posted using Scoop It.

Propos recueillis par Charles Centofanti. La 8e édition du fes­ti­val euro­péen du latin et du grec se déroule à Lyon du 21 au 24 mars. Sa fon­da­trice, Elizabeth Antébi, explique com­bien il est cru­cial de pré­ser­ver l'enseignement de ces langues.
D'après les don­nées du minis­tère de l'Education natio­nale, le latin et sur­tout le grec sont de moins en moins choi­sis au col­lège et au lycée: êtes-vous inquiète?
Je m'inquiète du mor­cel­le­ment des pro­grammes sco­laires et de la dimi­nu­tion constante du nombre d'élèves qui étudient les langues anciennes dans le second degré, mais aussi notre héri­tage huma­niste. La chute du nombre de lati­nistes et d'hellénistes à l'entrée du lycée est inco­hé­rente: il est ridi­cule de leur apprendre sim­ple­ment une « brise de latin » au col­lège. Un autre pro­blème est d'avoir déso­li­da­risé le latin et le grec, sachant que le grec nous a été trans­mis par le latin. Par ailleurs, 60% des mots anglais pro­viennent du latin et du grec, et le voca­bu­laire informatique a une ori­gine latine (digit, com­put, forum) ainsi que le lan­gage des cos­mé­tiques ou des plantes. La crise de cet ensei­gne­ment est d'autant plus tra­gique que l'étude du latin et du grec garan­tit une struc­tu­ra­tion de l'esprit des enfants, une mise à dis­tance des émotions. Y renon­cer ne les pré­pare pas aux autres matières, de l'histoire aux mathé­ma­tiques, que latin et grec par­courent trans­ver­sa­le­ment. Je ne dis pas que tout le monde doit faire du latin et du grec, mais je veux redon­ner le choix aux élèves! Suite de l'article...

EUATC, the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies AISBL
EUATC is an umbrella organisation for national associations of translation companies throughout Europe, without being limited to the EU. Among other things, EUATC provides a united voice for translation companies. It promotes the highest standards of quality and business practice and helps to improve the training of translators across Europe.
EUATC is a well esteemed partner in various projects of the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT). Among these, we mention the following:

• LIND-Web Platform
• European Master's in Translation (EMT)
• OPTIMALE (Optimising Professional Translator Training in a Multilingual Europe)
• AGORA (International traineeship scheme for translation students of EMT universities)
• TransCert (Trans-European Voluntary Certification for Translators)
• QUALETRA (Quality in Legal Translation)

EUATC recently became an associated partner of the Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism. The European translation industry is facing many challenges. Whether it is how to meet low price competition from across the globe, selecting the right solution from increasingly complex machine translation options, or finding the right talent and strategy to drive the business forward, the choices made can determine success or failure. That is why the continuous participation of EUATC in DGT projects is seen as a fundamental element for the future of the translation industry and the employability of translators.