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The European Day of Languages Le Lingue e la cultura non conoscono frontiere Peter Brown Director, British School Trieste Founder Chair, EAQUALS Europe Direct – Comune di Trieste 26 Settembre 2006. Background. The Council of Europe: Founded in 1949
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The European Day of Languages Le Lingue e la cultura non conoscono frontiere Peter Brown Director, British School Trieste Founder Chair, EAQUALS Europe Direct – Comune di Trieste 26 Settembre 2006
Background • The Council of Europe: • Founded in 1949 • 46 member states • Distinct from the EU • Based in Strasbourg • on the principles of: • Democracy • The Rule of Law • Human Rights
Winston Churchill • In 1946 • gave two key speeches which changed our understanding our Europe • 5th March – Fulton • 19th September - Zurich
barbecue tattoozerosagacruise shampoo cravat penguin bistro mosquito Native CubanPolynesianArabicIcelandic Dutch Hindi Croatian Welsh Russian Spanish British School Trieste EDL - 26 September 2006
Linguistic Diversity - 1 Some facts: Some research: • 6000-7000 languages • 6bn people | 189 states • Losing 1 language a day • 3% languages in Europe • >50% world’s population estimated as plurilingual • Languages borrow • Languages are related • Multilingual (L >300) • Babies hear >40 vowels • Children learn all languages equally easily
Linguistic Europe • ≧ 225 languages • 3 main families • Germanic • Romance • Slavic • all 3 in Trieste • most use the Latin alphabet, but ....
Linguistic Diversity - 2 Europe: most common mother tongues: Europe: common immigrant languages (London): • Russian • German • English • French • Italian • Arabic • Turkish • Kurdish • Berber • Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, ….
www.alpeadria.org Deutsch Hrvatski Italiano Magyar Slovensko English
Polyphiloprogenitive ..(T.S. Eliot)In the beginning was the Word In principio era il Verbo (from logos...)
Language Migration Base Language
Language Migration • Local Separation • Experience • Knowledge Base Language
Language Migration • Local Separation • Experience • Knowledge Base Language
Language Migration • Local Separation • Experience • Knowledge Local evolved Base Language
Language Migration • Local Separation • Experience • Knowledge Local evolved Base Base Language
Language Migration • Local Separation • Experience • Knowledge Local evolved Base Interacts ind. Base Language
Language Migration • Local Separation • Experience • Knowledge Local evolved Base Interacts ind. Base Language New Language evolves
Frontiers Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, ..
Frontiers Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars
Frontiers Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Cultural Behaviour Meanings
Frontiers No Frontiers Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Cultural Behaviour Meanings
Frontiers No Frontiers Sciencemaths astronomy medicine physics Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Cultural Behaviour Meanings
Frontiers No Frontiers Sciencemaths astronomy medicine physics Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Philosophy Religion Cultural Behaviour Meanings
Frontiers No Frontiers Sciencemaths astronomy medicine physics Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Philosophy Religion Cultural Behaviour Meanings Arts, drama, architecture
Frontiers Growth No Frontiers Sciencemaths astronomy medicine physics Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Philosophy Religion Cultural Behaviour Meanings Arts, drama, architecture Age
Frontiers Growth No Frontiers Sciencemaths astronomy medicine physics Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Philosophy Religion Cultural Behaviour Meanings Arts, drama, architecture Age Knowledge base Intercultural Und
Information Highway Frontiers Growth No Frontiers Sciencemaths astronomy medicine physics Natural Seas, lakes, .. Mountains, .. International Political, Borders, Wars Philosophy Religion Cultural Behaviour Meanings Arts, drama, architecture Age Knowledge base Intercultural Und
Raichle Neuro imaging High Brain activity Low Marcus E. Raichle. M.D. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Above: the result of experiments where people were confronted with simple reading (left picture) or simple listening (right picture) tasks. Amount of activity in different areas of the brain is shown by color shades. High activity is yellow, low activity is blue. Other colors mark a range of intermediate degrees of activity (see legend to the top right). We can clearly see that different language activities are handled in different areas of the human brain. What will happen if we present two tasks simultaneously? Indeed, all areas involved in each of the separate activities are now involved simultaneously. SEEING + HEARING WORDS M E Raichle M.D. Washington U School of Medicine St. Louis
Language is the light of reason.., • “words are the signs of ideas...” • Language diversity (opportunity v. threat) • Diversity implies • Knowledge • Frontiers • Culture • “invisible cities” (Italo Calvino on translation) • Myrddin “I know why men are troubled...” • My languages define me
As pine trees Hold the wind’s imprint After the wind is gone, is no longer there So words Retain a man’s imprint After the man is gone, is no longer there George Seferis (Greek Poet – 1966)
The European Association for Quality Language Services British School Trieste 2006 Recognised by The Council of Europe