2001 was declared the European Year of Languages by the Council of Europe, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. In announcing the initiative, the three bodies argued for the importance of language learning for personal development and suggested that lingual competencies are needed to respond to economic, social, and cultural

changes Changes may refer to: Books * ''Changes'', the 12th novel in Jim Butcher's ''The Dresden Files'' Series * ''Changes'', a novel by Danielle Steel * ''Changes'', a trilogy of novels on which the BBC TV series was based, written by Peter Dickinson ...

in society. The declaration was accompanied by initiatives in most European countries; it was expected to draw attention to Europe's cultural richness and to support closer collaboration among people, schools, and institutions. One initiative was a Lingual Education Week for Adults, held May 5–11 to emphasize that it is never too late to learn a new language.

References

* Breinstrup, Thomas, "2001 – Anno Europee de Linguas". '' Panorama in Interlingua'', 2001, Issue 1. Languages Languages of Europe 2001 in the European Union International language observances {{EU-stub

See also

References