Linguae Europaeae

by Dorian Sosa Editors’ note: Following up on our previous blog entry by Farhan Patel , here is another angle on France’s long-standing battle for the ratification of The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. European Union Flag The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is now a prerequisite for the admittance of any country into the European Union (Barbière 2014). The fact that the Charter has become a requirement to join the EU is crucial, for it reflects Europe’s commitment towards its regional and minority languages. Twenty-five of the 47 Council of Europe members have already ratified the ECRML, meaning that they have agreed to take on the responsibility of protecting and promoting the regional and minority language(s) in their individual states. Nations such as Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom – arguably three of the most powerful and influential nations in Europe – have already ratified the Charter, along with other notable c...

by Farhan Patel States that have signed and ratified the ECRML in dark green, states that have signed but not ratified the ECRML in light green, states who have neither signed/ratified the ECRML in white, and non-Council of Europe member states in gray. Image Source According to PEN International, the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (referred to now as ECRML) is a treaty originally signed by 12 European countries on November 5, 1992 – swearing to protect and promote European historical, regional and minority languages. The Council of Europe, which currently consists of 47 European states, heavily encourages all European states to sign and ratify the document. Since 1992, 21 members of the Council of Europe have signed onto the ECRML, for a total of 33 signatories. Out of the 33 signatories, only 25 countries have advanced to ratify the ECRML, meaning they have made the charter officially binding on their state, rather than simply expressing the intention...

by Skye Maclean English, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Cantonese, German, Mandarin, Russian, Korean, Portuguese, and…. you name it! Just ask and we’ll find a way to bring languages services and information to you, too! And that’s because these are just some of the readily available languages at ECIRMAC, short for East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center . In Champaign/Urbana Illinois, the community is blessed with the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center; it is a unique cultural gem in an already diverse area, and the need for places like ECIRMAC grows every day. The mission of ECIRMAC, as mentioned on their website is to provide services essential to refugee and immigrant resettlement in East-Central Illinois and to aid in the exchange and preservation of their respective cultures. It serves as a firm and stable plug in the hole left by current language planning and policies in regards to information, assistance, paperwork and applications – all are ...

by Lucy Pakhnyuk Many people probably wouldn’t be able to answer this question, and the people who have tried to answer it haven’t really come to a consensus. If you ask a Ukrainian this question, they’ll simply say that Rusyns are a sub-group of Ukrainians, and their language is nothing more than a Ukrainian dialect. But don’t call a Rusyn Ukrainian unless you’re looking for a fight. Rusyns consider themselves to be a distinct ethnic group, and they believe that their language is a distinct language, not a Ukrainian dialect. The question of Rusyn identity is fairly complicated, to say the least. Rusyns, also known as Ruthenians or Carpatho-Rusyns, are a Slavic ethnic group that lives mostly around the Carpathian Mountains. Their language, Rusyn or Ruthene, is an East Slavic language that’s closely related to Ukrainian and Russian and uses the Cyrillic script (although Rusyns in Slovakia use the Latin script). There are about 623,940 Rusyns in the world, 560,000 of which live in Uk...