Linguae Europaeae

Zsuzsanna Fagyal  is an EUC-affiliated faculty member. This article was originally posted in the Spring 2014  School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics Newsletter . Zsuzsanna Fagyal, associate professor of French Zsuzsanna Fagyal was used to teaching small seminars, so the first time she walked into the classroom for a newly revamped course called “Language and Minorities in Europe,” she couldn’t believe her eyes: “I almost fainted!” she remembers, laughing. As it turned out, 62 students had shown up on the first day of classes, interested in the content. That was in 2011. Today, “considerable” is how she describes interest in the course, which Fagyal, an associate professor of French, and Professor Doug Kibbee started at the U of I seven years ago. The course marked the first time an academic department (French) and the European Union Center (EUC) joined forces for course development. According to Fagyal, the course was based “on Doug’s vision,” pri...

Dr. Zsuzsanna Fagyal , Associate Professor in French and a European Union Center-affiliated faculty member, was featured on WBEZ's program Worldwide. From the webpage: The European Union has 28 member states and 24 official languages. With a staff of 1,750 linguists it has one of the largest translation services in the world. In 2005 it set a goal to “increase individual multilingualism until every citizen has practical skills in at least two languages in addition to his or her mother tongue.” Some countries have done better than others in achieving that goal.  We’ll take a look at why some countries have succeeded while others lag behind with Zsuzsanna Fagyal, a professor of French at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign.   She’s working on a book "Languages and Minorities in Europe” She’s also affiliated with the European Union Center at the University of Illinois. If you wish to listen to the conversation, you can do so below or by visiting the WBEZ Worldvi...

by Zsuzsanna Fagyal-Le Mentec | "Commemorating is remembering the first step of a journey of a thousand miles…" (Unknown) Twenty years ago on November 5th 1992, an important step was taken towards protecting small languages in Europe. The Council of Europe’s landmark international convention, called the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was opened for signature, calling on the Council’s member states to protect and promote the small languages that have been spoken in their territories for centuries. The European Union Center and participating centers and units on the Urbana campus organized a one-day symposium on November 5, 2012 to reflect on the progress in implementing and monitoring the Charter, and discuss the effects of lack of protection of languages in greater Europe.    1 .    Here is why we did it… Not speaking a language on a daily basis increases the risk of losing it forever. Words start coming slowly, stylistic nuance...

by Zsuzsanna Fagyal-Le Mentec | “No-one will be lost for words”, promises the European Commission in its short announcement of the European Day of Languages on September 26, 2012. Among the many outreach events are: a multilingual 'speak-dating' session in Prague, a rap challenge in Åarhus, a European languages cocktail bar in Budapes t, foreign language poetry evening in Cardiff, a 'linguistic bath' at 30 libraries in Berlin, and a L anguage Footprint trail for children naming animals in different languages in the UK. To see how the various European nations celebrate their languages, check out this long list of EDL events ! Beyond the folklore, the European Day of Languages is an important cultural policy event, held every year since 2001 at the initiative of the Council of Europe . This year, it is destined to highlight brand new policy initiatives, such as “Erasmus for All”, the European Commission's new education, training and youth program that is schedu...