Picture This: European Languages
In many discussions about the European Union, topics often tend toward economic and political concerns — e.g., how is Brexit affecting the economic union, or to what extent does populism in member states impact the EU’s ability to wield power?
However, in addition to the political and economic interests of the Union (and often, embedded in them!), the EU and its legislation promote a variety of cultural projects, from the Lux Film Prize to Erasmus+. Read on for a final infographic prepared by one of our interns at the UNC Center for European Studies and a few notes on EU cultural projects!
Did you know that EU law is published in 23 languages? Or that there are over 200 endangered languages within its borders? While it might be easy to overlook the wide variety of linguistic and cultural diversity in the EU, there are actually multiple legislative efforts in place to preserve them.
For example, initiatives like the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) provide funding to translate works by European authors into other European languages, offering an opportunity for readers of many different nationalities to encounter new works in their own idiom. Similarly, the larger project that includes the EUPL, Creative Europe, provides funding to a multitude of educational and artistic projects (such as film production) in order to expose global audiences to different facets of European society and culture. And while many may have heard of the educational exchanges made possible by the Erasmus+ program, it might be less known that one goal of the initiative is to “protect and promote the teaching and learning of minority languages.”
If this leaves you with more questions, such as “But why isn’t EU law translated into Irish Gaelic,” or, “is promoting a European identity really the same thing as promoting the identity of a member state?”… good! The blogpost is doing what it is supposed to. You can learn more by digging into EU policy or reading scholarly articles, or checking out our programming at CES — we’d love to see you around!
To learn more about the EU and CES projects, take a look at our EU, Infographics and JMCE tabs, or visit our website at europe.unc.edu.
This post was produced by EURO major Brett Harris.
This post’s production was supported by a 2018–2021 Jean Monnet Center of Excellence grant from the European Union.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
