AULA 2

The European Union’s Language Policy: from Act to Action

The European Union has always placed linguistic diversity at the core of Europe’s DNA. The EU’s motto “United in Diversity” is recurrently mentioned when referring to the multiplicity of languages in the continent, which are discursively portrayed as one of Europe’s greatest assets. This EU political rhetoric on multilingualism, however, does not match the policy actions undertaken by the European Union, which point at a decreasing interest in multilingualism. English is increasingly becoming the “de facto” Language for communication in the EU. This course seeks to analyze the evolution of the EU’s language policy over the last decade and will provide the lates facts and figures in terms of legislation as well as the translation and interpretation policy of the EU. We will be able to see that while the idea of promotion, protection and respect of linguistic diversity remains in the current EU political rhetoric on languages, the actual policies adopt a market-oriented approach, which considers languages as mere commodities for economic growth, mobility and jobs. The course will also introduce the concept of linguistic neoliberalism defined as the exclusive focus on language skills for market-oriented purposes.