European Day of Languages

Celebrating linguistic diversity, plurilingualism,
lifelong language learning
26 September 2006

The European Day of Languages was first celebrated on 26 September in 2001, the European Year of Languages. At the end of 2001 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe declared that the European Day of Languages should be celebrated annually on 26th September. This resolution was taken in response to a recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly, which had been involved throughout the EYL campaign.
It was agreed that an annual celebration of the EDL would allow countries to build on their successful initiatives, providing a useful framework for continuing with the activities to promote linguistic diversity and language learning launched in 2001.

For more information on EDL please go to http://www.ecml.at/edl/Default.asp?l=E

Athens, Greece
Tuesday 26th September 2006

ALTE: Διασφάλιση ποιότητας και διεθνή πρότυπα- πιστοποιητικά γλωσσομάθειας για μια πολύγλωσση Ευρώπη.
ALTE: Quality assurance and international standards - language certificates for a multilingual Europe
ALTE: assurance qualité et standards internationaux - des certifications linguistiques pour une Europe multilingue
ALTE : Qualitätssicherung und internationale Standards - Sprachenzertifikate für ein multilinguales Europa
ALTE: Garantía de calidad y estándares internacionales - Certificaciones lingüísticas para una Europa multilingüe
ALTE: Garanzia di Qualità e standard internazionali certificati linguistici per un'Europa multilingue

As a contribution to the Council of Europe's European Day of Languages, ALTE is holding a conference in Athens, at the Zappeion Megaro, on 26 September.  ALTE Athens will address Quality Assurance and International Standards - Language Certificates for a Multilingual Europe.  The conference will include presentations by ALTE members, and will look at the work of ALTE and the role of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in the assessment of European language competency.  The conference is relevant to professionals with responsibility for the design of language curricula, and who are interested in issues of quality, ethics and transparency in language assessment.

This conference is multilingual and will provide simultaneous translation into Greek.

The ALTE Athens programme