Mercator Network Newsletter 162

July 2020

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High demand for Catalan on digital platforms, survey concludes

77.6% of the Catalan people would like to see more TV series and films in the digital platforms dubbed in Catalan, 76.3% wishes subtitles in Catalan and 83% would also like to see their digital platform interface available in Catalan. These are the results of a survey, conducted during the lock down, by the Directorate-General for Language Policy of the Government of Catalonia. They opened a yearly funding line of 1 million euros to film distributors and dubbing companies for subtitling and dubbing films and series in Catalan. There are ongoing negotiations with Disney Plus to incorporate Catalan in their products in the near future. Disney has already announced that the Catalan version of many of the films will soon be also available.


	Defenders of French regional languages worried In a letter to the French president Emmanuel Macron, the collective "Pour que vivent nos langues" - supported by 100 parliamentarians - asks him to better defend the teaching of regional languages. Several recent decisions by the Ministry of Education worry them. Read more


	New Dossier on education in Romani and Beash The new edition of the Regional Dossier on 'Romani and Beash languages in education in Hungary' is now available for downloads (free). Kinga Magdolna Mandel PhD, associate professor at the Eötvös Lóránd University in Budapest, updated the original dossier (2005). Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	EUROPE

● The Aragonese Language Office in Huesca closes after 4 years of work and controversy

● Mingrelian and Svan languages face extinction in Georgia

● North-east musician supports campaign to recognise Scots as an official language

● RedArc Nurses introduces multilingual interpreting to support health and wellbeing of employees who don’t speak English

● Do You Speak Corona? The Karachay-Balkar people in Russia turn back to agriculture amid financial difficulties

● Cyprus: efforts to uphold national minority rights welcomed, but improvement needed

● Venice Commission adopts opinions on Armenia, Kosovo*, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Russia and Turkey

● Newsletter VirtuLApp #2: managing multilingual classrooms

● 'Llengua, Societat i Comunicació': New perspectives on the initial language learning

● Article: 'Evolution and achievements in the social use of Basque in Toulouse'

● Speak Cornish Week!

● Report: 'The future of language education in Europe: case studies of innovative practices'

● CUSC Article: 'The use of Catalan by millennials in Catalonia'

● Article: 'Article 8 in the Charter of regional or minority languages in Galicia'

Online seminars on sociolinguistics and language policy

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the regular seminars of the Centre de Recerca en Sociolingüística i Comunicació (CUSC, University of Barcelona) on sociolinguistics and language policy have been converted into webinars, and so far with great success in terms of the number of participants. On the 3rd July, José Enrique Gargallo will talk about 'Romanços de frontera a la península Ibèrica' (Border Romances in the Iberian Peninsula), and on 10th July, Llorenç Comajoan will give his vision on 'El projecte RESOL i l’avaluació de la competència lingüística oral' (RESOL project and the evaluation of oral linguistic competence).


	Book: 'The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community' This book is the result of the most comprehensive sociolinguistic survey of the state of Gaelic in the vernacular communities ever conducted, the Islands Gaelic Research Project (IGRP). The IGRP, undertaken at the University of the Highlands and Islands, provides in-depth analysis of the use and transmission of Scottish Gaelic as a communal language in the Western Isles, in Staffin in the Isle of Skye and in the Isle of Tiree in Argyll and Bute. Read more


	'Multilingual Approaches for Teaching and Learning' The new book 'Multilingual Approaches for Teaching and Learning' outlines the opportunities and challenges of multilingual approaches in mainstream education in Europe. The book, which draws on research findings from several officially monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual countries in Europe, discusses approaches to multilingual education which capitalise on students’ multilingual resources from early childhood to higher education. Read more


	New resource website for language teachers The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe announces the launch of a new resource website for language teachers, subject teachers, teacher educators and headteachers across Europe. It provides a wide range of tools to create whole-school learning environments where languages are at the very heart of learning and teaching. Read more


	Call Language Teacher Psychology Conference The call for proposals for the Language Teacher Psychology Conference 2021 (LTP) is now open. It is held at the University of Graz, Austria, from 6-8 September 2021. The conference puts teachers in the centre focus to understand their needs, motives, beliefs, and other aspects of their personal and professional lives. Abstract submission: 1 September 2020. Read more


	Europeada 2021 Anthem



	Europeada 2021 in Carinthia / Koroška launches theme song


Learn Wagiman!

Learning Minority Languages: Wagiman!


	INTERESTING LINKS




	WORLD

● Whose job is it to raise the kids (bilingually)? [Australia]

● Supreme Court rules British Columbia violated French-language education Charter rights [Canada]

● 'Latinxs don’t need to speak Spanish' [USA]

● A perfect frame: picturing language pluralism [India]

● Who fact checks online disinformation in West Africa’s Bambara language? [Mali]

● 7 tips to help create and manage multilingual SharePoint communication sites [www]

● Meet multilingual musician Mishal [Saudi Arabia]

● University students launch COVID-19 multilingual support project [Japan]

● From Monolingualism to Multilingualism: breaking down the wall one essential shift at a time [USA]

● Multilingual colouring book celebrates Africa’s rich language diversity [South Africa]

● ‘No Barrier’ to Chinese Becoming ‘Global Language’ [Australia]

● Why it’s important to use Indigenous languages in health communication [Mexico]

● How Uganda is failing to help rural children learn languages [Uganda]


	First study on Catalan in YouTube and Instagram CUSC researchers M. Massaguer, A. Flors-Mas and F. Xavier Vila are co-authors of the report 'Català, youtubers i instagramers...' ['Catalan, youtubers and instagrammers: a starting point to promote the use of the language']. This is the first study addressing language choices in the contents created by the social media influencers most popular among teens and youngsters in Catalonia. Read more


	Webinar Series: challenges for minority protection The protection of minority rights is central to the realisation of the three pillars of the United Nations: human rights, peace and security, and development. The UN has created two principal mechanisms with a specific mandate: the Special Rapporteur on minority issues and the UN Forum on Minority Issues. This webinar series aims to support the work of both. Dates: 2 July, 9 July. Read more

Occitan festival broadcasts minority literatures online

The Occitan festival 'Premio Ostana: Writings in Mother Languages' is a celebration of the cultural diversity of humanity. In the middle of the mountains of Monviso (Italy), the small community of Ostana created a prize that gives stage to the native languages of the world. So far, in eleven editions, 37 mother tongues from all 5 continents have alternated, and each edition featured an indigenous language. This year's Premio Ostana was a special online edition and offered two days of interviews, conferences and literary, musical and artistic contributions. Nationalia spoke with artistic director Ines Cavalcanti.


	INTERESTING EVENTS



	CANCELLED: 1 - 3 July 2020, Soria (Spain) 6th International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity, in Schools and Society Organised by the Loyola Marymount University School of Education POSTPONED: 2 - 3 July 2020 (2021), Zurich (Switzerland) Symposium on Research Methods in Language Attitudes Organised by the University of Zurich F2F & pre-recorded: 6 - 7 July 2020, Athens (Greece) 13th Annual International Conference on Languages & Linguistics Hosted by the Athens Institute for Education and Research POSTPONED: 9 - 14 August 2020 (15 - 12 August 2021), Groningen (the Netherlands) AILA 2020: World Congress of Applied Linguistics Organised by the University of Groningen, Multilingual Matters and others. ONLINE: 23 - 25 September 2020, London (United Kingdom) Teaching and Learning Resources for Endangered Languages (FEL 24) Organised by the Foundation for Endangered Languages and the University College London. POSTPONED 28 - 30 September 2020 (26-28 May 2021), Zadar (Croatia) New Contexts for the Use of Minoritized Languages/Varieties (NEWCON 2020) * New Call for Papers: 1 November 2020 - 15 January 2021. Organised by by the Linguistics Department of the University of Zadar,the SOAS World Languages Institute, Mercator European Research Centre and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation (CIDLes). 14 - 16 October 2020 (originally 6 - 8 May 2020), Murcia (Spain) 13th International GLAT Congress: Le monde connecté et les approches interculturelles: vers un nouveau paradigme des frontières ? Organised by the University of Murcia 29 - 30 October 2020, Meknès (Morocco) Interdisciplinary colloquium: “La désuétude au carrefour des savoirs : De la langue à la culture” Organised by the University Moulay Ismail. 2 - 3 November 2020, Valetta (Malta) International Conference on Multilingualism and Multilingual Education 2020 (ICMME4) * Deadline Call for Papers: 1 September 2020. Organised by the University of Malta. 23 - 27 November 2020, ONLINE ENROPE’s second Intensive Study Week Organised by the ENROPE consortium, hosted by the University Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris, France. 24 - 26 March 2021, Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) 18th International Conference on Minority Languages (ICML XVIII) * Deadline Call for Papers: 30 June 2020. Organised by the University of the Basque Country. 10 - 12 May 2021, Paris (France) Minority languages spoken or signed and inclusive spaces Organised by INSHEA. June 2021, Groningen (Netherlands) TABU - International linguistics conference Organised by Center for Language and Cognition, University of Groningen.


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Defenders of French regional languages worried

New Dossier on education in Romani and Beash

INTERESTING LINKS

EUROPE

Book: 'The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community'

'Multilingual Approaches for Teaching and Learning'

New resource website for language teachers

Call Language Teacher Psychology Conference

Europeada 2021 Anthem

Learn Wagiman!

INTERESTING LINKS

WORLD

First study on Catalan in YouTube and Instagram

Webinar Series: challenges for minority protection

INTERESTING EVENTS