Each year, on September 26, Europe comes together to celebrate its linguistic diversity through the European Day of Languages. Given that this event touches upon EUNIC Netherlands’ essential values, the cluster has consistently been organising activities for the European Day of Languages each year. EUNIC Netherlands hereby aims to encourage awareness of European linguistic diversity and stimulate language education.
EUNIC Netherlands organised two events for the European Day of Languages, both taking place on September 26th2023, which was organised in collaboration with the European Commission.
Stay tuned for our 2024 European Days of Languages events!
Speak-dating event
On September 26th 2023, EUNIC Netherlands and the European Commission organised a speak-dating event to mark the European Day of Languages in the cosy OBA De Hallen. Native speakers of European languages prepared simple face-to-face sessions for attendees, introducing fun idioms or simple phrases, all contributing to give an insight into European cultural and linguistic diversity. This year’s speak-dating featured languages such as Estonian, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Romansh.
Language classes for high school students
One aspect of EUNIC Netherlands’ activity focuses on stimulating linguistic awareness and education for the young. Using its unique network of native language speakers from all over Europe, EUNIC Netherlands and the European Commission are organising Language Festivals in various cultural centres across the country. These are aimed at first-year high school students and consist of various short language classes. The students are introduced to new European languages, ranging from Spanish to Ukrainian, Polish and Czech. The students are thus acquainted with European diversity and the joy of multilingualism in a dynamic and entertaining way.
Last year, we organised dynamic language classes across three cities in the Netherlands: The Hague, Amsterdam, and Utrecht. From morning till afternoon, we guided more than 350 enthusiastic students through language classes, introducing them to a kaleidoscope of European languages. Our classes ranged from the familiar realms of French and German—languages already familiar to Dutch high schoolers—to the lesser-known languages like Turkish, Georgian, and Ukrainian.
The students provided us with positive feedback. They found the experience of delving into diverse European languages truly captivating, especially when faced with the challenge of mastering languages vastly different from their mother tongues. Some students even told us that the event inspired them to learn more languages beyond the classroom!
