Mercator Newsletter 2  -  May 2003

 

[Mercator-Education] [Mercator-Legislation] [Mercator-Media]


News

(Links to the Mercator-websites)

 

General

First Mercator International Symposium on Minority Languages and Research hailed as a success

 

May

Irish Newspaper becomes Daily

Situation of language rights in Basque country has worsened (Kontseilua.org)

New Gaelic On-Line Magazine

The first general Occitan Dictionary has been published (Vilaweb / Avui / Lleng?ves digital)

Text of former Basque Magazine made available on the Internet

Austria submits the first report on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

New publication on the Linguistic Enclaves in the European Union

Follow-up body of Catalan Language has been created

Minority language media network launched at Mercator symposium

 

April

Report on the workshop “Linguistic diversity - an inclusive approach”
Double standards on minority rights in the European Union (MRG)

Survey on language use in Barcelona area: negative figures for Catalan (AVUI)

Public support for the Breton language (Ouest France)

Catalunya Nord: campaign for secondary school as demand for Catalan-medium education increases

Council of Europe’s assembly calls for a legal instrument to protect sign languages

Turkey plans to liberalise language policy towards non-official languages (Radikal)

North Frisian Language Institute under threat

Polemic due to Spanish ministry of education’s plan to double class hours of Spanish language subject (AVUI)

 

March

Latvia will ratify Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Minelres)

Macedonia will include Albanian language on passport cover (RFE/RL)

European Court of Human Rights declares application on education reform in Latvia inadmissible (Minelres)

Basque Government’s Minister for Culture underlines commitment to existence of Daily Press in Basque

New criticism on legal framework of regional language education in France (AVUI)

 

February

Isle of man government is to give greater support to Manx (Isle of man government/Celtic league)

Current events regarding Mirandese (Público/O Informativo/Correio da Manhã)

Reactions against the closing of Egunkaria, the only Basque-language newspaper (El Peri??o/Vilaweb)

No right to affirm cornish ethnicity in school

New Catalan University Law includes language aspects

Latvia ‘not ready’ for bilingual education

EBLUL makes a proposal of amendment to the future European Constitution

Finland adopts new language law

Russian university branches in Estonia under attack

 

 

Publications

Working Paper no. 11

Recent changes in Turkey's Language Legislation, by Dr. ?lem Eraydin Virtanen (Adnan Menderes University, Nazilli, Turkey). English and Catalan versions

 

Working Paper no. 12

The Evolutionary Process of Laws on the State Language, Education, and Naturalisation: A Reflection of Latvia’s Democratisation Process, by Dr. Aija Priedite, Doctor of Philosophy and Director of the Latvian Language Programme Unit (responsible for the implementation of the National Programme for Latvian Language Training). English and Catalan versions

Mercator-Legislation Bulletin no. 53 (I Quarter 2003) English and Catalan versions

Constitutional Law no. 1/2001 of December 12th, Portugal
Bylaw on the learning of languages and dialects used traditionally by Turkish citizens in their daily lives , 2002 Turkey
Regulation on the Language of Radio and Television broadcasts, 2002 Turkey
European Court of Human Rights: Chamber judgement in the case of Podkolzina v. Latvia, 2002

 

Dossier no. 13 English and Catalan versions

The Protection of Minority Languages in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, a Requirement for EU- Accession, by Bernat Pujadas (Mercator-Legislation)

New

Mercator-Legislation Inquiry

Let us know your opinion about Mercator-Legislation’s website: answer a questionnaire about our site. It is available in Catalan, English, French and German.

 

Network of Schools

In our previous newsletter we mentioned the setting-up of a network of bi- and trilingual primary schools around Europe. This network is going to facilitate the exchange of information between schools and people involved or interested in education in minority languages. Please contact us if you wish to participate in or be a member of this network. To view the current status of our network please log on to the ‘Network of Schools’ section on our website or have a look at an online presentation of the project in English or German.

 

Virtual Library

Mercator-Education has obtained a grant from the umbrella organisation of the Fryske Akademy to build a virtual library for minority languages in the European Union. The preparations for the project (1 ? year) will start in June 2003. Learn more >>>

 

European Languages

The minorised languages of some of the states applying for EU-membership -Hungary, Poland, Cyprus, Estonia, Czech Republic and Slovenia- have been added to our on-line guide about legislation on these languages in European Union member states. English and Catalan versions.

 

Some interesting books

Please click here to view a selection of books made by Mercator-Education.

 

Call for Working Papers
Mercator-Linguistic Rights & Legislation wishes to provide its users, namely young scholars doing research in the field of glottopolitics, with the possibility to submit their works in progress in order to have them published as part of the "Working Papers" collection. This
collection intends to include research works or short papers (20-35 pages) focusing on linguistic rights, legislation and policies concerning European minorised or lesser-used languages, as well as comparative works on the legal situation of different languages and their use in public life. For further information, please contact us: mercator@ciemen.org

 

Books

These are publications in paper format. If you want to purchase a copy (cost: € 9 + post expenses), please contact: mercator@ciemen.org
For more information about us, please visit Mercator-Legislation’s website.