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Mercator
Newsletter - n.25, June 2006 |
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From January 2005 the Mercator Common Newsletter is a monthly newsletter. This way you will be kept informed with more recent and updated information. |
| V Mercator International Symposium: "Linguistic Rights as a Matter of Social Inclusion" Barcelona (Catalonia) |
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Mercator Education - ME |
Mercator Media - MM / Mercator Education - ME |
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Mercator Legislation - ML |
| June 2006 - The V Mercator International Symposium organised this year by the Legislation and Language Rights center will be held on 19, 20 and 21 October 2006 in Barcelona (Catalonia) and will be entitled "Linguistics Rights as a Matter of Social Inclusion". The organisers have designed de symposium on the premise that Europe has always been a multilingual land and that this fact has been accentuated in recent decades by the steady arrival and settlement on the continent by non-Europeans who have brought their languages with them. Therefore, current linguistic reality in Europe is richer and more complex than ever. In accordance with the Mercator network principles, this complexity musn’t necessarily be a problem. On the contrary, the languages spoken in the European Union today are one of the keys to making possible the "union in diversity" of all citizens, groups, communities, and peoples that live together in Europe. To encourage such harmony, the Symposium will reflect on which kind of multilingualism should the European Union put into practice now and in the future. The question will be raised on how the linguistic rights of immigrants and of receiving communities can be regulated and guaranteed and, more specifically, how the exercise of these rights could stimulate the social inclusion of newcomers who settle among minoritized linguistic communities that share their space with majority or dominant languages. The V Mercator International Symposium will critically analyse the issues under consideration and will also present a series of practice cases for balancing individual rights and the collective rights of speakers of the languages of immigration and the speakers of minoritized languages within the European Union. Registration closes 9 October 2006 and will be on a 'first come first served' basis. Details at: secretaria@ciemen.org |
| News June 2006 (links to the Mercator websites) |
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Welsh language daily newspaper Y Byd takes another step forward 6 jobs have been advertised for key positions on the forthcoming and highly anticipated Welsh language daily newspaper Y Byd (The World). This comes following their success in reaching their target of raising £300,000 in investment from the public, which will enable the majority ownership of the paper to stay in the hands of the people who are committed to the paper. Three of the advertised positions are for editorial staff including editor, news editor and features editor whilst the other three are for managerial staff. The jobs will be based in mid-Wales. Y Byd will be the first daily newspaper to be published in Welsh. It is expected that the newspaper will be launched in spring 2007, though no precise date has yet been set. Support has been pledged to the enterprise throughout the spectrum
of Welsh society including sportsmen and women, authors, religious leaders,
musicians, and actors to name but a few. Their supporters club now numbers
over 1600 members. Further details: http://www.ybyd.com
Local Radio in Breton for the people of Trégor-Goëlo? Kaouenn FM are the latest community based, Breton language radio station
to make an application for a license to broadcast to their community
after the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) opened up to applications
for new FM frequencies this spring. Kaouenn FM's website claims that
there is great need for the station in the area as Trégor-Goëlo is one
of the areas with highest concentration of Breton speakers. This, along
with the diminishing amount of Breton on regional public radio, justifies
the establishment of a fifth Breton only radio station to add to the
current network made up of Arvorig FM, Radio Kerne, Radio Bro-Gwened
and Radio Kreiz Breizh. More info: http://kaouennfm.wifeo.com/
Welsh Language Board facilitate switch to bilingual computing The Welsh Language Board have launched a public trial of a brand new computer application. The Language Control Centre, which is available to download free of charge from the Board’s website, facilitates the use of Welsh in bilingual households and workplaces by offering a language choice to all. It allows users to choose either Welsh or English as interface language for Windows XP and Office 2003, provides tutorials on how to type accent marks and to spell-check in Welsh and includes a vocabulary list of technology terms in Welsh and English. One of the aims of the Board’s recently published IT Strategy
for the Welsh Language is to facilitate switchability between Welsh
and English in technology. This is part of the Board’s wider commitment
to further developments in Welsh Language Technology. See: http://www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org.uk Subsidy for Frisian e-learning The project EduFrysk has been given a subsidy of nearly 200.000 Euro. The Province of Fryslân decided to grant this amount of money to the Afûk, the institute for adult language education in Fryslân. EduFrysk is an e-learning project. The aim of the project is to create easy accesible and attractive digital Frisian language courses meant for adults and secondary school pupils. In the future EduFrysk should not only be accesible by computer but also by regular TV set. This project is unique for Fryslân: until now such courses did not exist for the Frisian language. The Afûk expects more participants for their language courses when e-learning becomes a fact, because with e-learning even Frisians who live abroad can participate. The Afûk wanted to develop an e-learing programme years ago, so they are very happy to be able to start the project now, thanks to the subsidy. |
| Projects - ME |
| Mercator-Education
is still in search of more Experts. In December 2005 Mercator-Education
started the “Database of Experts”. This database creates an
easy and quick access to all expertise in the field of European minority
languages and it facilitates contacts and co-operation amongst colleagues
in this domain. In the mean time more than 200 experts in the field of
European minority languages, bilingualism and multilingualism, education
and language policy subscribed. We thank all experts who subscribed! But we are still looking for more contacts, especially experts from the new EU-member countries are invited to subscribe. We believe that all experts can play a significant role through the database. Perhaps you are an expert yourself in the mentioned fields above, or perhaps you have a friend, colleague or acquaintance with a lot of knowledge in one of those fields. Experts are requested to subscribe to our database by filling in the simple form on our website, in which we ask for names and e-mail addresses. If you have provided us with information about other experts, we will contact the recommended experts for additional information. To subscribe to our database, click on: http://www.mercator-education.org/infotype/webpage/view.asp?objectID=3960 If you require any further information regarding our Database of Experts, please contact Mr. Cor van der Meer (cvdmeer@fa.knaw.nl) or Mrs. Elly Albers (ealbers@fa.knaw.nl). You can find the Database of Experts on our website: http://www.mercator-education.org and click on Databases. |
| Miscellany |
| 10,000 march in Rennes for Breton language rights, greater regional powers and reunification - MM |
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Around 10,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Rennes, Brittany on Saturday calling for Breton language rights, greater powers for the region, and reunification with Loire-Atlantique. The demonstration, organised by the Breton Cultural Council, was led through the streets by a cross party group of Breton politicians including autonomists, Greens and Socialists behind a banner "Lakaomp hor sevenadur da vleunian e Breizh/ Vivre et décider notre culture en Bretagne". They were joined by the Breton-medium bilingual schools organisations, Diwan, Dihun and Diw Yezh, the NGO for reunification, Bretagne Réunie –CUAB, as well as representatives from Occitania. Cultural Council President Patrick Malrieu in his speech fiercely criticised
the French state: "On all of these issues the population and their
representatives, both departmental and regional, say the same thing.
In opposition, there is the State. We run up against a wall of incomprehension,
an absolute centralized system, which is completely deaf to the requests
of the population and of local councilors”. He added that the
present situation is a "denial of democracy" and called for
a proper transfer of competences to a reunified Brittany. Source: Eurolang |
| Liet-Lavlut song contest set to showcase new songs in Manx, Votian, Romani and Meankieli - MM |
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This year's edition of the minority language song contest Liet-Lavlut in Östersund, Sweden, will present eleven new songs in European lesser-used languages. Five of those eleven are songs in languages which have never participated in the song contest before. These languages are: Meankieli, Romani, Manx, Votian and Swedish Finnish. The jury of Liet-Lavlut chose the eleven finalists out of more than 60 entries in 25 languages. According to jury member Johan Sara, a Sámi joiker from Maze in the Finnmark, this was a very difficult task, because the standard of most entries was high. Sara was pleasantly surprised by the musical quality of the entries from very small language communities such as Manx and Votian. Both languages will be represented for the very first time. Sweblul, the Swedish branch of the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages,
took the initiative to move the festival to Swedish Sápmi. Sweblul
organises the song contest in close collaboration with other cultural
organisations, such as the Liet Foundation. The Frisian government is
glad that support from various local and regional authorities in Sweden
made it possible for the festival to be held in Sápmi this autumn.
Friesland also continues to support the festival. The Frisian minister
of Culture Bertus Mulder intends to travel to Östersund to see
the first edition of the festival outside Friesland. Source: Eurolang |
| New titles Mercator-Education Library |
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