European Day of Languages

The European Day of Languages is celebrated every year on 26 September. Now in its seventeenth year, the European Day of Languages was first officially celebrated in 2002 following the success of the European Year of Languages in 2001. The day is organised jointly by the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Europe is lucky to enjoy a rich diversity of language and cultures with 200 European languages, 24 Official EU languages and it is estimated around 60 regional or minority languages. These figures are not including languages spoken by people from elsewhere within the world who have migrated to live within the EU which enrich the diversity of languages spoken still further.  

The purpose of the European Day of Language is to celebrate both the cultural and linguistic diversity within Europe and to encourage and promote language learning.

The aims of the European Day of Languages include to:

• celebrate the diversity of languages and cultures within Europe

• encourage language learning at any age

• promote intercultural understanding

• diversify the range of languages learnt

St Martin’s is a diverse community and we are enriched by our student and staff body who speak more than one language.  We value and celebrate our diversity everyday and the beauty of different cultures, religions and languages.  We are fortunate to be able to teach three languages at St Martin’s: Spanish, French and Mandarin.  Students are also able to take a GCSE in their home language. 

Visit European Day of Languages resources 2020 – International Relations for lots of resources and find out about the diversity of language!