International & European Languages
Day
26th September 2016
ORIGINS?
Most European languages belong to three broad
groups: Germanic, Romance and Slavic.
The Germanic family of languages includes
Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German,
Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others.
The Romance languages include Italian, French,
Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, among
others.
Key Facts
 At least half of the world’s population are
bilingual or plurilingual.
Europe has only 3% of the world’s spoken
languages.
Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia
and Africa.
Future of languages: The non-European
languages most widely used on European
territory are Arabic, Chinese and Hindi, each with
its own writing system.
WHY?
 Bilingualism brings with it many benefits:
• it makes the learning of additional languages easier,
enhances the thinking process (critical thinking=
problem solving).
• it allows you to travel the world. It fosters contacts with
other people and their cultures.
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
“
(Nelson Mandela)
• It challenges stereotypes
 Bilingualism and plurilingualism entail economic
advantages:
• jobs are more easily available to those who speak
several languages, and multilingual companies have a
stronger competitive edge than monolingual ones.
Bradley Cooper
Actor
Interview in French (Hangover 2)
 Cooper picked up the language while
enrolled in a study programme abroad, in
college. Not thinking about becoming an
actor, Cooper spent his time as an exchange
student in France.
Fluent- English and French
Celebrities… did
you know….?
JK Rowling, author of
Harry Potter
Past career - French Teacher
Bilingual- Fluent in English
and French
David Beckham
Football player
English and Spanish
 Spent most of his life in England
before he moved to the Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2004.
 “I haven't conquered Spanish yet. I'm learning and
understanding what is said during training. I'm progressing little
by little. Spanish is very difficult for me, although I am getting
used to it. I am making an effort. It's complicated. But if I can
conquer Spanish, it will have been a great achievement”
Sandra Bullock
American actress, German decent.
In 2000, the actress
won a Bambi Award
(Germany's version of the Oscars)
and gave her acceptance speech in
German.
Bilingual- English and German.
Natalie Portman
American Oscar
winning actress (Star Wars; Thor)
Multilingual- Fluent in English,
Japanese, German & Spanish.
A little French.
Interviews in her native language, Hebrew.
Colin Firth
International movie star
( The King’s Speech, Bridget Jones..)
Married to Italian director
Livia Guggioli. Lives between Italy
and London.
 Trilingual- English, French and Italian.
Gwyneth Paltrow
American actress
 She learned the language while
spending a year as a foreign exchange
student during her high school years. She says she fell in love
with the country and vowed to learn Spanish proficiently.
 Ex-husband Chris Martin (Coldplay) and Gwyneth speak
Spanish and English to their children, at home.
Hugh Laurie
English actor, comedian and
director. American sitcom “House”
Fluent in French, German
and Spanish.
A little Italian
Survey from University of Southampton in 2013 showed that:
1 Language graduates were highly sought
after- 96% of
students were in employment or further study within 6
months of graduation.
.
2. Nearly 75% were working at a professional or managerial
level.
3. Not only does your degree allowed you to work outside
the UK, it would help you in many job markets: marketing,
publishing, journalism, business sales and others.
4. Being fluent in another language would be vital for
companies to conduct business internationally.
5. Many language graduates had gone into professional or
managerial roles in large corporations such as Amazon, Film4
and the International Tennis Federation, with the 75% having
a starting salary between £15,000 and £30,000 a year.
Language graduates… can be…
English as a foreign
language teacher
Publishing copyeditor/proof reader
Speech and language
therapist
Teaching Assistant
Digital copywriter
Editorial assistant
Information officer
Marketing Executive
Primary school and
high school teacher
Public librarian
Public Relations officer
Social researcher
Translator
Corporate Finances
So… why learn another language?
Your general reading and mental skills improve
through studying a language.
Brings you vital life skills. You will be better able
to adapt and cope with changes and to deal with
unfamiliar and new situations.
You will also find that you are a strong
communicator . You gain greater confidence in
yourself.
Government decision=
Sherburn High school decision
Entitlement to a modern language, by law.
Measure against other schools, nationally.
Introduction of Spanish
Opportunities for your future (Trips)
There are many similarities between Europe’s languages with words in one
language used with the same or similar spelling and meaning in another language.
However, in this section we highlight some of the ‘false friends’, where words often
represent something quite different to what you expect!
• “Pain” = “bread” in French (le pain); “pain” in
English.
• “Gris”= pig in Swedish; grey colour in Spanish and
French.
• “Prego”= “You’re welcome” in Italian; a “nail”, in
Portuguese.
• “Panna”= “single woman” in Polish; “ cream” in
Italian.
• “ Sugar”= “a baby” in Romanian; “sugar” in English.