European Language Monitor (ELM)

Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen

Overview

• What is ELM?
• Aims and history
• ElM in relation to similar projects
• Language Rich Europe
• Meta-Net
• Nordic language barometer
• Questions asked
• Questions answered
• Results
• Future perspectives

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What is a language monitor?

• A language monitor is a measurement of the language situation of one or more countries repeated in certain intervals.

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• The information in a language monitor must be comparable over time.

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• The information must be comparable across languages.

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ELM - The Aims

The ELM intents to provide a rich and complex empirical basis for the development and evaluation of national and European language policies. It is conceived as an online system to collect data and provide detailed up-to-date information on the linguistic situation and its development in the various member states of the European Union and possibly, also, of other European countries.

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Target groups of the ELM are primarily policy makers at the national and the European level. ELM should also be of use for linguists, sociologists, publishers, journalists, and other persons who are more or less involved or interested in language development and language policy.

ELM – The Aims

ELM will provide detailed information on the use of the various languages in essential national and transnational domains at a given time and on how language use in these domains changes in the course of time.

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ELM – The history

1. pilot 2004 -2006 feasibility study: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden

http://www.europeanlanguagemonitor.org/

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ELM – The history

1. pilot 2004 -2006 feasibility study: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden

http://www.europeanlanguagemonitor.org/

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2. pilot 2007-2011 Revised questionnaire covering all countries

Current ELM group:

Gerhard Stickel, Cecilia Robustelli, Jennie Spetz, Ellen Fernhout, Janis Valdmanis, Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen

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Dimitris Kokoroskos, Nina Teigland

ELM – Relation to similar projects

Language status reports

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• Språkstatus Norway 2009 og 2010 (language law)
• Omvärldsanalys Sweden 2009 and 2010 (language law)
• Language in Time Denmark 2007-2008 (no language law)
• Language Committee Finland 2011 (language law)
• EFNIL Language legislation in Europe (2009) English and French
• METAnet 2011

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Monitors

• EFNIL ELM1 2004-2006, ELM2 2007-2011, ELM3 2012-2013
• British Council LRE 2011-2012
• Eurobarometer
• Eurydice

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ELM - Questions asked

1. Country situation. Official, regional, indigenous, immigrant languages spoken within and outside the country, legal status, accordance with conventions
2. Legal situation. Language law, constitutional status, other regulations, language demands for citizenship
3. Primary and secondary education. Languages of instruction
4. Tertiary education. Languages of instruction, languages used in publications and dissertations
5. Media. Papers, TV, film, music. Languages used and translations provided
6. Business. Regulations. Company languages, annual reports, websites
7. Dissemination of languages. Official languages taught abroad. Teaching of foreign languages in primary and secondary school
8. Language organisations. Official, non-governmental but publicly funded, private

Questions not asked

• Language use in families;
• Available language technology products such as online dictionaries, spelling and grammar checkers, monolingual and multilingual corpora.
• Training of language teachers

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Questions answered by

Questions answered – an example

Results

Red = no

Green = yes

Legislative language regulations

2.1 Does the constitution of your country state what the official/national/main languages are?

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2.2 Is there a language law stipulating what language is (or what languages are) to be used in official matters?

2.3 Is the use of language(s) in government, public administration, and/or judiciary institutions mentioned in legislation other than the constitution or a language law ?

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Please quote the relevant article(s) in the original language and in English, including the exact reference.

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Language tests for new citizens�

2.4 Does your country have a compulsory test or examination that includes a language test in (one of) the national/official language(s) that has to be passed as a prerequisite for naturalization (attaining citizenship)?

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2.5 Does your country offer instruction, of which (one of the) national/official language(s) is a compulsory component that has to be taken as a prerequisite for naturalization (attaining citizenship).

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2.6 Does your country have a compulsory test or examination of which (one of the) national language(s) is a compulsory component that has to be taken as a prerequisite for attaining permanent residency, i.e. without becoming a citizen of your country?

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2.7 Does the government of your country provide instruction, of which (one of the) national/official language(s) is a compulsory component that has to be taken as a prerequisite for attaining permanent residency?

Languages as medium of instruction

3.1. Does your country’s official language / Do your country’s official languages have a declared legal status as a medium of instruction in primary schools?

3.2. Are there other (perhaps regional or local) regulations concerning the use of the official or other languages as medium of instruction in primary schools.

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3.3. Does your country’s official language / do your country’s official languages have a declared legal status as a medium of instruction in secondary schools?

3.4. Are there other (perhaps regional or local) regulations concerning the use of the official or other languages as medium of instruction in secondary schools? If so, please explain.

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4.1 . Does the official language of your country/do the official languages of your country have a declared legal status as a medium of instruction at university level?

4.2. Are there any (national, regional, local, or other) regulations about the language in which PhD courses and programs should be taught?

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Languages in Business

6.3. In order of importance, what is/are the official website language(s) of the ten largest (international) companies that have their main location and are major employers in your country? The ten largest companies should be selected in terms of their number of employees worldwide.

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How can the monitors be used?

• Various agendas
• multilingualism and linguistic diversity
• status of international, national, regional, indigenous and immigrant languages
• reaching EU’s goal of mother tongue + 2
• Monitors can
• give an overview of the total spread of language regulations
• provide language institutions with relevant background data that can be correlated with actual language use and language development
• measure whether regulations, conventions and various other initiatives have an effect over time

Future plans

ELM

• Collecting more data (Greenland and the Faroese)
• Regional analyses (the Nordic countries, the Baltic?)
• ELM 3 – revised questionnaire – comparison over time
• Cooperation with statistics institutions
• Web page – all data on-line

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Cooperation between the initiatives

• LRE/ELM/META presentations in London 26.10.2011
• Joint conferences?

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The full support from ALL EFNIL institutions is a prerequisite !

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