Berlin, Germany. The Director of the Etxepare Basque Institute, Irene Larraza, met yesterday in Berlin with heads of the Cervantes Institute (Spain), the Ramon Llull Institute (Catalonia) and the Consello da Cultura Galega (Galicia) on the Day of European Languages. During the meeting, Larraza stressed “the huge responsibility,” that non-hegemonic language institutes have so that these languages “are known, recognized, used and valued, and to ensure that they are full-fledged languages.”
Larraza stated, “in a Europe based on values, it is essential to learn to understand each other not from homogeneity, but from difference.” Moreover, it is that, in her opinion, “it is not possible to create or expand community if it is not from the appreciation of diversity, in all areas. Speakers and representatives om minority languages can undoubtedly contribute our extensive experience in the management of multilingualism or in the survival of that framework,” she added.
After the meeting the Director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis Garcia Montero, defended the multilingualism of the Spain and added that it is necessary “to understand the enormous wealth of living in a country with so many languages.” He also stated that co-official languages provide “different ways of living in the world that enrich us both in the respective territories where they are spoken and in all of Spain. Hopefully those citizens who are lucky enough to be bilingual, do not have the bad luck of having to stop being so,” he said.
-See the Tweet and video here (first in Basque then in Spanish)
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