CONFERENCE ON
“Multilingualism, Intercultural Dialogue and Globalisation” 

The Conference was organised jointly by the European Commission, the French Embassy, in the context of it Presidency of the European Union, the Indian National Knowledge Commission and the European Union of National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC-India Cluster). The University of Delhi graciously agreed to host the Conference on its premises.

Building on the momentum created during the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and aiming to reinforce the external dimension of the EU’s Multilingualism Policy, the aim of this Conference was to underline the vital contribution of multilingualism to the development of genuine intercultural dialogue. India was identified as a strategic partner in this framework, in view of its specific situation in relation to multilingualism.

The Conference was the first EU-India platform for discussion and exchange between high level scholars and intellectuals on the issue of multilingualism and its implications for business, politics, identity, intercultural dialogue and education. The programme included four thematic panels:

1. Languages as an instrument to access other cultures. Multilingualism and translation.
2. Language as a key factor for identity and intercultural understanding.
3. Linguistic diversity in contemporary societies, a modern challenge
4. Promotion of Adoptive Languages to Strengthen Multilingualism and Intercultural Dialogue.

Mr Leonard Orban, the European Commissioner for Multilingualism, is due to sign a Joint Declaration in the field of multilingualism with his Indian ministerial counterpart. With this Declaration the European Commission and the Government of India aim to reinforce their cooperation in the form of a policy dialogue on key issues in this field, including :linguistic diversity and intercultural dialogue; the impact of languages on employability, business competitiveness and social cohesion; lifelong language learning; new technologies for language learning; and terminology. The Conference was the first step on this direction.

This Joint Declaration is a follow-up to the EU-India Summit in Marseilles on 29 September 2008, when EU and India leaders committed themselves to developing a dialogue on the promotion of languages, Intercultural dialogue and multilingualism.

Presentations

- The Role of the Third Space in Inter-cultural Dialogue, by David Green
- Teaching Hindi And Urdu At Sofia University – A Practical Way To Identify Indian Culture
- Translation as reaching out to otherness, Dominique Vitalyos
- Languages and ‘knowledges’ in multilingual cities, Alícia Fuentes-Calle
- Alok Bhalla
- Multilingual Education in Phases Questioning the Three Language Formula, Anvita Abbi
- Language and Employability, Anup K. Singh
- Dr Knopp - Indien Rede 1 - 2: Linguistic Diversity: a Challenge and a Chance. Can Europe learn from India?
- Multilingualism and the Economics of Language Policies, Michele Gazzola
- 21 languages for the 21st Century, Geeta Dharmarajan
- Incorporating culture intIncorporating culture into Second Language Acquisition (L2)is the only meaningful way of doing it, George Gallo
- The Need to Offset the Negative Effects of Globalization - Empower the Smaller Languages & Protect the Endangered, U.N. Singh
- Pilgrim’s Progress? Adoptive Language, Culture Wars and Claims of Multiculturalism, by Sachidananda Mohanty