As some of you may know, the annual European Day of Languages was celebrated on Saturday September 26th. This annual celebration was created by the Council of Europe to “alert the public to the importance of language learning and diversify the range of languages learnt in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding.” Of course we at Bilingual Readers agree wholeheartedly with that mission and are always working hard to provide resources for bilingual families to help children develop language skills through reading. For us, every day is a great day for celebrating languages, but this sort of celebration is a great opportunity to raise this important issue with the general public at least once a year.

This year the Council of Europe included a list of interesting facts about languages and bilingualism, which we thought we’d share with you today. Here are just a few highlights:

*There are between 6000 and 7000 languages in the world - spoken by six billion people divided into 189 independent states.

*Many Europeans (and Americans) think most people speak only one language, but in actual fact at least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual, i.e. they speak two or more languages.

*No language is in itself more difficult than any other – all children, in fact, learn their mother tongue in the same natural way and with equal ease.

*In its first year a baby utters a wide range of vocal sounds; at around one year the first understandable words are uttered; at around three years complex sentences are formed; at five years a child possesses several thousand words.

*The mother tongue is usually the language one knows best and uses most. But there can be “perfect bilinguals” who speak two languages equally well. Normally, however, bilinguals display no perfect balance between their two languages.

*Bilingualism brings with it many benefits: it makes the learning of additional languages easier, enhances the thinking process and fosters contacts with other people and their cultures.

*Bilingualism and plurilingualism entail economic advantages, too: jobs are more easily available to those who speak several languages, and multilingual companies have a better competitive edge than monolingual ones.

Have a great day and remember to celebrate your languages and cultures every day!