European Day of Languages celebrated in Uzbek capital

The Uzbek State University World Languages (UWL) hosted the events with the celebration of the European Day of Languages.

The event was initiated by the Goethe Institute in Tashkent, the Embassy of France, British Council in Uzbekistan and the representative office of European Union in Uzbekistan under the aegis of EUNIC.

The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the cultural and language diversity of the world. The event brought together the representatives of different embassies, teachers and learners from schools, colleges and lyceums and higher educational institutions.

Ambassador Yuri Sterk, Head of European Union Delegation to Uzbekistan, said, "an Uzbek proverb says who knows the language knows the soul. Today’s event is a wonderful opportunity to showcase EU’s linguistic and cultural diversity and bring our souls and our peoples closer to Uzbekistanis."

The first two days of the event were devoted to Common European Framework of Languages (CEFR) and its connection to language learning and teaching, now worldwide. Around 100 teachers of English, German and French, working at schools, colleges, lyceums and universities of Uzbekistan took part in the seminar.

CEFR was first published in 2003, has since developed into a tool, which is used worldwide to evaluate learning of many different languages. It has transformed language learning to fit the needs of the 21st century. It has also impacted other fields of education, such as professional development and qualification to facilitate mobility worldwide

On 23 September, at the UWL embassies and cultural offered an interactive exhibition opportunity for students and teachers and were open to everybody who is interested in learning languages. In addition, the participants were able to take part in engaging activities about the diversity of languages and cultures and learn a few words in each language represented there.

The Goethe Institute, British Council, French Embassy, European Union delegation, Ukrainian Embassy, Bulgarian Embassy, Georgian Embassy, Latvian Embassy, Romanian Embassy, Swiss Embassy, UK Embassy and American Embassy participated in this event.