Vljudno vabljeni k branju odgovorov dr. Zvera za časopis New York Times glede načela "materni jezik plus dva" ter k branju objavljenega članka na tej povezavi.
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In your report on Youth on the Move: - a framework for improving Europe's education and training systems (April 20, 2011), you wrote that the European Parliament “reminds Member States to introduce the learning of the ‘mother tongue plus two’ languages at an early stage in life and in early childhood education”.
1) What have Member States done to introduce 'the learning of the ‘mother tongue plus two’ languages at an early stage in life and in early childhood education' since the publication of your report?
I believe that in the last 3 years (since the approval of the Youth on the Move report in April 2011) there has been an overall positive trend in EU in support of the “trilingual formula” (mother tongue plus two).
The biggest difference between the 2006 and 2012 special Eurobarometer’s surveys results can be seen in regard to the “trilingual formula”. In 2006 a vast majority of EU citizens thought that one additional language is manageable, but only 50% thought that it is a realistic goal. In 2012 a much bigger percentage of citizens said that it is possible to learn two foreign languages.
2) Are you satisfied with the progress of the concept of ‘mother tongue plus two’ becoming part of early education in the EU?
I believe that the EU money invested in support of the multi-lingualism through the Lifelong-learning programs has been invested well and I hope this continues under the new Erasmus plus program. Also the majority of Member States made some progress regarding the multi-lingualism in the last years.
Nevertheless there are some unfortunate exceptions like my home country, Slovenia. I was a Minster of Education in the right-wing government (2004-2008) that introduced the obligatory early learning of the second foreign language (starting with 12 years-olds). When the left wing government took over in 2008 they cancelled the obligatory learning of the second foreign language. The short termed right-wing government in 2012 reintroduced the concept but in 2013 the new left-wing government cancelled it one more time.
Since 2002, when the EU Council set the target of ‘mother tongue plus two foreign languages for every EU citizen’, the EU institutions as well as the Council of Europe worked hard to achieve that goal. I sincerely hope that all the member states will follow this line regardless of the political changes. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the European Language Portfolio became standard tools in EU. I hope that an early learning of the second foreign language also becomes some kind of standard, even more so in smaller Member States that have a huge potential in this area like Slovenia for example.
