Greece
Ελλάδας
Country context
Greece has a population size of approximately 11,320,000 (Eurostat, 2011) and is located in the southern part of the Balkan peninsular. The official language is Greek, which is spoken by the majority of the population. A variety of other languages are present which represent old and newer waves of immigration – they include most Balkan countries and Turkey, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Philippines and various African countries (Hannam and Papathanasiou, 2011). Turkish also exists as a regional language (see below). At the time the data were collected Greece was at the point of economic collapse and continues to be in a vulnerable position within the European structures which affects all levels of education and public services.
Languages in official documents and databases
Both the national language and foreign languages are dealt with in language legislation and/or language policy documents. The learning and teaching of the national language abroad for children and/or adults originating from Greece is (co-)funded in countries all over Europe, most notably in Germany, the United Kingdom and France, and also in the USA, Australia and some African countries. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has not been signed/ratified by Greece. Ever since the Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923) which resulted in what is referred to as ‘an exchange of populations’, both Greece and Turkey do not recognise the existence of ethnic minorities on their respective territories. Both countries only recognise the existence of religious minorities. In Greece, this holds in particular for the Turkish community in the North-Eastern province of Thrace, referred to as a Muslim minority.
Official nation-/region-wide data collection mechanisms on language diversity in Greece do not exist.
There is no official language policy document in Greece at the present time. The issue of regional, minority and immigrant languages is politically sensitive (Kiliari, 2009) as it intersects with discussions about immigration flow and control. Although there are examples of schools offering education in Turkish in the Thrace area this is presented as provision for the Muslim minority with no reference explicitly made to the language of this community in a policy document. Greece did not sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1992 and appears to be among several EU countries unable to sign according to restrictions in the constitution governing their country. There is an indication that a language policy may be developed soon governing foreign languages and a survey has been set up by the Ministry of Education which addresses the need for ‘promoting heritage languages of foreign and repatriated students’ (www.diapolis.auth.gr, 2011).
Languages in pre-primary education
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
LN - SOUTIEN SUP
Langues nationales
|
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Groupes cibles
|
none | none | none | none | ||||
Durée
|
none | none | none | none | ||||
Taille minimale des groupes
|
none | none | none | none | ||||
Jours par semaine
|
none | none | none | none | ||||
Formation initiale des enseignants
|
none | none | none | none | ||||
Formation des enseignants en cours d'emploi
|
none | none | none | none | ||||
Financement public disponible
|
none | none | none | none |
Languages offered in pre-primary education
R/M Languages |
- | |
---|---|---|
Langues étrangères |
- | |
Langues des migrants |
- |
Languages in primary education
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Programmes scolaires
|
2 | 3 | none | |||
Enseignement EMILE (enseignement d'une matière intégrée à une langue étrangère)
|
3 | 2 | none | |||
Groupes cibles
|
2 | 3 | none | |||
Démarrage de l'enseignement en langue
|
3 | 3 | none | |||
Planification
|
3 | 3 | none | |||
Taille minimale des groupes
|
3 | 3 | none | |||
Surveillance des compétences linguistiques
|
3 | 3 | none | |||
Niveau requis
|
1 | 1 | none | |||
Financement public disponible
|
3 | 3 | none | |||
|
LN
Autres langues nationales
|
|||||
Programmes scolaires
|
3 | |||||
Soutien supplémentaire pour les nouveaux arrivants
|
3 | |||||
Evaluation diagnostique à l'entrée
|
1 | |||||
Surveillance des compétences linguistiques
|
3 |
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
---|---|
Qualifications des enseignants
|
3 | 3 | none |
Formation initiale des enseignants
|
3 | 3 | none |
Formation des enseignants en cours d'emploi
|
3 | 3 | none |
Mobilité
|
0 | 2 | 0 |
|
LN
Autres langues nationales
|
Qualifications des enseignants
|
3 |
Formation initiale des enseignants
|
3 |
Formation des enseignants en cours d'emploi
|
1 |
Languages offered in primary education
R/M Languages |
Turkish |
---|
Langues étrangères |
English and French or German |
Langues des migrants |
- |
There is no compulsory state provision in foreign languages at pre-primary level, although foreign languages are introduced at the primary stage and taken very seriously. There is considerable investment from the state sector and through extra private provision. The results do not adequately reflect the amount of investment at this stage in either the Greek language or foreign languages. It is also at primary level that Turkish is offered in schools in the Thrace region for the established population from the various population exchanges between Greece and Turkey. There are more than 200 schools offering Turkish at primary level although that has decreased in recent years. By secondary level this reduces to less than ten (Συντονιστικό Γραφείο Μειονοτικών Σχολείων - Coordination Office of Minority Schools, 2011). English remains dominant as the default foreign language offered. We found that there is a wish to provide more languages beyond English, French and German (the latter two also being available). There is limited teacher training provision in Italian, Spanish, some Balkan languages and Turkish though little provision in state schools. Immigrant languages remain unrepresented in this sector and we found evidence that many are taught within the communities themselves.
Languages in secondary education
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Programmes scolaires
|
none | 3 | none | |||
Enseignement EMILE (enseignement d'une matière intégrée à une langue étrangère)
|
none | 1 | none | |||
Groupes cibles
|
none | 3 | none | |||
Planification
|
none | 3 | none | |||
Taille minimale des groupes
|
none | 1 | none | |||
Surveillance des compétences linguistiques
|
none | 2 | none | |||
Niveau requis
|
none | 2 | none | |||
Financement public disponible
|
none | 3 | none | |||
|
LN
Autres langues nationales
|
|||||
Programmes scolaires
|
3 | |||||
Soutien supplémentaire pour les nouveaux arrivants
|
3 | |||||
Evaluation diagnostique à l'entrée
|
1 | |||||
Surveillance des compétences linguistiques
|
2 |
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
---|---|
Qualifications des enseignants
|
none | 3 | none |
Formation initiale des enseignants
|
none | 2 | none |
Formation des enseignants en cours d'emploi
|
none | 2 | none |
Mobilité
|
0 | 2 | 0 |
Niveau de langue requis
|
none | 2 | none |
|
LN
Autres langues nationales
|
Qualifications des enseignants
|
3 |
Formation initiale des enseignants
|
2 |
Formation des enseignants en cours d'emploi
|
2 |
Niveau de langue requis pour les locuteurs non natifs
|
1 |
Languages offered in secondary education
R/M Languages |
- |
---|
Langues étrangères |
Compulsory: English Optional: French, German |
Langues des migrants |
- |
A significant number of hours are devoted to the learning of foreign languages in secondary education with great emphasis on passing language examinations, often with extra provision being financed by families. English is the compulsory language with other foreign languages (French, German, Italian and Spanish) being optional. There is some evidence of experimental CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) in a state school in Thessaloniki with English as the language of instruction. Additionally, multimedia applications (such as ''Xenios'') and new technologies are being implemented as part of a cross-curricular approach to foreign language teaching (Tangas, 2006). Immigrant languages remain unrepresented in this sector.
Languages in Further and Higher Education
|
Établissement A | Établissement B | Établissement C | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
LRM
Langues R/M
|
LE
Langues étrangères
|
LM
Langues des migrants
|
||
Gamme de programmes de soutien en langue
|
none | none | none | none | none | none | none | 2 | none | |
Programmes scolaires
|
none | none | none | none | none | none | none | 1 | none | |
Niveau requis
|
0 | none | 0 | 0 | none | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
Financement public disponible
|
none | none | none | none | none | none | none | 3 | none | |
LN - SOUTIEN SUP
Langues nationales
|
LN - SOUTIEN SUP
Langues nationales
|
LN - SOUTIEN SUP
Langues nationales
|
||||||||
Gamme de programmes de soutien en langue
|
2 | none | 3 | |||||||
Groupes cibles
|
2 | none | 2 | |||||||
Programmes scolaires
|
3 | none | 2 | |||||||
Compétences professionnelles
|
1 | none | 1 | |||||||
Amélioration des compétences générales
|
3 | none | 3 | |||||||
Financement public disponible
|
3 | none | 3 | |||||||
Stages en entreprise
|
1 | none | 1 | |||||||
Utilisation des instruments de l'UE
|
1 | none | 1 |
Languages offered across 3 VET institutions in Greece
R/M Languages |
- |
---|
Langues étrangères |
English |
Langues des migrants |
- |
|
Établissement A |
Établissement B |
Établissement C |
---|---|
Langue(s) d'enseignement
|
2 | 2 | 0 |
Langues sur le site web
|
2 | 2 | 0 |
Groupes cibles pour un soutien supplémentaire dans la langue nationale
|
3 | 2 | 0 |
Niveau requis dans l'enseignement en langue étrangère
|
2 | 2 | 0 |
Recrutement d'étudiants non nationaux
|
2 | 3 | 0 |
Mobilité pour les étudiants en langues
|
2 | 2 | 0 |
Mobilité pour les autres étudiants
|
2 | 2 | 0 |
Languages offered across 3 higher education institutions in Greece
English, French, German, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, Arabic , Armenian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Coptic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Swedish |
---|
Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions appear to function primarily in Greek and where there is language provision it is largely focused on English. The VET institution surveyed in Athens implemented a large number of training programmes in the Greek language for refugees, immigrants, and repatriates offered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. In total 15 programmes of 300 hours each were implemented for 323 refugees, immigrants and repatriates who then took an examination for the certificate of attainment in Greek organised by the Centre of Greek Language. We experienced significant problems accessing data on VET institutions which appeared to be in transition and were going through an inspection by the Department of Education at the time.
Universities demonstrate much wider diversity of languages which is likely influenced by programmes like Erasmus. There are initiatives to cater for students coming from different countries but also offering learning opportunities to Greek students in different languages, both European and non-European. There is evidence of experimental practice in schools which is generated by university departments (e.g. the CLIL project in Thessaloniki is headed by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).
Languages in Audiovisual Media and Press
|
Athens |
Thessaloniki |
Xanthi |
---|---|
Nombre de langues à la radio
|
1 | 1 | 1 |
Nombre de langues à la télévision
|
1 | 1 | 1 |
Productions télévisées en langues non nationales
|
4 | 4 | 4 |
Films au cinéma en langues non nationales
|
4 | 4 | 4 |
Programmes en langues R/M hors région
|
2 | 2 | 2 |
Disponibilité du langage des signes à la télévision
|
2 | 2 | 2 |
Languages offered in audiovisual media and press across 3 cities in Greece
Radio |
- |
---|
Television |
- |
Journaux |
English, Albanian, French, German, Bulgarian, Russian, Arabic, Italian, Serbian, Dutch, Turkish, Spanish, Danish, Georgian, Norwegian, Filipino |
New language communities are not given official airtime on television and radio although they are not prevented from utilising the airwaves. Films are streamed using subtitles and dubbing is extremely rare other than in children’s provision. Additionally, a small number of hours of news are accompanied by sign language (as required by Greek Law N. 2328/1995 (ΦΕΚ Α' 159/3-8-1995). We found a wide array of newspapers sold in different languages demonstrating slippage between real populations and those officially recognised. The variation was greatest in the capital city of Athens.
Languages in public services and spaces
Athens |
Thessaloniki |
Xanthi |
---|
Services municipaux |
0 | 0 | 2 |
Présence dans le site web |
0 | 0 | 1 |
Rapports municipaux annuels |
0 | 0 | 0 |
Traducteurs et interprètes externes ou internes |
0 | 0 | 2 |
Compétences dans des langues autres que la langue nationale dans les descriptions de postes des employés |
0 | 0 | 0 |
Plan ou programme en place destiné à améliorer les compétences en langues |
0 | 0 | 0 |
Recrutement de personnes multilingues pour soutenir les objectifs de l'organisation |
0 | 0 | 1 |
Offre de formation en langues aux employés |
0 | 0 | 0 |
Registre des compétences en langues des employés régulièrement mis à jour |
0 | 6 | 7 |
Programmes de récompense ou de promotion pour les employés capables de communiquer correctement dans une autre langue |
0 | 0 | 3 |
Athens |
Thessaloniki |
Xanthi |
---|
Débats politiques et processus de prise de décision au niveau du conseil municipal |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services de l'éducation |
1 | 1 | 2 |
Services d'urgence |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services de santé |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services sociaux |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services juridiques |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services de transport |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services d'immigration et d'intégration |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services du tourisme |
1 | 1 | 2 |
Programmes de théâtre |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Athens |
Thessaloniki |
Xanthi |
---|
Débats politiques et processus de prise de décision au niveau du conseil municipal |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services de l'éducation |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services d'urgence |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services de santé |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services sociaux |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services juridiques |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services de transport |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Services d'immigration et d'intégration |
1 | 1 | 2 |
Services du tourisme |
1 | 1 | 2 |
Programmes de théâtre |
1 | 1 | 1 |
Languages offered in public services and spaces across 3 cities in Greece (N ≥ 2)
English, Turkish, Armenian, Russian |
---|
We had significant difficulty obtaining the data for this set at a time of political and economic upheaval. There appears to be a lack of systematic policy for dealing with other languages in relation to seeking and provision of public services. Where provision is available, we found that it is ad hoc. English appears to be dominant in these settings. There is an expectation on public service users that they are both conversant and literate in Greek.
Languages in business - 24 companies
Largement utilisée |
Occasionnellement utilisée |
Non utilisée |
---|
Stratégie linguistique en place |
9 | 12 | 3 |
Accent mis sur les compétences en langues lors du recrutement |
14 | 7 | 3 |
Clause de mobilité internationale |
8 | 11 | 5 |
Recours à des traducteurs/interprètes externes |
1 | 11 | 12 |
Tenue de registres sur les compétences en langues du personnel |
0 | 18 | 5 |
Utilisation de réseaux pour la formation en langues |
4 | 3 | 17 |
Utilisation de programmes / financements de l'UE |
1 | 5 | 18 |
Connaissance des programmes / financements de l'UE |
0 | 5 | 19 |
Largement utilisée | Occasionnellement utilisée | Non utilisée | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL |
BE |
FL-R/M - IL |
NL |
BE |
FL-R/M - IL |
NL |
BE |
FL-R/M - IL |
|
Partenariats avec le secteur de l'éducation pour les langues |
1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 19 | 24 |
Programmes de récompenses / promotion basés sur les compétences en langues |
2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 18 |
Offre d'une formation en langues |
2 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 19 |
Utilisation du CECRL |
0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 24 |
Langues utilisées pour les documents sur le lieu de travail/l'intranet |
21 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 22 |
Langues utilisées pour les logiciels, les programmes web |
18 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 22 |
Largement utilisée | Occasionnellement utilisée | Non utilisée | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL |
BE |
FL-R/M - IL |
NL |
BE |
FL-R/M - IL |
NL |
BE |
FL-R/M - IL |
|
Langues utilisées pour les rapports annuels/rapports d'activité |
20 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 23 |
Langues utilisées pour le marketing |
22 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 21 |
Langues utilisées pour la promotion de la marque/l'identité |
19 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 21 |
Langues utilisées pour le site web |
20 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
Languages other than English offered in business across 24 companies in Greece (N ≥ 2)
Russian, German, French, Chinese, Serbian, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Romanian, Albanian |
---|
Foreign languages are highly sought after in the business sector and are considered essential rather than desirable. However, in the businesses surveyed, little attention seems to be paid to the value of recruiting employees with knowledge of immigrant languages although the pragmatic use of most Balkan languages can be seen in communication due to strong business and commerce links with neighbouring countries. Where these languages are not present in the workplace, English is used as a default lingua franca and the highest value appears to be attached to a fluent working knowledge of English as a result. Few businesses have a policy to explicitly reward knowledge of languages or structures to support multilingualism. This may exist more widely than captured by the data but is not perceived in terms of multilingualism.
Key Findings overall
There is significant and long term investment in the learning of foreign languages in Greece. A diversity of other languages is also spoken deriving from the Balkans and other parts of the world but there is little discussion of this as it is tied to debates about immigration. We experienced an overall reluctance to provide data in most domains which we believe to be partly due to unfamiliarity with research of this kind but also due to our intervention at the peak of the economic crisis with the country in a state of alert. The issue of multilingualism was not perceived by many potential data providers as a priority. There is clearly a need to address Greek monolingualism in state and public services and the dominance of English is of concern throughout all domains. The lack of key agencies working on multilingualism either in the state or NGO sector may be a barrier to this as the responsibility currently falls to individual academics and researchers and other community organizations. Such organisations might ordinarily focus on widening participation and representation of different linguistic communities - we found no evidence of these kinds of initiatives during the data collection.
Promising initiatives and pilots
Regarding regional and minority languages in primary education we found evidence of two programmes at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki which offer help to schools with repatriates, immigrants and Roma students. This was the only time the Roma community was represented in our data set. The survey to promote heritage languages is also a very promising initiative. Ministry of Education/university partnerships offer one month Modern Greek language and culture courses for foreign students, teachers of Greek and Greek scholars. Scholarships are available for Greek students to study in the EU and other countries and attend undergraduate, postgraduate and foreign language seminars. The State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) awards mobility scholarships to students and teaching staff encouraging their contact with other education systems and their familiarization with the culture and language of another European country (Eurydice 2009/10: 222-223). This is as of 2010 and may have changed with the onset of the economic crisis.
References
Coordination Office of Minority Schools
http://syntonistiko.compulaw.gr/ [Accessed 2nd December 2011]
Eurostat
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&language=en&pcode=tps00001&tableSelection=1&footnotes=yes&labeling=labels&plugin=1 [Accessed 2nd December 2011]
Hannam, S. and Papathanasiou, E. (2011) Current Issues and Trends in Language Education in Greece: A Brief Overview. In Towards a Language Rich Europe - Multilingual essays on language policies and practices, British Council.
Kiliari, A. (2009) Language Practice in Greece: The Effects of European Policy on Multilingualism. In European Journal of Language Policy. 1/1. pp. 21-28.
Tangas, P. (2006) Multimedia and Foreign Language Teaching: the Case of Greece. In Grabe, D. & Zimmemann, L. (eds), Multimedia Applications in Education Conference Proceedings 2006, FH JOANNEUM, Graz, Austria, pp.139-48. Available from: http://pek-patras.ach.sch.gr/docs/yliko0910/Multimedia_and_Foreign_Language_Teaching_the_Case_of_Greece_Tagkas.pdf [Accessed 5th December 2011]