Romania
Key Findings overall
Romania presents a situation where national, minority and foreign languages seem to be well promoted especially in the education system. The businesses researched here appear to use foreign languages adequately, but do not invest significantly in language skills for employees.
Minority languages are supported legally both through the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and through the new education law. But this reality does not lead necessarily to equal results for all minorities. While some minority languages, for example Hungarian, are represented in educational and cultural activities, others such as Romani are not. While investments have been made to help the access of Roma to administration, schools and other public services through mediators, there is still much more to be done in order to ensure real opportunities for using Romani language in education and in the public space. While these necessities are known and legal statements have been made regarding Roma language and culture (Ministry of Education Notification 29323/20.04.2004), more practical measures are still required.
Another aspect that needs urgent attention is the immigrant population, and language issues that are related to them, for example access to education. Long term immigration is most likely to increase and policies to meet their needs should be discussed and implemented.
Another point of improvement could be the offer of the universities regarding the Romanian language as a foreign language. This would be useful for foreign students that want to study in Romania.
The development of language skills among workers in public institutions and the improvement of communication strategies, especially disseminating information in more languages, would be of great social and economic importance for both immigrant population and foreign entrepreneurs.
Promising initiatives and pilots
The linguistic landscape of present day Romania is diverse and there is a growing tendency to recognise and promote multilingualism as a societal resource and value. Some of the propitious initiatives in this field are briefly described below.
At the governmental level, one example is the Department for Inter-ethnic Relations study on Multilingualism and minority languages in Romania1, developed together with the Romanian Academy. The programmes of the Romanian Immigration Office or Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, from Cluj Napoca are also worth mentioning (e.g. the project on Bilingual Form). The Romanian Ministry of Education recent policy options and projects are relevant as well. For example, the new education law, issued in January 2011 and the new draft of the curriculum framework highlight the importance of developing the students’ communicative competence in several languages.
The recent initiative of the National Association for Community Programmes, the Representation of the European Commission to Romania and the Department for Inter-ethnic Relations to organise the event MALLtilingualism – Voices and Colour at a shopping mall in Bucharest is an example of innovative ways of reaching wider audiences in a non-formal environment. The celebration of the European Day of Languages 2011 by the Romanian Cultural Institute and EUNIC Romania within the format of a cultural activities ‘swap-shop’ is part of the same effort to convey the cultural diversity message to the public.
Another example of collaboration between governmental bodies and civil society is the project Learn Romanian carried out by West University of Timisoara, the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara and the Romanian Ministry of Education. Together with the project Migrant in Romania2, also funded by the European Fund for Integration and implemented in partnership by the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara and the Association of Refugee Women in Romania, the aforementioned initiative is aiming to support the learning of basic Romanian.
The increased awareness of the importance of multilingualism is evident by the numerous research projects and scientific debates at university level, that have been recently organized by both language and non-language faculties. These initiatives are in line with a suggestion from Leonard Orban, European Commissioner for Multilingualism between 2007 and 2010, to set up multilingualism chairs within universities3. One example is the conference organised by the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj called From Immigration to Integration through Multilingualism4.
1 www.insse.ro, www.edu.ro, www.dri.gov.ro
2 www.migrant.ro
3 http://www.ziare.com/tv/ - interview, 23 November 2009
4 http://www.lumebuna.ro/2011/05/29/conferinta-%E2%80%9Cde-la-imigrare-la-integrare-prin-multilingvism%E2%80%9D/
