Languages offered in pre-primary education

According to the Ministry of Education, there are around 700 pre-school institutions in Lithuania. In most of them, the language of education is Lithuanian, but there are some institutions in which children are taught in Russian, Polish, Hebrew, French or Belarusian. It should be noted that in 1995 the Government officially recognised sign language as a native language of deaf people. The majority of children of pre-school age begin to learn a foreign language one to two years prior to school, but there are also many pre-primary schools where upon parents' request, children start being taught other languages (usually English) from the age of three.

Languages offered in primary education

Primary education is carried out in native languages (Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, Hebrew, and Belarusan) in accordance with the programme adopted by the Ministry of Education. However, upon the request of parents or guardians, some selected curriculum subjects may be taught in the official state language. A foreign language (English, French or German) is compulsory from the second year at school. As for immigrant languages, (pre) primary education is neither practised nor governed by any legislation.

In Lithuania great attention is paid to teacher training –only individuals who have obtained the qualification of primary school teacher can work in primary schools and only those who have a certain degree of competence in the particular language can teach a foreign language. There is no special training for teachers who work with ethnic minorities, but it is assumed that the necessary methodological skills teachers receive during their higher education are common to all languages.

Languages offered in secondary education

Article 30 of the Law on Education proclaims that every citizen of the Republic of Lithuania and foreigners with the right to permanent or temporary residence shall be guaranteed instruction in the state language and to learn the state language so as to provide the opportunity for smooth integration into public life. Some schools of general or non-formal education support educational provision in the languages of ethnic minorities and seek to maintain their culture. In accordance with these regulations and parents' requests, the overall curriculum or certain subjects may be taught in one of the languages of ethnic minorities. In such schools, the subject of the Lithuanian language is an integral part of the curriculum and its teaching receives no less time than the teaching of home languages. If there is a real need for additional training in the home language and a specialist of the required language is present, the state, municipal pre-primary schools and schools of general education usually enable students from ethnic minorities to learn it along with the main language of education provision.

There is one compulsory foreign language in secondary education. Usually students continue to learn the same language they have chosen during primary school (English, German or French) but they can also choose from other foreign languages. According to the general education plans for basic and secondary education (2011-2013), students can choose their second foreign language from: English, Latvian, Polish, French, Russian, German and other languages. The school should make it possible to choose a second foreign language from at least two additional foreign languages and to provide the necessary conditions to learn the chosen language.

Languages offered across 3 VET institutions in Lithuania

Languages offered across 3 higher education institutions in Lithuania

As vocational schools primarily focus on vocational subjects, languages actually receive less attention, but in vocational schools that also provide the certificate of secondary education, foreign languages must be taught according to the programmes and standards approved by the Ministry of Education. It is observed that students of this level more often tend to choose Russian as their first foreign language (perhaps as a result of their chosen speciality).

Universities have their own language policy. For example, at Vilnius University, Latin is compulsory for all students of the Faculty of Philology and in addition to the subject of Lithuanian philology, the faculty provides study programmes in Russian, Polish, English, German, French and Scandinavian philology. Double specialities combining Lithuanian studies with studies of languages like Polish, German, Spanish, Italian, Estonian, Latvian, Turkish, Slovenian or Czech are particularly popular among students of the Faculty. In the first years of the undergraduate course, students throughout the whole university receive some training in foreign languages. In general, most undergraduates continue the advanced studies of the first or second foreign language they chose at school; however, recently there has been a tendency to study languages that were not taught at school (for example Portuguese and Polish). Lithuanian philology students are also required to attend language courses in Latvian, Polish and Latin. Other universities choose foreign languages with respect to their specific needs, with English obviously a preferred language. Universities also provide an increasing number of study programmes taught in English (especially at graduate level); by doing so they hope to attract students from other countries. Lithuanian citizens of Polish minority can study in Polish at all education levels.

Languages offered in audiovisual media and press across 3 cities in Lithuania

Besides the audio-visual content available in Lithuanian, the listeners of Lithuanian radio and audiences of television and cinema are able to select from broadcasts and films mostly in Russian and English. In national TV, production in languages other than Lithuanian is usually dubbed whereas in cinemas films are subtitled except for works aimed at children, which are usually dubbed in Lithuanian. The deaf and hearing-impaired are poorly catered for by TV, which results from the lack of subtitling of TV programmes, as well as of translating TV production into sign language and finally from the poor quality of translation when it is present. With regard to the Lithuanian press, it should be noted that books, as well as newspapers, magazines and other periodicals, are declining in number as well as in size of circulation.

Languages offered in public services and spaces across 3 cities in Lithuania (N ≥ 2)

The examination of the use of non-state languages in the public service sector in three cities in Lithuania shows that the choice of language depends on the ethnic composition of the population in different regions of the country. Municipalities provide the citizens of various ethnic backgrounds with educational services in their mother tongue. There is a good provision of public services in Russian in the municipalities of major Lithuanian cities. Recently, there is a growing attention from the local authorities towards newcomers from the EU or other countries - people who have insufficient knowledge of the state language can receive municipal services orally and/or in writing in both English and Russian. In the tourist sector, the range of languages is just slightly wider. Despite the relatively widespread use of foreign languages in various spheres of municipal activities, the attention paid by local government institutions to the promotion of the language skills of their officers is insufficient, although greater than in the private sector.

Languages other than English offered in business across 24 companies in Lithuania (N ≥ 2)

There is a relatively wide spectrum of languages used by and within the companies surveyed in Lithuania. The most common business language is English, but quite often advertising and marketing make use of Russian and German too. The use of foreign languages in business in principle corresponds to the major trends of the country's foreign trade. Depending on the objectives and nature of a company's activities, languages like Latvian, Polish, Estonian, Danish, French and Bulgarian are being used for internal and external communication in some of the studied hotels, supermarkets and banks. The results of the survey suggest that only a small portion of companies operating in the country recognise language strategies as a significant element of the company's development although more research is required. Despite the variety of languages used in Lithuanian business, companies pay insufficient attention to encouraging staff to learn or improve their language skills. The main and most plausible causes of the current situation are the following - the employees' proficiency of foreign languages is often regarded as sufficient by their employers or the costs of employees' training seems too high to the owners of the enterprises (especially of Small and Medium Enterprises). On the other hand, the entrepreneurs exploit the opportunities provided by the networks operating in Lithuania and in foreign countries to improve the language competencies of their staff.

The Lithuanian law allows and promotes plurilingualism (individual multilingualism). Still, the efficient implementation of the European Strategy for Multilingualism is a challenge which lacks institutional coordination and cooperation as well as well-defined distribution of the responsibilities.

Since 2010, the Languages Ambassador’s Awards initiative has been promoting multilingualism in Lithuania. This annual initiative is coordinated by the Education Exchanges Support Foundation in partnership with other institutions (including the British Council) as part of the European Label programme. The title of Languages Ambassador of the Year has already been awarded to an individual (2010), a business enterprise (2011), and in 2012 a school will be rewarded. 

The organisers of the Languages Ambassador’s Awards seek to contribute to the understanding that investment in language learning pays off at both individual and business level, and to encourage the strategic planning at state level of the investment in language teaching.