BEIRUT: The European Day of Languages will be celebrated in the capital through educational and playful activities in a bid to promote cultural and linguistic diversity, representatives of several European cultural institutes announced during a news conference Thursday.

The European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year on Sept. 26 since 2001.

In Lebanon, the event is organized by the network of European Union Cultural Relations Institutes (EUNIC) in collaboration with Friends of Public Libraries Association (ASSABIL) and will take place at the public library in Bashoura.

During the day, which falls next Monday, students aged 12-13 from various schools will receive short, intensive language instruction in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Romanian, while also taking part in other activities, such as watching movies and playing vocabulary interactive games around plurilinguism.

Christophe Chaillot, who is in charge of linguistic cooperation at the French Embassy, said that although plurilinguism was truly present in the country, students learned Arabic, English and French at school without making any connection between the different languages. He said that a joint study with the Education Ministry showed the need to “build bridges between languages.”

As an example, he reminded the audience of a Goethe Institute poster promoting the German language by stating it was easier to learn German for someone who already knew English.

The organization EUNIC aims to establish partnerships between European cultural institutes worldwide, including the British, German, Spanish, Italian, Romanian and French cultural institutes.

Dan Stoenescu, first secretary of the Romanian Institute and president of EUNIC-LEBANON, noted that the event will mark the launch of free-of-charge Romanian language courses in the country, and said the decision to start teaching the language came “as an answer to the many requests of Lebanese citizens interested [in studying] in Romania, of the business community, and of mixed Romanian-Lebanese families.”

For her part, British Council director Barbara Hewitt said she felt it was “essential” to speak different languages and that in a world “so full of misunderstandings,” plurilinguism was a way to bring people together.

“I don’t think we need to tell Lebanese the value of plurilinguism,” she also said, adding that celebrating the European Day of Languages was an opportunity to “demonstrate the fun of learning different languages.”

Fareed Majari, director of the Goethe Institute, said Lebanon was a “wonderful example of plurilinguism and of how people switch between languages even in one sentence.”