European Day of Languages

  • ACTIVITIES 

    Liceul Tehnologic Octavian Goga Jibou, Romania

    European Day of Languages - Brochure - RO.pdf

    ACTIVITY 1:

    Did you know this about... Romanian?

    1. In the Romanian language, the same words can have a different meaning depending on where you place the accent e.g. véselă – vesélă (happy – tableware). The name “Romania” comes from the Latin word “Romanus” which means “citizen of the Roman Empire.”

    2. Although it is classified as a romance language, Romanian has developed a very distinct phonology and grammar system different from other Romance languages. Historians believe that this is due to Romania’s relative isolation from areas where the other Romance languages developed, and because of Romanian contact with Slavic-speaking peoples. For example, while most Romance languages have lost the Latin language differentiation between a long “o” and short “u”, fusing the two together, Romanian has retained this distinction. Another distinct feature Romanian has as a Romance language is the fact that it tends to replace consonants such as “k” and “g” with the labial consonants “b,” “m” or “p.”

    3.The longest word in the dictionary containing only vowels is an onomatopoeia: "uiuiu". It is used as an interjection to express happiness. "Oaia aia e a ei, eu i-o iau" (That sheep is hers, I’m taking it) is a sentence made up only of vowels.

    4. The Romanian language has no word for “shallow.” To describe something as shallow, people speaking Romanian usually use the word “small” (“small water” means “shallow water,” for example) or simply “not deep.”

    5. The Institutul de Lingvisticǎ al Academiei Române (Institute for Linguistics of the Romanian Academy) was founded in 1866 under the name of the Romanian Literary Society which is a cultural forum responsible for cultivation of Romanian language, history and literature. From the very beginning its primary mission was to elaborate the three necessary instruments of a modern culture, namely to normalize the orthography, set down the grammar, and compile an exhaustive dictionary of the Romanian language.
    www.academiaromana.ro

     ACTIVITY2: LANGUAGE QUIZ

    Question 1: In which of the following countries is German an official language?

    Liechtenstein
    Switzerland
    Austria
    Belgium
    Luxembourg

    *German is the official language (or one of the official languages) of all of them.

     

    Question 2: The official language of Azerbaijan is called?

    Azerbaijanian
    Azerbaigianic
    Azerban
    Azeri

    *The official language of Azerbaijan is called Azeri.

     

    Question 3: In which country is the language Cymraeg spoken?

    Ireland
    Scotland
    Wales
    Faroe Islands

    *Cymraeg is a Celtic language spoken in Wales.

     

    Question 4: Who was the founder of Esperanto?

    Ferdinand de Saussure
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    Naom Chomsky
    Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof

    *The artificial language (AL) Esperanto was founded by the Polish oculist Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. It was first published in Russian in 1887 under the title ‘An International Language’ using the pseudonym ‘Doktoro Esperanto’ (‘Doctor Hopeful’).

     

    Question 5: Which book is considered to be the world's oldest?

    The Koran
    Adam Bede's Historia
    The Epic of Gilgamesh
    Chanson de Roland

    *The Epic of Gilgamesh is believed to be the first ever written book. Είναι γνωστό ότι έχει γραφτεί στην Σουμερία soon after 2000 BC.

     

    ACTIVITY 3: Celebrities speaking languages

    Find out how many languages does your favourite celebrity speak and present it to the class.

     

    ACTIVITY 4: PROVERBS, QUOTES, IDIOMS

    Research the internet and find quotes, proverbs, idioms about the importance of learning languages and present them to the class. 

     

    ACTIVITY 5: Language Challenges

    Choose one of the following challenges. You have one week to present it to the class. 

    Challenge 1: Say ‘I love you!’ in 5 different languages within 1 minute.

    Challenge 2: Count from 1-10 in 3 different languages within 1 minute.

    Challenge 3: Write down my favourite colour/sport/ hobby/animal in 3 different languages.

    Challenge 4: Write down my 3 favourite words in a foreign language.

    Challenge 5: Switch the language of your phone or tablet to a foreign language for one day (or longer!).

    Challenge 6: Translate a song in a foreign language into your own language.

    Challenge 7: Keep a journal in a foreign language for one week.

     

    ACTIVITY 6: CREATE THE LOGO

    Create the Logo of the European Day of Languages 2020.

     

                                Vilniaus Sausio 13-osios progimnazija, Lithuania

     

    Activity 1: Language Quiz

    Question 1: Which country is the origin of the word ''sauna''?

    a. Latvian

    b. Spanish

    c. Polish

    d. Finnish

    Question 2: Which country has an original name ''Sverige''?

    a. Malta

    b. Italy

    c. Greece

    d. Sweden

    Question 3: How many offical languages are there in the European Union?

    a. 3

    b. 20

    c. 24

    d. 31

    Question 4: What can't a person suffering from hypergraphia stop doing?

    a. Laughing

    b. Counting

    c. Reading

    d. Writing

    Question 5: What animas is mostly  mentioned in the names of Lithuanian towns and villages?

    a. Wolf

    b. Fox

    c. Hare

    d. Bear

     

    Activity 2: European national anthems quiz.

    Listen to the national anthems and guess what country they belong to.

     

    Activity 3: Counting 1-10 in different European languages.

    Students listen to people counting 1-10 in European languages, repeat in groups and individually.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3acA8b82MRY

     

    Activity 4: Karaoke challenge.

    Students listen to the songs in European languages and sing.

     

    Activity 5: EDL T-shirt contest 2021.

    Students create imges/graphics for EDL T-shirt contest 2021 and upload them on the site of European Centre for Modern Languages:

    https://edl.ecml.at/T-shirts/EDLT-ShirtContest/tabid/3147/Default.aspx.