Project: "ECHANGE"

concerning

a two-weeks experiment in the communication and language field

between sister (twinned) towns and villages having partners
in more than two other language zones
respectively different linguistic background.

ECHANGE can stand for the idea:
Experiment in Communication Helping Administrative and Non-Governmental Exchanges

(Reference: THE YEAR OF THE LANGUAGES organised by the European Union)

1. Background:

Many towns and villages in the EU have co-operation agreements with more than one other partner, and very often, with partners of more than two different cultural and linguistic origins.

Communication become unequal and discriminatory in meetings between sister-towns and villages , if one partner cannot express himself in his mother tongue, as the other(s) are unable to understand his language. Mostly in such cases a language of a partner is chosen (often characterised as the dominant language) which all partners know and accept.

2. Targets of the experiment:

• enabling contacts and exchanges between people of sister towns and villages having more than two linguistic backgrounds to find a common non-discriminatory communication platform
  
• facilitating the communication in professional meetings, public or private events of these sister towns and villages
  
• by the creation of a positive experience in inter-cultural communication through the experiment encouraging the learning of the language of a specific partner whose mother tongue is not one of the mostly used languages in international communication (supporting the idea of diversification in language learning)

3. Description of the experiment :

One partner of three and more sister towns, on a voluntary basis, offers and organises a minimum two weeks lasting communication and language experiment for a specific administrative, professional, intellectual, sportive or non-public interest group for all partner towns and villages (for example, for the top executives of the administration, mayors and cloth staff members, specific departments in local administration, fire brigades, teachers, representatives of youth groups, staff of the tourist offices, staff of public transport means or other groups with common interests) in challenging the participants with the question:
Would you succeed to communicate on basic daily matters with your partners from the other sister towns and villages within a fortnight on the basis of a planned or neutral bridge language ?

3. Method:

Based on the direct speaking method a group of not more than 15 to 20 participants will be trained within one week in the basic structure and grammar of a language by using the structure and the 16 rules of a planned language like the 'Internacia lingvo/Esperanto'; in the second week, speeches and presentations, especially in the specific field of interest of the group, shall stimulate discussion and practising the speaking capacity of the participants.

As this experiment could also confirm on a larger statistical basis the positive results of a language experiment realised by a group of civil servants of the European Commission in 1983 in Austria (Windischgarsten/Oberöstereich), it is proposed, that at least one of the experiments should be foreseen and controlled by linguistic experts.

4. Practical aspects: Who should take the initiative?

• The European Office of twinned towns, Eurocity, …
  
• Conseil des Communes d'Europe,
  
• Twinned towns eligible and interested in the experiment;
  
• Members of the European Parliament in their constituencies;
  
• Activists within European foundations/associations, European Movement, European Federalists, Universala Esperanto Asocio (UEA), Europa Esperanto Unio (EEU), Alumni Associations (College of Europe, ADEK, AIESEC, etc.), local and regional Associations, etc..

5. Technical and financial aspects:

• the instruction and scientific control side
  
  • Where the instructors shall come from?
    
    • UEA, ILEI, EEU,
      
    • private teaching schools?
      
• Who shall scientifically control the experiment?
  
  • University faculties specialised in the linguistic field,
    
  • public and private teaching schools
• the organisational aspects
  
  • Who shall launch the idea and invite voluntary candidates?
    
    • Organisers of the YEAR OF THE LANGUAGES
      
  • Who shall select the candidates?
    
    • The organisers together with the teachers available
      
  • Which criteria for the selection of candidates?
    
    • Twin groupings with the largest number of partners having a different linguistic background
• the financial aspects
  
  • Who should cover the cost of each project?
    
    • partly the twinned towns and village themselves in the framework of their budget foreseen for twinning activities
      
    • partly the budget foreseen for projects within the Year of the languages or 'Twin-towns credit line' in the Budget of the European Union

6 . Conclusions:

• The ECHANGE project would stimulate the relationships between twinned towns and villages.
  
• The ECHANGE project would prove whether intercultural and inter-ethnic communication could be facilitated by investing less time and costs in language learning.
  
• The ECHANGE project can contribute to a diversification of language learning.
  
• The ECHANGE project can facilitate the realisation of other language projects like the NEIGHBOUR* and RELAIS* projects by getting more knowledge and practical experiences about the propedeutical value of a planned language. (*projects of a study group on the communication and language problem in the EU)

For the "Working group on the language and communication problem in the European Union"

H. ERASMUS

Version: Brussel/Bruxelles, 28.2.2003

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