Symposium on

WHAT LANGUAGE POLICIES FOR A MULTILINGUAL EUROPEAN UNION?

Notes on speakers

Dr. Vera Barandovska will refer to the language experiments in schools on the basis of a so-called "language orientation course" which Professor Dr. Helmar Frank, an expert in cybernetics at the University of Paderborn (D), organised between 1976 and 1984; publication about this experiment (Sprachorientierungsunterricht, see also an abstract in Selten, R. (red.)(1997): The costs of european linguistic(non)communication, Roma, p. 76-79)

Dr. Detlev Blanke, Berlin (D), is interlinguist and expert in planned languages

Hans Erasmus is leader of the Study group on the communication and language problem in the EU co-organiser in 1993 with the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung and European Parliamentarians of a colloquium on the subject "The communication and language problem in the European Community - To what extent a 'planned language' could contribute to its solution?"

Dafydd ap Fergus, Brussel (B), is journalist and specialised on cases of language discrimination

Lorna Carson, Dublin (E), researcher with the Madariaga European Foundation, is a linguist interested in language pedagogy, bilingualism, refugees and minority speech communities and language movements. She has been awarded a prestigious Ussher Fellowship at the Center for Language and Communication Studies of Trinity College, Dublin

Dr. Y.J.D. Peeters is the representative for the International Academy of Language Law for Europe

Astrid Thors, member of the European Parliament, specialised in administrative and public law, municipalities; she has been Vice Chairman of the Swedish People's Party (1992-2000,Finland), she also used to be elected member of the Swedish Assembly in Finland, and chair of its specialised board ( Förvaltningsdelegationen)

Professor Dr. Peter Weber, is member of the network of the Research Centre on Multilingualism and is teaching in Mannheim (D)