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Celebrate the European Day of Languages with us!



2025: Languages open hearts and minds!


Throughout Europe, 700 million Europeans are represented in the Council of Europe's 46 member states and all are encouraged to discover more languages at any age, as part of or alongside their studies. This stems from the Council of Europe’s conviction that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent. The Council of Europe, therefore, promotes plurilingualism throughout Europe. 

At the Council of Europe’s initiative, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26 September - together with the European Commission.
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Activities 2025

 Initiative 2025 
Languages open hearts and minds!

Create a poster illustrating the 25th anniversary motto of the European Day of Languages “Languages open hearts and minds!”

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Initiative 2025: Languages open hearts and minds!

Create a poster illustrating the 25th anniversary motto of the European Day of Languages “Languages open hearts and minds!”. This reflects that learning languages harnesses both the emotions and the brain. As well as potentially boosting brain power and connecting people, learning languages can facilitate the exchange of ideas, emotions, and experiences – strengthening empathy and respect for different ways of life.

You can use symbols, quotes and artwork to convey messages and let your creativity run wild!

Send us an image (jpg or gif) of the poster you produce to be showcased on the EDL website. There will be prizes for the top 5 most creative entries and 25 of the posters will proudly be displayed at the premises of the European Centre for Modern Languages!

The submission form will be available soon.

Deadline for submissions: 15 October 2025


 Initiative 2025 
An anthem for the European Day of Languages!

Help to create (and perform) a multilingual anthem for the 25th anniversary of the European Day of Languages!

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Initiative 2025: An anthem for the European Day of Languages!

Help to create (and perform) a multilingual anthem for the 25th anniversary of the European Day of Languages!

With the help of AI we have generated the text of a song in English entitled ‘Voices of Europe’ (see below).

We now invite schools, organisations, associations and, of course, other language enthusiasts to make it a truly multilingual work – either by translating/adapting the text into a language they speak, or even to go a step further and develop their own version of an anthem.

For the initiative we invite videos of the resulting anthem being performed as well as the song text in the language used fro the performance – A truly multilingual version of the song will be developed from the submissions!

Who knows, maybe we will end up with a chart-topping hit on our hands!

Further details, audio files and submission form coming soon

Deadline for submissions: 15 October 2025


EDL T-shirt competition


Send us your design/image/graphic and have your layout on the official EDL T-Shirt! Find out more

Events



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Materials



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Downloads



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Your national relay



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New in 2025 

New in 2025  

Posters "20 things you might not know about birthday traditions around the world"

 coming soon!

The posters "20 things you might not know about the world of languages" can be downloaded here.

         

Word of the year

Every year, countries throughout Europe participate in the tradition of selecting a "word of the year." Here are the words from the previous year!

Word of the year

Every year, countries throughout Europe participate in the tradition of selecting a "word of the year." This practice involves choosing a single word or phrase that reflects the social, cultural, or political trends and events of the year. The word of the year serves as a symbolic representation of the collective consciousness and prevailing themes within a society. It captures the zeitgeist and becomes a reflection of the shared experiences, concerns, and aspirations of the people.
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Lara's language journey across Europe

Lara's language journey across Europe

In her first book, Lara explores many of the languages and writing systems found in Europe today.
Stickers for this book can be ordered from your national relay!
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How do these languages sound?

Lara’s next journey - through Europe’s Regional and Minority Languages

Lara sets off on a new language journey - On this chapter of her journey, Lara explores the fascinating world of regional and minority languages and, being inquisitive, she, of course, uncovers many linguistic treasures!
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Language tree poster

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Newest Events

14/4/2025 - 16/5/2025
RO
Școala Gimnazială Comuna Dumbrăvița
9/5/2025 - 10/5/2025
RO
Școala Gimnazială Comuna Dumbrăvița
26/9/2025
FI
Helsingin Suomalais-venäläinen koulu (Helsinki Finnish-Russian school)

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"The DeafSign team at ECML sends its best wishes for the European Day of Languages. Sign languages in Europe are a part of Europe's rich linguistic and cultural heritage. Happy European Day of Languages!"

Christian Rathmann, coordinator of the DeafSign project

European Commission events

This year, the Commission will focus on the results of the 2024 Eurobarometer on Europeans and their languages and compare them with the 2012 Eurobarometer results.

The event  will connect live with some of the EU countries that achieved positive results, including Finland, Portugal and Czech Republic. Together, they will try to identify key factors of success.

Watch the event here: https://youtu.be/a0P-FREmcMw


20 ideas for this year's European Day of Languages

Struggling to find ideas for an event for this year’s European Day of Languages? It can be challenging to organise events that are fun, inclusive, have an educational element and motivate a large number of people. Below are a few ideas to get your creative thoughts flowing, most of which are based on the principle of “starting small to go big”! 20 ideas for activities that can be carried in celebration of this year's EDL.

20 ideas for this year's European Day of Languages

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20 ideas for this year's European Day of Languages



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Statistics for 2025 


11
events

6
Countries

765
participants

Also check out this...


Where am I?

You'll be shown 20 random images from all over Europe. Can you find out, where those images where taken? Use your language skills and the virtual magnifying glass to find hints in the picture. Good luck!
Send us your own pictures for this game here!

Send us your own pictures for this game here!

Where am I?

You'll be shown 20 random images from all over Europe. Can you find out, where those images where taken? Use your language skills and the virtual magnifying glass to find hints in the picture. Good luck!

And: Add your own images to the game!

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Bake a cake!

For the 20th anniversary of the European Day of Languages we asked you to send us your best birthday cake recipes. We now have chosen 20 amazing recipes and put them into a colourful booklet.

Celebrate with us by baking one of these truly European birthday cakes!

Download the book

Famous quotes

We are all familiar with quotes from famous personalities in our own languages and cultures - but how many do we know from elsewhere in different languages? Here is a chance to discover the wisdom, truths (or half-truths!), creativity, humour and sometimes downright cynicism from a range of cultures and languages as well as their origins. Do you have a favourite? We would be delighted if you would also contribute some of your own!

Famous quotes

We are all familiar with quotes from famous personalities in our own languages and cultures - but how many do we know from elsewhere in different languages? Here is a chance to discover the wisdom, truths (or half-truths!), creativity, humour and sometimes downright cynicism from a range of cultures and languages as well as their origins. Do you have a favourite? We would be delighted if you would also contribute some of your own!

Quote of the day:

Gud skabte manden før kvinden. Det er ligesom, når jeg skriver. Først laver jeg en kladde. God created man before woman. It's like when I write. First I make a draft.

By Karen Blixen, author


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The funniest one and only multilingual joke book

In how many languages can you make someone laugh? Following an extremely strict selection process (involving a jury of individuals who aren’t easy to please!) we ‘proudly’ present the results of this 2022 initiative. From the over 700 jokes that were submitted (not all of them publishable!) we have painstakingly whittled this down to the ‘crème de la crème’ of multilingual humour. 

Download

For fans of ‘Christmas cracker’ jokes – this is a must... You are most welcome to continue to submit new and even funnier jokes with a multilingual element for Volume 2...! View page

Myth or fact?

1. My mother tongue is all I need.

Myth   Fact
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ICT language tool of the week

Padlet (Virtual collaboration canvas for content sharing)

Padlet is a digital collaboration tool that works as a virtual canvas for users to create, share, and collaborate on various content types, including text, images, videos, links, and files. Users can create customisable digital walls, or "padlets," where they can post and organise content in a visual and interactive format. Its privacy settings (public, private, etc.) allow users to manage their audience. Padlet offers a limited free version that allows users to have a maximum of 3 padlets. While signing up for a Padlet account provides users access to additional features and storage options, it is not required for use.... View details

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Do you know how to pronounce these Irish names?



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Which language is it?

We all know this situation: on a bus, in a café, on the street we hear two people talking in a foreign language. And we wonder what language it is. Let's do some training here and next time this happens to you you will easily recognise it!
 
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Questions you never dared to ask about languages

For this year’s European Day of Languages we have produced a series of short video clips focusing on ‘Questions you never dared to ask about languages’ with experts covering a range of backgrounds and specialisations responding.
As the title suggests, the questions are ones that we might not wish to ask in front of an audience but, in fact, highlight important issues and address some popular misconceptions about languages and language learning. Do you have a question you would like to ask an expert?

To see subtitles on the videos, please activate this feature by clicking on ‘subtitles’ in the YouTube menu below the video. To change languages, click on the gear wheel and select subtitles>’automatically translate’ and select the desired language (the machine translation is provided by YouTube).

Questions you never dared to ask about languages

For this year’s European Day of Languages we have produced a series of short video clips focusing on ‘Questions you never dared to ask about languages’ with experts covering a range of backgrounds and specialisations responding.

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The EDL language challenges

  
The 51 challenges contained within the handbook encourage learners to go a little outside their comfort zone and take advantage of the plentiful opportunities available to practice or learn more about a language beyond a classroom context. Find out more

You can learn languages, too!


Download the brochure!

Are you a language detective?

Can you recognise all the languages being displayed in the game?

Are you a language detective?

Can you recognise all the languages being displayed in the game?

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Brain game: Greek alphabet

How fast can you complete this challenge?



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The secret agent’s language challenges app  2023 

The app has been updated with a new ‘language detective’ challenge in 2023. Can you succeed where others have stumbled? The app has been updated with a new ‘language detective’ challenge in 2023. Can you succeed where others have stumbled?

The secret agent’s language challenges app  2023 

The challenges and quizzes contained within this app encourage learners – future international agents – to take advantage of the plentiful opportunities available to practice or learn more about a language beyond a classroom context. By passing through a series of levels you can rise from a lowly agent in training to become a master secret agent.
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BG BS CA CS DA DE EL EN ES ET FI FR GA HR HU IT LV LT ME MK MT NL PL PT RO RU SK SL SR SV UK

New Looking for a fun EDL board game to play in class?

“Linguine” is a brand new game created to celebrate the European Day of Languages. Be one of the first to try it out and give feedback!
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Did you know that...

The European Day of Languages is being supported and coordinated by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe? The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organisation. It comprises 46 member states, including all members of the European Union.


 

 
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