The Council of Europe has published new recommendations to Poland and the Czech Republic on protection and promotion of minority languages, based on reports evaluating how the two countries comply with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
While acknowledging a well-developed general framework for the protection of minority languages in both countries, the Council of Europe experts called for more active efforts to raise awareness, promote tolerance, and intensify the use of the languages in education, media and public life.
In Poland, where 14 languages are protected by the Charter, strengthening teaching in Belarusian, German, Kashub, Lemko and Ukrainian, and increasing the presence of regional or minority languages on radio and television is recommended.
In Czech Republic, experts paid special attention to the need to promote the German and Romani languages. At the moment, German is largely perceived and taught as a foreign language and Romani´s presence in mainstream education is limited.
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The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a convention for the protection and promotion of traditionally used regional or minority languages. A committee of independent experts monitors the application of the Charter in its states parties and regularly prepares reports addressing recommendations to the authorities concerned.