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Maneesh Bakshi
Doha
A LARGE number of people across all nationalities, age and gender enthusiastically took part in the 'European Day of Languages' held at French Institute in Doha on Monday.
The event organised by the European Union Culture Cluster in Qatar (EUNIC) was held in Doha for the first time and is likely to be held annually henceforth, to promote the culture and linguistic diversity of Europe.
The European Day of Languages is celebrated all over the world each year on September 26.
Talking to Qatar Tribune, the Ambassador of France to Qatar HE Eric Chevallier said,"The key motive behind organising this event is to reiterate the fact that Europe is a vibrant union of countries with diverse cultures and languages."
He continued,"Linguistic diversity must be preserved and respected as it can facilitate better understanding among countries. Of course, there are some languages which are more widely spoken than the rest but that doesn't give them reason to dominate over other languages."
"Today's event celebrates the linguistic variety of Europe and offers people an opportunity to enjoy introductory courses in 12 European languages. Languages can build bridges between cultures and bring people closer to one another," Chevallier added.
Visitors took part in lively introductory classes in Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish languages on the occasion.
The 'European Day of Languages' is the first such event organised by the newly established EUNIC group formed last May with the help of 17 European embassies in Qatar. The EUNIC is the first of its kind network in the entire GCC region.
Director of French Institute Oliver Deseez who has been nominated as the chairman of EUNIC said,"We are happy to see a good turnout of the people which only shows the popularity of the European languages in this part of the world."
"We have plans to make this event an annual one and hope that this event to be even bigger next year with more members of the European Union participating in it. The EUNIC is formed to promote cultural exchanges between Qatar and its EU member states," Deseez added.
Ambassador of Italy HE Guido De Sanctis said,"I am happy to see the general response of people to the event and the packed classroom for Italian language course. It represents the strong unity that exists in Europe despite the cultural diversity of countries."
Newly appointed Dutch Ambassador HE Dr Bahia G Tahzib-Lie said,"I am amazed to see the sizeable number of people in Doha who are interested in learning European languages including the Dutch language."
