On September 25^th, a multilingual fun fair was held at St John’s Smith Square Hall, Westminster, London. This event, organised by the EU Delegation to the UK and the European Parliament Liaison Office, invited students, junior ambassadors from the European Parliament Ambassador Schools Programme, linguists and language enthusiasts to participate in interactive sessions that highlight the richness of European cultures and languages.

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Opened by the EU Delegation's Deputy Ambassador Isabell Poppelbaum and Alison Graves, Director of the European Parliament  Interpretation service, the beautiful St John's Smith Square provided a wonderful background to the array of stalls hosted by EU member state embassies, cultural institutes, diaspora schools and all the materials and insights they provided on their respective languages and cultures.

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The day saw over 50 partners involved amongst EU Member States, cultural institutions, schools, educational platforms of all kinds and over 250 participants across a day filled with multilingual activities, performances, scavenger hunts, speeches, food and language related stands from nearly all EU / Council of Europe countries.

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Michael Vidon, a writer, performer and a certified spoken word educator specialising in multilingual creativity led activities throughout the day.

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The translators corner manned by the European Parliament liaison office proved a big success and a confident reflection of the multi lingual work of the European Parliament, the greatest multilingual institution in the world! Ambassador Serrano and several of his colleague Ambassadors from the EU27 visited the stands before the day was brought to a close with a poetry recital.

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The following day, September 26^th the European Day of languages itself, a panel discussion titled “The Soft Power of Languages,” was held in Europe House. Organised in collaboration with the Centre for European Reform (CER) and again with the European Parliament Liaison Office, the panel brought together an audience of policy makers, students and diplomats to explore the importance of language in the diplomatic arena.

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With opening words provided by Ambassador Serrano, the lively exchange between Alison Graves, Director, Directorate-General Interpretation of the European Parliament, Bernardette Holmes, Chair of the UK National Consortium for Languages Education and Dominic Schroeder, former UK Ambassador and now Principal of the FCDO International Academy,  proved a worthy companion event to the success of the showcase of the previous day. The panel, skilfully moderated by Deputy director of CER, Ian Bond, himself a former Ambassador, provided a wealth of experiences that underscored to the audience just how crucial the skills of a linguist are to the world of diplomacy.

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These two-day celebrations of European Day of Languages aim to promote diverse and high-quality opportunities for learning European languages across the UK. These events will raise awareness about the benefits of lifelong language learning, emphasising its importance for career development, employability, and mobility. Additionally, they will highlight how multilingualism contributes to the competitiveness of the European economy and enriches cultural heritage, linguistic diversity, and intercultural dialogue.

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