Bulgarian Ambassador Metin Kazak (right) and EUNIC Qatar Cluster President Olivier Deseez at the press conference at the Bulgarian Embassy. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
Crash courses on 12 European languages will be offered free to the public to mark this year’s European Day of Languages, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) Qatar cluster has announced.
To be organised for the second year, the crash courses on Bulgarian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish will be held at the French Institute in Qatar from 5pm to 9.30pm on September 26.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Bulgarian Ambassador, Metin Kazak, said “I’m very happy that last year we succeeded to create the local representation of EUNIC, an association of cultural institutions in Europe. European Day of Languages is one of our remaining initiatives this year, which is being organised for the second time,”
“Our ambition, as it was before, is to increase awareness about the European Union and to share with our friends in Qatar our values, goals and achievements as a union at the cultural level,” said Kazak, who currently chairs the local presidency of the EU Council in Qatar.
“During the day, some of the embassies will bring traditional food from their countries so together with taking knowledge of basic principles of European languages, the attendees will be able to sample some delicious cuisine from these countries,” he added.
Olivier Deseez, EUNIC Qatar cluster president, said the EUNIC cluster here was founded last year and gathers 17 EU member states represented in Qatar with the aim of promoting cultural and linguistic diversity.
“In Qatar, several possibilities exist today to learn European languages: Spanish, German and French at Qatar University; Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, German and French at the Translation and Interpreting Institute at Qatar Foundation; and French at the French Institute, not to forget English at British Council. However to some learning European languages might be difficult to access for the general public, therefore EUNIC Cluster in Qatar would like to boost and support this initiative in teaching European languages in Qatar,” said Deseez.
He stressed: “European Day of Languages is an important moment for us celebrated every year throughout the world on September 26. It symbolizes the unity of European countries in all their diversity.”
More than 100 persons attended the inaugural edition of the crash language courses last year and more people are expected to take part this year.
“Last year we were surprised of the attendance with more than 100 people on the first time it was organized. We expect more this year. I think there’s curiosity and thirst for learning new languages in Qatar because many people here love to travel so knowledge of languages is a definite benefit,” said Deseez
“We invite you on September 26 to travel with us around Europe and learn about its different cultures through languages,” he added.
Those who wish to attend the free courses should register at: https://guestli.st/477759.
