The event entitled Language of Solidarity was organized to celebrate the European Day of Languages
On November 14, 2022 the Delegation of the European Union in Armenia celebrated the European Day of Languages. The event was organized in cooperation with ARI Literature Foundation in the Panoramic Hall of the Ani Grand Hotel and was entitled The Language of Solidarity.
The event was attended by Ambassadors, and diplomats of the EU states and EP countries, state officials from the educational, cultural and international relations fields of Armenia, writers, publishers, translators, professors and students of European languages and translation faculties.
Opening speeches were delivered by the head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, H.E. Mrs. Andrea Wiktorin, H.E. Bedřich Kopecký, the Ambassador of Czech Republic to Armenia and the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan. The message from the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of RA Artur Martirosyan was read by a ministry representative.
The event was hosted and moderated by the Founding Director of ARI Literature Foundation Arevik Ashkharoyan.
Within the framework of the project, writers from the European Union and Eastern Partnership countries, including winners of the EU Prize for Literature, wrote short literary pieces on the topic of solidarity, which were translated into Armenian and English, and published in a trilingual chapbook to be presented to the guests of the event. The authors also presented their ideas about the language of solidarity through video messages, which were edited into a film and screened during the event.
The European Day of Languages is to celebrate the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe, promote the importance of language learning in order to increase intercultural understanding. As it was mentioned by the Director of ARI Literature Foundation in her welcome speech, it is very important to nurture translators to make sure that the whole range of the cultural diversity is represented and there is still so much to do in terms of translators into and from Armenian language. Ambassador Wiktorin outlined the importance of Solidarity in these complicated times and cited Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and Ambassador Kopecký talked about the language of solidarity, which is not referred to any of the national or state languages but a language of humanity. Deputy Minister Hovhannisyan mentioned about the Translators’ Day, celebrated by Armenians since the medieval times, underlining the importance of knowing languages and transmitting the cultures through translations.
The official part of the event was followed by the interaction of the guests over a glass of wine.
