European Day of Languages 2010: Languages for business

With a multitude of language-related events taking place on or around 26 September, the main themes for this year's European Day of Languages are business and jobs.

Languages are good for business. That's the main message from this year's Day of Languages. Staff with strong language skills are a valuable asset to employers - they make it easier to sell to other countries. And job hunters who learn a foreign language can improve their employment prospects.

European Day of Languages promotes language learning at any age. But the idea is also to raise awareness of the many different languages spoken in Europe and celebrate language in all its forms.

This year, the main events in Brussels are taking place on 23 and 24 September. In addition, each EU country is hosting events on or around 26 September - conferences on multilingualism, translation and interpreting; radio programmes; online language competitions and quizzes; poetry recitals and storytelling; films shown in their original languages; language fairs; language taster classes and workshops.