103. Language education in Europe today

When crossing borders across Europe and the world, we often find ourselves not only in a different country but also facing a different language. But what is the state of language learning in Europe today? With the widespread uptake of English across the globe, especially within IHE, is there still a need to immerse yourself in new languages? Laura Rumbley talks to Susanna Slivensky, Deputy Director and Head of Programmes of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML), and Gerit Jaritz, a language teacher and teacher educator at Thurgau University of Teacher Education (PHTG) in Switzerland. In the interview, we learn more about the ECML, the general health and well-being of language learning in Europe today, minority languages, and the role of languages for democratic culture in Europe.

We also hear from two young people with a passion for languages about why they decided to move into language education, and why learning a language is still important in the modern day and age.

About Susanna Slivensky, Gerit Jaritz, Evgenia Neftetzidou, Emma Phelan 

Susanna Slivensky is the Deputy Director and Head of Programmes of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML). Before she joined the ECML in 2005, she worked at universities in Germany, Austria, and Japan as a lecturer, associate professor, and executive director of a university language and international study centre. She has more than two decades of experience in language teaching.

Gerit Jaritz has worked as a language teacher and educator at Thurgau University of Teacher Education (PHTG) in Switzerland since 2005. Before starting her professional career at PHTG, she worked as a language teacher at secondary school level in Switzerland and the UK. Gerit Jaritz is also the Head of PHTG’s international office and has extensive experience in the internationalisation of teacher education. She is part of the project team for the European project ‘Pluriwell: Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers’, which runs from 2024 to 2026 and is supported by the European Centre of Modern Languages. 

Evgenia Neftetzidou was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece. Growing up, she had the opportunity to travel extensively across Europe, which sparked her early passion for languages, cultural exchange, and adventure. While completing her Business Administration degree, she began working as an Operations Manager at a vacation resort. Her passion for human connections and cross-cultural interactions led her to intern at the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in 2024-2025.

Emma Phelan is an English as a second language teacher, working specifically in higher education in English for Specialised Purposes (LANSAD - Langues pour Spécialistes d’Autres Disciplines). With a linguistics and theatre background and a keen interest in language learning and cross-disciplinary communication, she draws on her academic and professional experience in the arts to bring a dynamic, communicative approach to the classroom. Originally from Manchester, UK, she is currently based between the College of Human Sciences and the College of Health, University of Bordeaux, France.

Additional resources
For further insights into the topics touched on in this episode, the following resources may be of interest:
→ ECML website
→ Intercomprehension: a linguistic bridge to intercultural understanding
→ English as a medium of inspiration
→ Bessie Dendrinos: Multilingualism matters