**Aspects and Dimensions of Bilingualism and Multilingualism in Europe Multilingualism in Europe**

**Aspects and Dimensions of Bilingualism and** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72101

Irina-Ana Drobot Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Irina-Ana Drobot

[69] European Commission. Green Paper - Migration & mobility: challenges and opportunities for EU education systems, COM(2008) 423. Brussels: European Commission; 2008a

[70] Council of the European Union. Council conclusions on language competences to

[71] Grin F, Sfreddo C, Vaillancourt F. The Economics of the Multilingual Workplace. London:

[72] Bamford KW, Mizokawa DT. Additive-bilingual (immersion) education: Cognitive and

[73] European Commission. Multilingualism: An Asset for Europe and a Shared Commitment,

[74] Moore P. Collaborative interaction in turn-taking: A comparative study of European bilingual (CLIL) and mainstream (MS) foreign language learners in early secondary education. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 2011;**14**(5):531-549

[75] Nieto S. The Light in their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities. New York: Teachers College Press. Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora. Palgrave

[76] Cummins J. Language, Power, and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire (Vol. 23).

[77] Garamone J. Official details foreign language program's progress. American Forces Press Services, U. S. Department of Defense press release, July 2, 2010. Retrieved from:

[78] Simire G. Developing and promoting multilingualism in public life and society in

[79] Wee L. 'Burdens' and 'handicaps' in Singapore's language policy: On the limits of language

[80] Chumbow BS. Which language for African literature? Language of the head or language of the heart? Keynote at the 24th pan-African writers conference, Accra, Ghana,

[81] Gazzola M, Grin F. Is ELF more effective and fair than translation? An evaluation of the EU's multilingual regime. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 2013;**23**(1):93-107

[82] Gazzola M.The Evaluation of Language Regimes: Theory and Application to Multilingual

enhance mobility. Official Journal of the European Union, C. 2010;**372**:27-30

language development. Language Learning. 1991;**41**(3):413-429

COM (2008) 566 Final. Brussels: European Commission; 2008b

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=59880

Patent Organisations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins; 2014

management. Language Policy. 2010;**9**(2):97-114

Nigeria. Language, Culture and Curriculum. 2003;**16**(2):231-144

Routledge; 2010

36 Multilingualism and Bilingualism

Macmillan, London; 1999

Multilingual Matters; 2000

November 05-08, 2017. 2017b

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72101

#### **Abstract**

This chapter aims to explore certain aspects and dimensions of bilingualism and multilingualism, with a focus on Europe. The issues analyzed are the following: languages coming into contact due to conquest or colonization, bilingualism and multilingualism as a reflection of political trends and contemporary lifestyles, official languages, and heritage languages. The field of language education is also treated, when it comes to the benefits of being bilingual and multilingual, which are also analyzed from the perspective of evolutionary psychology, with the claim that knowledge of several languages ensures survival and better living conditions. The conclusions are that bilingualism and multilingualism are a necessity and an inevitable phenomenon in today's Europe, especially due to migration and due to the need of adapting to and accepting other cultures. What is more, there is a universality of bilingualism and multilingualism throughout history.

**Keywords:** nationalism, culture, political science, migration, language education, language contact
