On Tuesday, May 13, a lecture by Professor Jarm Laini was held in the Blue Room at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana. The lecture was held as part of the events marking the centenary of the Institute for Ethnic Issues.
In his lecture entitled “The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages - its background, its aims and how it works”, he presented the audience with a detailed presentation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The task of the charter is to legally protect the future of minority languages that are in danger of becoming marginal in countries where these languages are traditionally present. The extinction of languages can be stopped or their use can even be supported by encouraging younger generations to start using (learning) the languages traditionally spoken by their families and regions. Professor Lainia presented his observations and the operation of the charter in practice using the examples of Finland and Slovenia.
Jarmo Lainio is a full professor of Finnish at Stockholm University from 2008 to 2022 and of Finnish studies at Mälardalen University in Sweden from 2003 to 2011. He graduated in English, German and Finno-Ugric languages from Uppsala University, where he also received his doctorate. He also studied Russian and Eastern European political science at the same university, and Japanese at Stockholm University. He was appointed as a special investigator in a report commissioned by the Ministry of Education on education in five national minority languages in Sweden. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Committee of Experts for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages at the Council of Europe, representing Sweden.
