Language has been identified as one of the main barriers for interaction and inclusion of different ethnic communities living in Kosovo.
In the last thirty years people did not have an opportunity to learn other languages in schools with percentage of people speaking two official languages is declining, the United Nations Team said at the launch of the online Albanian-Serbian dictionary on the European Day of Languages.
Slavisa Mladenovic, Language Commissioner, said that seeing the integration process through the language lens, the Centre for Social Initiatives has noted important challenges, especially among the youth. Based on a survey carried out by the Centre for Social Initiatives, the situation is unfavourable and tendencies almost at an alarming figure.
Zahir Tanin, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Kosovo, noted that language barriers can cause problems in interpersonal relationships and can daunt communities from fully exercising their human rights.
“Language barriers have often caused problems in building of trust, which is continuing today as well,” he said adding that the barriers obstructing relations between the communities need to be eliminated.
British Ambassador to Pristina, Nicholas Abbott, said languages unite communities, citizens and businesses, and this is the reason the youth need to understand each other’s language.
“In the language learning platform for Albanian and Serbian, there is also a dictionary to bridge communication in Kosovo,” Abbott said.
The dictionary comprises of 20,000 words.
