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ABSTRACT

Learning foreign languages is one of the requirements of the police training nowadays that makes the development of international police cooperation more effective than ever before. A fundamental condition for people anywhere to live and work together is the ability to communicate efficiently and for most of us, this means mastering a common spoken and written language. For many years, most of the world's nations have deliberately taught second and third languages, particularly the current "international" languages, French and English, at an early age in school, with impressive results. In order to develop a real cooperation between police forces in Europe and the world, police officers must learn and use foreign languages which facilitate a better communication in fighting crime.

KEYWORDS

Police cooperation, cross-border crime, intercultural relationships, linguistic competences.

1. Introduction

1.1. Learning Foreign Languages in EU

European Union actively encourages its citizens to learn foreign languages both for facilitating their professional mobility within the unique European labour market and as a basis for the development of intercultural relationships and mutual understanding.

The ability of understanding and communicating in more languages than the native one has become a reality and a need for all the citizens everywhere in the world and especially a skill to acquire by the European Union population. Practicing foreign languages is a way of encouraging a wider openness to other people, cultures and views; it also improves the cognitive abilities and develops the linguistic competences as well as gives us the opportunity to freely study and work anywhere in Europe.

According to a recent European survey [1], half of the European Union citizens state that they can make a conversation in a language other than their native one. The five most widely spoken foreign languages are English (38 %), French (12 %), German (11 %), Spanish (7 %). At a national level English is the most widely spoken foreign language in 19 of 25 Member States where it is not an official language (i.e. excluding the UK and Ireland). The majority of Europeans who speak English, French, German and Spanish as a foreign language believe that they have better than basic skills.

Teachers have the essential role of teaching foreign languages to the population and developing a multicultural...

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