"My message would be - you should speak your language when you are in international meetings. Lithuanians during the presidency especially should speak their language, and that's the best way to make it expand, to enrich it and the best way to communicate," Benedetti told a press conference at the Lithuanian Seimas after attending international conference "Unity in Diversity: Languages for Mobility, Jobs and Active Citizenship" on Thursday.
"Do not fear that you would not be understood, because it is a small language. This is not truth, that is why we work in the training," he added.
Meanwhile, Pierre Mairesse of the EC's Directorate General for Education and Culture, said during the conference that more attention should be given to teaching foreign languages.
"The situation regarding teaching foreign languages in Europe should be improved. Only one figure - we have 42 percent of our pupils of 13 years old, they are brought to manage decent conversation in a first foreign language, it is not enough. And we have big differences between countries," he said.
Figures show that Russian is the most popular foreign language in Lithuania, although the number of people speaking English is growing. According to the 2011 census results, 78.5 percent of people in Lithuanian said they could speak one or more foreign languages. The majority – 63 percent – said they spoke Russian.
The European Day of Languages is marked on September 26.
