Sunday 21st April 2013 - The International Languages Festival

I don't normally write a blog on a Sunday.  But then I don't usually spend part of my Sundays attending classes in the Hicks Building.  This weekend has been the International Language Festival, organised by the Students' Union, so exceptions have been made. Over the two days around 150 1 hour taster sessions of different languages from around the world have been offered.  The organisers told me when I left for a late lnch today that by the end of the weekend they estimated that 'several hundred' people would have participated in the sessions.

Each session was 50 minutes long and organised with some common themes - where the language is spoken and by how many, something about its origins, the alphabet it uses, the sounds it has, and a 'get by' introduction to some set phrases.  After the sessions I attended I can now say (among other things) 'Good Evening' and 'Thank you' in Romanian, and 'My name is Paul' in Magyar (Hungarian).  There were 10 at the Romanian class I attended and 7 in the Magyar class - even on a Sunday morning - and these were competing against Japanese, Dutch, Greek, Farsi, Urdu, Begali, Korean, Braille and a host of others being offered at the same time.

When Sheffield's International Language Festival was launched two years ago I believe it was the only one in the country.  It is a fantastic opportunity to learn a little bit about communication in a different part of the world.  I thoroughly enjoyed my morning there today.  And the students who put on the classes about their own languages were well prepared and motivational - despite the fact that most are in Sheffield to study subjects ranging from Medicine to Engineering and in most cases they have never taught their language before.

But from my observation of the others present there was one under-represented group among those taking part - students from the UK.  There were people from the Sheffield region, international students, overseas undergraduates and postgraduates, but although there were some UK students attending they were in the minority.  (I will be delighted if later analysis on the part of the organisers shows that I was wrong.)  I think we all continue to struggle with the fact that many UK students do not seem interested in reaping the benefits of being in an international university, and of widening their cultural competence to face new situations in other countries or with people who are not like themselves.