Students get crash course in foreign languages

By: Kaajal Morar

Posted: 11/20/08

"Konnichiwa."
"Ko ma wa yo."
"Bitte."
"Como te llamas?"

These were just a few phrases heard at the Boulevard of Languages event Wednesday night in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library as a part of International Week.

"Students will be representing their countries by having a booth," said Michelle Decker of international and extended studies. "They'll have pictures and they'll be able to teach certain words of their language."

The event was held not only for students interested in learning new languages, but also for the exchange students who have come to learn in America.

"They're learning English, and today's the day where they can try their English and teach their language," said Sunny Yu, the instructor and project assistant of the studies in American languages.

Huma Saleem, an English graduate student, said the event was held in the hallway outside of room 255 in the library because of the study abroad lectures that took place there.

"People who are coming to the lecture can try out languages," she said.

Decker said students will be able to "learn simple phrases (and) greetings that are common" at the different countries' booths.

After trying out words and phrases, students received the particular country's sticker as well as a handful of sweets from the different countries represented at the event.

"I want to study abroad and check out the countries I could go to and learn about the programs," said Courtney Peterson, a freshman psychology major who attended one of the lectures.

Along with teaching words and phrases in their native languages, representatives from each country informed interested students and faculty about the food, traditional dress and the people.

Even children had fun learning about expanding their knowledge about different languages.

Six-year-old Angela Chan tried out her Chinese skills at the booth representing China.

Angela said she likes learning Chinese because "I am Chinese" and "because I can speak to my mom in Chinese."

"Often times language contains information about peoples' cultures, the way they present themselves and how they talk to others," Decker said.

Students weren't the only ones who were learning at the event.

"It's an exchange of opinions. It's not only teaching, I'm learning at the same time," said Cristina Lopez Barrios, an exchange student from Spain.

Sandra Hochberger, an exchange student from Germany, said she wanted to improve her English because "you speak and write and you deal with people from all over the world."

She said that coming to America to improve her English skills has been beneficial for her speaking and writing skills.

"You just get used to it and you start to think in English," Hochberger said.

Yu said the event had been held every semester for the past two years as a part of International Week. It was also held in part by the Conversation Club, which helps exchange students practice their English-speaking skills.

Some of the phrases learned were "Konnichiwa" (Japanese for "Hello"), "Ko ma wa yo" (Korean for "Thank you"), "Bitte" (German for "Please") and "Como te llamas?" (Spanish for "What is your name?")