Celebration of the Multilingual Everyday
The multilingual University of Turku and the joy and utility of language skills were celebrated on the Language Day.
Exchange students Marina Sokolova and Tatiana Vetrova came to the Language Day to speak Finnish.
The Language Day of the University of Turku was arranged as a part of the European Language Day on Thursday 26th September. The working group on language matters was responsible for the arrangements.
There were dance and song performances of the international students, training of Chinese, Germany and Finnish and discussions about the multilingual everyday life of the university, on the Language Day.
The European Language Day was launched by the Council of Europe in the year 2001.
The Richness of Multilingual Matters
Keynote speakers of the Seminar of the Language Day were Member of Parliament Stefan Wallin and Professor Tapio Salakoski.
– Finland was international already in the olden days, tells Wallin and lists names like Stockmann, Paulig, Fazer..
– Without these immigrants Finland would be much poorer and I am not talking about money but other values here.
According to Wallin while the significance of language skills is more and more important to both individuals and the community, it is challenging that the resources of education are limited. In the internationalising world multilingual know-how is part of the competitive edge.
– By language skills, I don’t mean just the knowledge of languages but also non-verbal communication and cultural expertise, which together create credibility that opens doors, Wallin emphasises.
In his keynote, Tapio Salakoski spoke about the history and everyday life related to the internatinalisation of the Department of Information Technology. There are a couple of hundred basic degree students in the multicultural department and third of the Doctoral Students and personnel are from abroad. They also work in close collaboration with Åbo Akademi.
According to Salakoski teaching in the form of projects is the best way to increase interaction between students and teachers with different kind of backgrounds.
– Courses, where the aim is to study both the content of one’s own field and language and communication skills have been a success. There can be many teachers in these courses and students work in teams. There aren’t necessarily any separate directions for how to select the working language, but it is essential that everyone understands each other.
Professor Tapio Salakoski, Member of Parliament Stefan Wallin, Quality Manager, Chairman of the working group on language matters Anu Mäkelä and Project Planning Officer Heidi Hietala, who was responsible for the practical arrangements of the day.
Market Full of Events
At the Language Market services of the University, languages disciplines and organisations presented their operations. The lobby of Educarium was filled with students and staff, who circled the booths during lunch time. Discussions in several different languages took place at the Language & culture café and international students from Vietnam, Pakistan and Iran performed.
Russian exchange students Marina Sokolova and Tatiana Vetrova visited the table of the University Communications and filled an inquiry about three adjectives they would use to market the University of Turku. Although, they both speak Finnish, it was good to turn to dictionaries when looking for suitable adjectives.
– I wanted to come to hear and speak Finnish and meet new interesting people. Now, I have received a lot of interesting new information about the university, Sokolova tells pleased.
In the booth of the working group on language matters, people were able to try, if they could find a right country from the map for greetings of different languages. Bonjour! Sveiki! Kalimera!
Henna Borisoff