Electronic music, Gaelic poetry, Spanish songs and Russian poems were just a few of the 鈥渓inguistic geekeries鈥� at AV俱乐部鈥檚 first Babel-On multilingual poetry party.
Over 40 people gathered in the Spanish lounge last Friday afternoon to hear poetry reading and music in six different languages (and one dialect).
鈥淭he thought of everyone coming together to enjoy the finer points of language was great,鈥� said Nicholas Foran, a master's student in German at Dal and the event鈥檚 MC.
The event was hosted by the French, German and European Studies student societies. With financial support from the AV俱乐部 Arts and Social Sciences Society, Alicia Niemann, one of the organizers, was able to provide food from different cultures, including French cheeses and Caprese salad.
The event was an opportunity to collaborate and showcase the diversity of languages at Dal.
Third-year Computer Science and French student William Collin did an electronic music performance in French and German. He calls his music 鈥渁mbient electronic鈥� and did his first live performance under his DJ name, Europa鈥檚 Ocean.
Speeches and songs
John Kirk, a professor in the Spanish department, sang with the students from his Translation class. He expressed the importance of events that celebrate the languages.
鈥淎t Dal, the idea of internationalization is very important, but we need to walk the talk,鈥� he said, after the event. 鈥淟anguage is important for everything from business to understanding how people think.鈥�
Students and professors performed poetry from famous international poets, as well as original works. Emily Perkins, a fourth-year Spanish student, said she performed an original poem because she couldn鈥檛 choose between all the great Spanish poets she has been introduced to in class. Associate Professor Jerry White read a poem in Gaelic. And first- and second-year Russian students performed poems in Russian, with translations to English for the rest of the non-Russian speakers.
Robert Summerby-Murray, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, stopped by to appreciate the demonstrative way of learning languages.
鈥淵ou can learn about it in the classroom, but you can learn about it in a demonstrative way,鈥� he said after the event. 鈥淚t demonstrates the way in which we can unite around culture.鈥�