A Celebration of Foreign Languages

Members of the International Club announced the annual National Foreign Language Week on Monday, February 26, during corporate chapel, which ran until Friday, March 1. Club members created and hung posters around campus to remind the community of the celebration. Throughout the week, members sold treats from different cultures, including churros and Italian ice, to help celebrate National Foreign Language Week. The kitchen staff at the School also prepared multi-cultural dishes for lunch each day.

On Tuesday, February 27, the club hosted an assembly to celebrate the week with guest speaker Professor Stacey Katz Bourns, Director of the World Languages Center at Northeastern University. In her talk, she addressed the title of her speech, "Why should you learn another language?" Bourns touched on the relationship between technology and foreign languages. The phones we carry in our pockets can easily translate languages we don't know into English through various apps. As convenient as that is, Bourns asserted that when you use these apps and don't learn the language, you miss out on the culture, genuine human interactions, and authentic experiences and connections with the people you are trying to communicate with. She gave other compelling reasons to learn another language, including career readiness, improved mental health, resourcefulness, and creating a more open future. She left the students with the advice to continue learning a language in college, spend time abroad, and lose themselves within the culture. Lastly, learning and speaking another language represents an act of respect, kindness, empathy, generosity, and humility.