Celebrating multiculturalism

The Department of Writing and Lan- guage Studies hosted the Inter-Lingua Fest Nov. 18 and 19, which consisted of presentations and activities featuring the different language and linguistics classes offered at UTRGV.

The event, held on the Edinburg cam- pus, gave students a chance to experience different languages and cultures, such as Chinese, Korean, French, German, Russian and Zapotec. Each presentation of a language offered background information, how to learn language phrases and the cultural aspect with activities.

At the Chinese table, the group presented Chinese dances, removable tattoos, chai tea and chopsticks for students to get a small glimpse into the culture.

Shannon McCrocklin, an assistant professor at UTRGV and coordinator of the event, spoke about how the event was organized.

“It started with two of the professors that teach Intro to Descriptive Linguistics talking about ways to get their students to kind of show off what they’re doing, maybe hopefully getting students interested in linguistics,” McCrocklin said. “Then, we started talking about all the other options, getting different languages involved and having them rep- resented as well. It became this large two-day event where we had quite a few different languages represented.”

Ana Felicia, an English senior at UTRGV who took part in presenting the Zapotec language at the event, said Assistant Professor John Foreman introduced the language to her.

“There’s a linguistic professor, Dr. Foreman, who does an extracurricular club where we learn about Zapotec, which is an indigenous language they speak in Oaxaca [Mexico],” Felicia said. “Since fewer and fewer people grow up speaking this language, they have a tendency to start dying out and we’re trying to keep this one alive.”

UTRGV student Abraham Alvarez en- joyed the Zapotec presentation.

“I learned a lot about the different languages in Mexico and it seems like a lot of it is dying out,” Alvarez said. “It’s really, really interesting.”