Students with “passports” entered the MultiLingua Fest last week to learn words and phrases in more than 15 languages, watch music, dance and martial arts performances, play lotería and practice calligraphy.
The fest is an annual celebration of all cultures and languages in the Rio Grande Valley. UTRGV students and staff are treated to performances and activities from various cultures.
UTRGV language classes, student associations, faculty and community volunteers present the event. The fest in Edinburg was held last Wednesday in the Ballroom and last Thursday in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus.
“I came [to the fest] very excited,” said Britanny Cuellar, an international business freshman. “I like that a lot of people are introducing themselves to new cultures. … I love a lot of cultures as well. … Learning a new language broadens your understanding of other cultures. … I think it’s very fun to learn new languages … to learn about new cultures. … It’s another way to keep you busy.”
Activities and performances included Korean percussion, Chinese martial arts, and Tinikling, a Philippine folk dance.
“Enjoy, play, learn,” UTRGV Writing & Language Studies Lecturer Yanina Hernandez said. “I see that many students enjoy coming here. … They enjoy this experience of being exposed to different languages, learning more about all the languages that are spoken here or taught here on campus.”
Attendees received a “passport” and were encouraged to visit different tables to learn words and phrases in more than 15 languages from native speakers, including American Sign Language, Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. Some students had flags of different countries painted on their faces, played with baleros, a classic Mexican children’s toy, and wrote their names in different languages.
The MultiLingua fest is supported by the College of Liberal Arts’ Department of Writing & Language Studies and the Office of Global Engagement in partnership with UTRGV student associations, including the Cross Linguistics Undergraduate Board, the Chinese Language Culture Association and the Study Abroad Club.
Nazaret Fresno, an assistant professor for the UTRGV Translation and Interpreting Program, said learning a new language will give students a different perspective about cultures and will increase career opportunities.
“We are actually enjoying the multilingual scenario that we have here in the RGV and we try to share that with our students because people here are bilingual,” Fresno said.
“That’s a treasure most people don’t value enough and that’s why we are here.”
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