The Language Centre at Queen's

As the third semester language courses come to an end, we wish you a happy summer break! For students and staff members interested in continuing their language practice during the summer, we invite you to sign up for the Tandem Language Exchange (TLE) programme. For more information, please visit https://go.qub.ac.uk/tandemlanguage

The upcoming TLE session is scheduled for 11:00 to 12:00 at the Auditorium, McClay Library.

This year the Duanwu Festival (端午节 Duānwǔ jié), or Dragon Boat Festival (龙舟节 Lóngzhōu jié) as widely known outside of China, falls on today Monday 10th June 2024.

To honor this traditional celebration, our Chinese@Queen’s Blog editor, Lauren McShane (梅谢兰), has crafted a sachet of herbs (香囊 xiāngnáng). According to Duanwu customs, these sachets are believed to ward off diseases and insects that become prevalent during the 5th month of the lunar calendar.

Lauren extends her best wishes for good health to everyone and invites you to join in the festivities. To help you immerse yourself in the spirit of the festival, she has prepared special worksheets adapted from the internet. These worksheets are available for download. Alternatively, you can pick up a copy at the McClay Library (Student Lounge).

On Friday 14th June there will be two Chinese Culture talks delivered by Wenyuan Pu, visiting scholar to Queen’s, and Yanglu Wang, PhD researcher from School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, on the respective topics below. All welcome!

Let’s celebrate the Duanwu Festival together and embrace the rich traditions that come with it.

Wish you all a happy and healthy Duanwu Festival! 端午节安康、快乐 (Duānwǔ jié ānkāng kuàilè)！

In the coming CCF talk Dr Xuan Li will review his PhD journey at Queen's and highlight his research topic on the Chinese adult English learners’ comprehension of sarcasm in English tweets. He would also like to share some tips on his recent success in passing his PhD viva.

Staff and students who are interested in this talk are welcome to join us:

Friday 24 May
13:00-14:00
Auditorium, The McClay Library

Registration: https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/mandarinchinese/chinese/ccp/ccp2024/ccf-li/ or scan the QR code.

The Graduate School School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University

Happy World Day for Cultural Diversity!

Queen’s International Student Society has celebrated another year’s Qulture Shock on 20th May 2024 in Europa Hotel, with Qulture Roadshow and Night combined.

It was a great event that brought one a whirlwind of culture, delicious food, awesome lucky draws, and the chance to make lifelong friendships within the cherished QUB community! It also coincided with the World Day for Cultural Diversity (21st May).

For more information and photos, please visit https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/cultural-diversity/qulture-shock/qulture-shock-2024/

Don't miss out - one week to go for the magic QUB Qulture Night (20/05) to celebrate the end of exam and the World Day for Cultural Diversity (21/05)!

See below the invitation from Queen's International Student Society:

Its the event you all have been waiting for! QULTURE SHOCK 2024 is BACK! Why not treat yourself to a magical night out with us to celebrate the end of exams!

This epic night formal is back, bringing you a whirlwind of culture, delicious food, awesome lucky draws, and the chance to make lifelong friendships!

And guess what? It’s your time to shine in your stunning traditional outfits and capture some seriously cute pictures!

Location: Grand Ball Room, Europa
Time: 6-9pm (doors open at 5.30pm)
Date: May 20, 2024

Prices:
£30 + Fixr surcharge for members
£33 + Fixr surcharge for non-members
£300 + Fixr surcharge for a table (10 people)

To secure your spot, sign up through the Fixr page ya! ✨
You can also sign up through the link in our bio!
We’ve got a ton of surprises in store for you, and we’re beyond excited to see each and every one of you there!

😉 Let’s make this a night to remember! 🎉


Queen’s International Student Society

Queen’s students are warmly welcome to attend our Eutopia Arthouse Film Festival (EAFF) Cultural Bridge Special Section Screening on Wednesday 1st May 2024, between 4:30 and 6:30 pm in QUB Film Studio.

This screening is part of the series of EAFF screening that focuses on various aspects of Chinese culture, as a thematic strand of a joint effort between the School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s Film Theatre, and The Language Centre at Queen’s, sponsored by .

The Cultural Bridge Special Section is free to attend, but registration is required due to capacity. For more information and registration, please visit http://go.qub.ac.uk/EAFF-CultureBridge

Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast

Happy Chinese Language Day!

Did you know that the UN Chinese Language Day falls on the day of 谷雨 (Gǔyǔ, Rain of Millet), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars (20/04 in the Gregorian calendar)? This day honors Cangjie (仓颉), a legendary figure credited with the invention of Chinese characters, symbolising the dawn of civilization.

To celebrate this year’s UN Chinese Language Day, we are delighted to welcome two speakers, Isabella Souza Mclaughlin (苏蔓伊) at Queen's and Qinyuan Li (李沁园) from Trinity College Dublin, to our Chinese Culture Forum. They will offer insights into their journeys of learning, teaching, and researching the Chinese language in the island of Ireland.

Learners of Chinese (and other languages) are all welcome to attend our online forum.

Date: Friday 19th April
Time: 14:00-15:30
Channel: QUB MS Teams (meeting link will be shared after registration)

For full information and registration, please click the blog post
https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/mandarinchinese/2024/04/17/un-chinese-language-day-forum/


Queen's University Belfast Trinity College Dublin

Registration for our Spring programme of courses, which covers a wide range of languages and levels, closes at 5pm tomorrow - so secure your spot and sign up now, before it's too late! Limited spaces still available on a number of courses. Register at www.qub.ac.uk/lc/

Holi, or the festival of colours, is a religious occasion considered the second biggest Hindu festival after Diwali, generally celebrated by people from the north of India. It marks the beginning of spring after a long winter and signifies the triumph of good over evil. To those who celebrate, may your Holi be full of colour, love and happiness!

While we would like to hear how the celebration is to take place in Queen’s community this year, we want to invite you to read the post from Ying, a QUB Business graduate, on her last year’s experience of joining the celebration with her Indian friends at Queen’s.

https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/2024/03/25/happy-holi-2/



QUB Students QUB Immigration Support Service Queen's Students' Union Queen's University Belfast

Happy Sign Language Week!

SLW is an annual awareness week for British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language, celebrated in March, to mark and celebrate the first time BSL was recognized as a language in its own right by the UK Government on 18 March 2003.
The week is organized by the British Deaf Association and this year's theme is ‘Promoting BSL and ISL as indigenous languages of the UK’. The campaign aims to celebrate and educate about BSL and ISL, to encourage more people to start learning these languages, and to preserve them for future generations.
We were fortunate enough to be able to attend an important and timely international conference over the last two days, organized by the Centre for Translation and Interpreting at Queen's. In this conference we heard from a diverse range of brilliant, experienced speakers from both professional and academic backgrounds. We also had the opportunity to attend Shaun Fitzgerald's "No Need to Shout", which shone a light on the mental health struggles that can be faced by the deaf community, whether because of a lack of awareness of deaf culture in society or because of a fundamental lack of support/funding. We will continue to further our awareness of deaf culture and are more determined than ever to promote, protect and preserve BSL and ISL.
Please keep an eye on our website and socials for updates relating to our BSL offer and any developments relating to either BSL or ISL.
Don't forget, you can sign up now, via our website, for BSL courses in Levels 1 and 2, assessed by Signature: www.qub.ac.uk/lc

On March 20th, the highly anticipated CNY Prize Collection event took place at One Elmwood, where the Launch event was also hosted.

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of various departments, including The Language Centre, iRISE Staff Network, Student Experience Team, SU Shop, and Diversity, Inclusion, and Staff Wellbeing Unit at Queen’s, the prizes were generously contributed to award the winners for the Drawing the Dragon Competition and Fun Time with Table Tennis.

For more details and photos, please visit https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/mandarinchinese/2024/03/20/cny-prize-collection/

Congratulations to all the winners!

If you are interested in learning Mandarin Chinese or other languages, visit www.qub.ac.uk/lc for more information. Registration will close on Thursday 11 April and classes will commence week beginning Monday 15 April.

#龙年

Happy March!

The Language Centre spring course enrolment has started for the classes to commence week beginning Monday 15th April 2024.

We recommend that you register early to avoid disappointment. Registration will close on Thursday 11 April at 5pm. Click below to access our course timetable and registration links:

www.qub.ac.uk/lc or scanning the QR code.

We are very excited to run another BSL event next Thursday evening, in collaboration with QUB Sign society. In response to feedback from attendees of our last event, we reached out to Kinghan Church in Botanic Avenue, which functions as a worshipping community of deaf and hearing impaired persons. They have kindly agreed to host this social event, which will connect QUB BSL learners with the local deaf community. Learners of all levels are very welcome to come along to meet members and to practise signing in a relaxed and friendly environment. We are grateful also to Anthony Sinclair, founder of Sign Source, and his interpreter, who will be opening this event with a short presentation. Tea, coffee, and light refreshments will be available. If you are interested in attending, we would ask that you please fill in the short form below. We look forward to seeing you there! https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=6ner6qW040mh6NbdI6Hyho8KxzLVD7ZEoUprxRu_pkNUQjgxWFRRS0lKU1FCSVE3U1I5UFhHVTFERy4u

The Language Centre team are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating Seachtain Na Gaeilge, 2024, with a range of activity and events to attend, taking place between 5th - 14th March. All events are open to all QUB students and staff and are free to attend. If you would like to attend any of these events, please do register so that we can monitor registration numbers, where necessary.

See this webpage for further details and to register to attend any of the events:

https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/2024/02/26/seachtain-na-gaeilge-2024/

Check out this interview with Dr Femi Omotoyinbo, the President of the recently established Nigerian Society at Queen's. Keep an eye out for our upcoming collaboration with the Society - a series of taster sessions on Nigerian languages and culture, for all students!

In the Spotlight: QUB Nigerian Society - Dr Poppy Boyd In Conversation with Dr Femi Omotoyinbo In the Spotlight: QUB Nigerian Society - Dr Poppy Boyd In Conversation with Dr Femi Omotoyinbo 23 February, 2024 To mark Race Equality Week, Dr Poppy Boyd, from the Language Centre at Queen's and member of the Racial Equity Champions Network, interviews Dr Femi Omotoyinbo, to find out more about the...

Happy International Mother Language Day!

This annual observance, which takes place on 21st February every year, is a celebration of cultural and linguistic diversity.

This afternoon, our Language Centre team joined the celebration of multilingualism at the launch of a new Staff Network for Promoting Linguistic Diversity & Minority Languages. This well-attended event is a wonderful celebration of a belief in the power of language to connect people. Preserving, respecting and learning languages is so important for building tolerance and empathy in our divided world.

Language - A Bridge; Not a Barrier!

Don't forget that registration opens for our Spring term courses on 1st March, via our website - www.qub.ac.uk/lc

Calling all language learners -

Wonder how to speak Mandarin Chinese (and other languages) with great sounds? Are you curious about how synthetic speech might work? Do you want to choose a language you are interested in and synthesize speech by yourself in a phonetic way?

Sijie MOU, PhD candidate in Linguistics from School of Arts, English and Languages, is going to lead a workshop on demystifying Mandarin Chinese by synthesizing its phonetics using Praat, a free computer software package for speech analysis in phonetics.

Date: 22/02/24
Time: 12:00-13:00
Venue: Auditorium, McClay Library

This workshop aims to share a method of synthesizing Mandarin for fun. In fact, with a good use of Praat, anyone is able to synthesize other languages they are interested in, such as Arabic, Cantonese, Dutch, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and many more.

More information and registration via https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/mandarinchinese/chinese/ccp/ccp2024/ccf-mou/

School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University

The 龙 Lóng (or Loong / Chinese Dragon) has just arrived at Queen's!

What an exciting day to welcome the auspicious 龙 to Queen's One Elmwood on Thursday 8th February, regardless of the blustery weather (which was said to be accompanying the Loong)!

Over 60 staff and student representatives from a range of diverse cultural backgrounds celebrated the launch of Year of The Chinese Dragon programme, jointly organised by the Language Centre, iRISE Staff Network, Student Experience Team, The Graduate School, Chinese Students and Scholars Association, supported by Diversity, Inclusion and Staff Wellbeing Unit, and partially sponsored by the QUB Annual Fund.

Professor Margaret Topping, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement, welcomed the value of contact between different languages and cultures for the benefit of enhanced mutual respect through intercultural exchange.

We wish that this celebration programme on the Year of The Chinese Dragon, as part of our Celebrating Cultural Diversity at Queen's scheme, will make a contribution to the multicultural campus development, which sees differences as strength to foster an environment of open-mindedness and acceptance.

The Launch event featured student/alumni performances including guzheng music and classical dance, QUB Staff Wellbeing Choir's singing of both Chinese and local songs, and the bustling and exciting Dragon Dance inside One Elmwood, followed by an interactive CNY Fair with cultural displays.

The CNY celebration programme includes a three-week-long events and it welcomes all students and staff members to choose their favourate ones to attend in the coming two weeks. For full programme and registration links, please click https://go.qub.ac.uk/CCP2024

More photos will be added to our FB account and if you wish to share yours with us, please attach them via the Comment box below, or click the link for multiple uploading http://go.qub.ac.uk/CNYphotocollection

QUB Students Queen's University Belfast
#龙年

With the grand Spring Festival Gala kicking off on Saturday 3rd and the Start of Spring falling on Sunday 4th February, we are pleased to invite you to continue with our series of CNY celebrative events in these two weeks.

This afternoon 3:00-4:30 we are hosting a joint event on Chinese Muslim Heritage Literacy, presented by Dr Ibrar Bhatt and Heng WANG. This event is organised in collaboration with Centre for Language Education Research within , providing with a platform for scholars and students to have join in the speakers' reflections on their recent research project in China, with a display of notable pieces of traditional art collected during fieldwork.

Venue: Auditorium, The McClay Library

All welcome!

With the arrival of Year of the Dragon on Saturday 10th February, we would like to send our best wishes to all those who celebrate, and warmly welcome students and staff members, as well as members of the public, to join us in a variety of cultural events at Queen’s, featuring:

Launch of the CNY celebrations (Thursday 8th February)
• Welcome reception
• Dragon dance and parade
• Cultural performances and interactive displays

Student-led events
• Spring Festival Gala
• Chinese Culture Taster Session
• Film Festival Information Session
• Fun Time with Table Tennis at Queen’s

Culture talks and workshops
• Drawing the Dragon Competition and Drop-in Session
• A diverse selection of topics including insights into Chinese cultures at Queen’s and elsewhere
• Presented by Queen’s scholars and students

Art Exhibitions
• ArtEast exhibition
• Year of the Dragon Drawing Competition and exhibition
• Chinese Artefacts at Queen’s exhibition

For further details and registrations, please visit https://go.qub.ac.uk/CCP2024

This CNY Celebration Programme is a joint effort by Queen’s staff teams and student societies, organised by The Language Centre, QUB iRISE Staff Network, Student Experience Team, The Graduate School, as well as Chinese Students Society, supported by Diversity and Inclusion Unit, and partially sponsored by QUB Annual Fund 2024.

#龙年

QUB Students The Graduate School School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University

The Language Centre 2nd semester classes kick off today Monday 15th and wish all the learners a great start!

Tandem Language Exchange activities restart from this Wednesday 17th January. All Queen’s students and staff members are welcome to attend TLE events throughout the academic year, whether they sign up for the language courses or not.

For those who sign up for both, it can be complementary way to develop your language skills with a potential language partner, with whom you can work with a buddy from another culture for mutual support. For those who are unable to attend a language class, perhaps joining our TLE will be a viable option for you to keep your flame of enthusiasm burn.

https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/learning-support/tle/

Welcome back and enjoy your learning!

A very Happy New Year to all our learners! We hope you had a restful break over the holiday season. If you're interested in learning a new language in 2024 or improving your ability in a language you already know, please sign up now for our January term courses, beginning next week. Our courses will last for 10 consecutive weeks and registration closes tomorrow at 5pm, so don't miss out!

Happy January 2024 and happy return to Queen's!

To celebrate the upcoming Year of the [Chinese] Dragon, commencing on Saturday, February 10, 2024, we extend a warm invitation to participate in our Drawing Competition centered around the theme of of the [Chinese] Dragon (Chinese character: 龙 (simplified) / 龍 (traditional), pronounced as lóng, similar to ‘long’, also coined in English as ‘loong’).

All welcome to express your imaginative interpretation of this mythical creature through contemporary artistic mediums. Participants are encouraged to employ diverse drawing styles and mediums (e.g., sketching, oils, watercolor, sculpture, etc.) as long as they effectively convey your perceptions of 龙/龍 within your own cultural context or Chinese culture. We welcome authentic forms and techniques of presentation, excluding AI-related works.

The competition will close on Sunday 4th Feb, and a Drawing the Dragon session for QUB students, organised by the Student Experience Team, will take place on Friday 2nd Feb at the BlueSky Room (registration required).

For more information and submission, scan the QR code or visit https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/mandarinchinese/2024/01/08/drawing-the-dragon/

QUB Students Chinese Welfare Association NI

Happy World Arabic Language Day!

As the world commemorates World Arabic Language Day on December 18th, we are pleased to have Wejdan, a PhD student who speaks Arabic as her native language, to reflect on the richness of the Arabic language.

"My name is Wejdan, and as a proud Saudi, the Arabic language is a source of identity, which serves as a foundation of Saudi culture and heritage. Arabic is poetic and has been cherished for centuries, with a rich literature, science, philosophy, and religion history. It is a language that exhibits diversity in dialects and accents across Arab countries. Saudi Arabia is home to several dialects, reflecting the country’s diverse geography and cultural heritage, making Saudi Arabia so vibrant and captivating.

"You will notice a palm-shaped bookmark in the photo. This palm is a symbol deeply rooted in my culture, representing generosity and hospitality. It serves as a reminder of the values we hold dear as Saudis and the warm welcome we extend to others.

"In my pursuit of embracing cultural diversity and expanding my language skills, I have recently joined the Language Center activities. I am excited to start this journey, exploring other languages like Japanese. The book in the photo above is an Arabic handbook to learning the Japanese language, exemplifying the bridge between cultures and the pursuit of knowledge."

Let us appreciate the power and beauty of the Arabic language together. World Arabic Language Day is such a chance to promote cross-cultural exchange and understanding.

Learn Arabic, attend cultural events, discover traditional arts and crafts, and interact with Arab people.

Read the original post via https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/2023/12/18/celebrating-world-arabic-language-day/

How time flies! As Christmas-New Year break is approaching fast, our next TLE session is scheduled on this Wed 13/12, between 3 and 4:30 pm, at the Auditorium, McClay Library.

All welcome, students and colleagues, and feel free to bring along your friends and colleagues who have not joined yet. Sign up via https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/learning-support/tle/

For the ones who have been successfully partnered with and made a good start, you are more than welcome to share your experience with us on the day. Hands up✋✋, if any.

Time flies! It's coming to the end of the semester soon and we hope you have been enjoying learning the languages with us so far. We would just like to update you that the Winter programme enrolment is live now, until Thursday 11th January 2024.

All classes will commence week beginning Monday 15th January 2024. We welcome all to make an early registration as courses are extremely popular and fill up quickly. Class schedule and registration links can be accessed via www.qub.ac.uk/lc or scan the QR code in the image.

Happy International Volunteer Day (05/12)!

The Language Centre would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students and staff members who volunteered for our events in the past. We hosted a dedicated celebration to provide information on the coming Chinese New Year Celebration preparation and would like to engage with more students and colleagues from a wider community to join us in the celebrations, as part of the Cultural Diversity at Queen's scheme. For more details, read the post below.

https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lc/2023/12/05/international-volunteer-day/

TLE & Int'l Students' Day Celebration - TLE introduction by Liang Wang, Language Support Officer