The Language Festival Association is hosting a free language festival on Saturday, 6 May 2017, at Liverpool Library.
The purpose of this language festival is to promote awareness of language diversity, by providing “tasters” of multiple languages and cultures in a fun environment.
A highlight will be a fascinating presentation by Australian linguist, Dr Gregory Cooper, on ‘Accents and Pronunciation’. In the early 1980s Dr Cooper travelled to remote north-western Pakistan to study an as-yet unwritten language. Just by interacting directly with the native speakers, he was able to learn the language (Kalashamondr), create a system of writing for it and teach it to the Kalasha people, who are now recording and publishing their own stories and songs.
Also presented will be Esperanto, the world’s most successful international language. Apart from its role in neutral and equitable communication, Esperanto can also be useful as a “springboard language”: Because its simple rules have virtually no exceptions, and because its grammatical structure is always clear, starting with Esperanto can give one the confidence and solid grounding that are so important in language learning.
Some other sessions at the festival include talks on similarities and differences between Indonesian and Malay, and between Mandarin and Cantonese, a Vietnamese lantern-making workshop for children, and a multicultural lunch (please bring some food to share).
The festival will be held at Liverpool Library, 170 George Street, Liverpool, from 11 am to 4 pm.
For more information, visit languagefestival.org.
Image: Dr Gregory Cooper, linguist