European Day of Languages marked with a host of cultural activities

AMMAN — The European Union in Jordan and the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) on Saturday celebrated the European Day of Languages at the Boulevard in Abdali.

The event, held between 12 noon until 8 pm, witnessed the participation of embassies and cultural centres, including many sections and activities.

The event seeks to introduce people to EU’s various cultures and languages through many sections that the visitors can see in their tour.

Upon arrival to the event’s location, once can see different sections including welcome room, languages room, art room, VR section, theatre, dancing and music room, with a schedule that states the timing and location of every embassy-related event.

“I really enjoy attending cultural events, especially those concerning different languages and environments,” Asma Yousef, a Jordanian citizen, told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

She also commended the level of organisation the event enjoys, especially COVID santisation stations at the entrance of every room and the various activities that are being held.

In the languages room, the organisers had put a board, aimed at language exchange, where each individual can fill a card in which they choose which language they want to learn or teach, a step towards cultural and language exchange.

A set of free-of-charge languages classes were also given at the languages room.

Once visitors reach the VR section, they can get a glimpse of various European cities. 

“The goal of this section is to present visitors with great experience of seeing EU cities as if they were actually there. They can pick the city in which they wish to walk in their streets and they also have a controller of which they can gear the screen to have full experience,” said Mohammed Al Kattan, a VR volunteer.

The event also featured different cultural dance shows, animated movies, and languages classes.

EUNIC members in Jordan are: The British Council, The Institut Francais, The Goethe-Institut, Societa Dante Alighieri and the embassies of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden, according to EUNIC.

European Day of Languages is a day that is celebrated at the initiative of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, every year since 2001 and on, or around September 26 to encourage learning across the world and to raise awareness about the importance of lifelong language learning as a means of increasing intercultural understanding, according to EUNIC.