The Language Center at the Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), hosted a number of ambassadors, earlier this March, as part of its “Diplomatic Week”.

Ambassadors of countries represented by the languages taught at the Center were invited to attend classes, interact with students and participate in various class activities. The initiative provided the

students with the opportunity to engage with foreign dignitaries, practice with native speakers and learn more about the respective countries and cultures.  Participating in the initative were the Ambassadors of France, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, Italy, China, Peru, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, , Portugal, and Brazil, to Qatar, along with Germany’s Deputy Head of Mission in Qatar, First Secretary of Sudan Embassy in Qatar, Minister Plenipotentiary of Tunisian Embassy in Qatar,and the Charge d’Affairs of Benin Embassy in Qatar.

Diplomatic Week is part of a rich calendar of community engagement events organized by the Language Center, which follows a communicative approach to language teaching. 

Dr. Amal Al Malki, Founding Dean of CHSS, commented: “Learning a new language is not easy. Beyond learning the words – verbs, nouns, and adjectives – the real challenge is going from theory to practice, building discourse competence. At the Language Center, we recognize these challenges and seek to teach our students beyond the classroom, providing them with interesting and authentic contexts to practice their target language. We are thankful to the Ambassadors and foreign diplomats who visited the classrooms to engage with our students. ”

The Language Center at TII currently offers seven language programs at various proficiency levels, namely Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, German, and Italian.

To find out more about the programs offered by the Language Center at HBKU’s TII, visit www.tii.qa.