Multilingualism and its many social benefits will be at the heart of the European Day of Languages’ celebration organized by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). The event, which will be held on September 29, will be a close cooperation between the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) cluster in Doha, the Austrian Embassy Doha, and the Language Center at the Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII), HBKU.

CHSS will host ambassadors, dignitaries, and visitors at a celebratory reception, where Dr. Amal Al-Malki, Founding Dean of CHSS, will present an opening address to reflect on the significance of the day’s themes.

CHSS has also extended an invitation to the wider community to come and discover more languages. TII faculty will present free introductory language sessions in Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Swedish.

The European Day of Languages, on September 26, is a well-established annual celebration of the rich mosaic of languages spoken by people living in Europe. CHSS marks the event each year to highlight linguistic diversity as a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and to encourage language learning, in keeping with its goal to enrich communities and promote lifelong learning.

Commenting on the event’s significance, Nada Al Mahmeed, Director of the Translation and Training Center at CHSS, said: “We look forward to hosting a diverse group of guests, proudly representing many different languages and willing to explore new ones. Our approach to language learning at TII has always been to include an immersive cultural aspect, in recognition that language is an entry point to understanding the culture and lived experience of others. Similarly, our celebration will aim to demonstrate the value of linguistic diversity as a vehicle for bridging cultural differences and fostering inclusion. We also hope that our program will show participants how fun and enriching language learning can be, and will encourage their efforts.”

To register to attend the event, please visit https://tii.qa/EDL22.

For more information on the work of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), please visit chss.hbku.edu.qa