People to take tour of the world as part of Sheffield international languages festival

Sheffield residents are set to be given a chance to try out a selection of 17 languages during the course of an afternoon, as part of an International Languages Festival that arrives in the city tomorrow.

Spanish, Tamil, Luxembourgish, Cantonese and Urdu are among the diverse languages on offer during 50-minute taster sessions at the International Languages Festival – part of Sheffield Students’ Union’s World Week.

The event, which takes place tomorrow from 1pm-6pm, will see students from different cultural backgrounds teaching a selection of languages including Russian, Farsi, Mandarin and Esperanto.

Ana Popa, International Officer at Sheffield Students’ Union, said: “The International Languages Festival is more than an opportunity to learn the basics of many languages in a day - it is a cultural journey from one country to another, from one continent to another.

“It is also a showcase of our diverse community and it sends across the message that, despite our language barriers and differences, we can find similarities in our communications. This ability to communicate in more than one language, even just a phrase - to understand and to learn – is the main trait that makes us all global citizens. We are international.”

The International Languages Festival is in its seventh year and is part of World Week – an annual celebration of the cultural diversity at the University of Sheffield.

The Students’ Union’s official partner and sponsor is the British Esperanto Association, which founded the festival in France in 1995.

The University and its Students' Union are among more than 100 universities and sector organisations advocating for international students, staff, research and collaborations in higher education as part of the #WeAreInternational campaign.

Tickets for the festival cost £2 and are available at the Students’ Union Box Office or online here.