UM Language and Culture Day kicks off to promote linguistic and cultural diversity - Faculty of Arts and Humanities

UM Language and Culture Day kicks off to promote linguistic and cultural diversity

The 3rd UM Language and Culture Day 2021, organized by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH) of UM, featured the theme of “Value your own language; Embrace everyone’s cultures” with various cultural and folklore performances and the “International Language and Culture Fair”, as well as language workshops.

In celebration of the 40^th Anniversary of UM, this signature event of FAH aims at preserving the various mother tongues of the people in Macau, as well as raising students’ awareness about the importance of sustaining linguistic and cultural diversity in the city.

Prof. Billy So, Vice Rector of Student Affairs, Mr. Paul Pang, Dean of Students, Prof. Katrine Wong, Director of CTLE, together with Prof. Xu Jie, Interim Dean of FAH, were among the officiating guests. In his welcoming speech, Prof. Xu highlighted the special role that Macau plays in its transition to a world center of tourism and leisure, emphasizing that such a developmental goal cannot be achieved without linguistic and cultural diversity. Citing renowned Chinese anthropologist and sociologist Fei Hsiao-Tung, Prof. Xu suggested that our world is only beautiful when we treasure others’ values, languages, and cultures.

The event, co-organized by Prof. Joaquim Kuong, Ms. Lisa Lam, and various colleagues of FAH, attracted over 300 UM students and staff, who were impressed by the huge array of multilingual singing, dancing, musical and folklore performances. Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Portuguese, Japanese, and Filipino were among the languages showcased this year. All the participants enjoyed the booth games, demonstrations of diverse traditional cultures, movie screening, and food stalls. In addition, students had the opportunity to improve their language skills by attending the English Movie Dubbing workshop, and to learn how to read and compose Chinese poetic couplets. Many participants considered the Language and Culture Day to be a highly significant and meaningful event.