Language celebration is a European treat!

Bienvenue! Wilkommen! Welcome! City of Portsmouth College students and staff celebrated the languages of Europe with a special party full of continental treats.

To mark the European Day of Languages, languages lecturer Mimi Nother hosted the party with the theme “Languages Open Hearts And Minds.”

There was a variety of tasty snacks and treats from different countries across Europe – pastries from France, sweets from Spain, waffles from Belgium and Danish pastries.

There were also fun guessing games and sharing jokes from different languages and explaining the context, such as:

“Egal, wie gut du schläfst, Albert schläft wie Einstein” meaning no matter how well you sleep, Albert sleeps like “Einstein”.

The twist is that while Einstein is the surname of the well known physician, “ein Stein” in German means a stone.

The European Day of Languages has been celebrated on September 26 since 2001 – an initiative started by the Council of Europe with support from European Commission.

Around 700 million Europeans are represented in the Council of Europe's 46 member states, and all are encouraged to discover more languages at any age as part of, or alongside, their studies. This stems from the Council of Europe’s conviction that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent.