Free online event on 27 January: Roundtable discussion of translation and sciences

The role of Arabic translation in the dissemination of scientific knowledge

The Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University invites you to celebrate International Arabic Day by joining our roundtable focusing on the role of translation from and into Arabic in the dissemination of knowledge in the sciences.

Interpreting services will be available in Arabic, BSL, English, French and Spanish.

Click here to register for the event: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebrating-international-arabic-day-round-table-tickets-243163928857

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the webinar and use interpreting services.

Translation has played and continues to play a pivotal role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge. One of the greatest examples is the translation movement from Latin and Ancient Greek into Arabic and from Arabic into other European languages which played an undeniable role in the development of the sciences geographically in Europe and historically in the Renaissance era (Montgomery 2000, Salama-Carr 1990, 2009). It is also widely recognised that translation from European languages, mainly French, as a global lingua franca, into Arabic, at the beginning of the 19th century played a similar role in the Arabic renaissance (Al-Nahda) in the Arab-speaking world. 

On this International Arabic Day, we would like to reflect on the role of translation in knowledge dissemination and highlight the role of translation from and into Arabic in disseminating and cross-fertilising scientific knowledge. We would like also to acknowledge the impact of this translation activity in enriching the Arabic language.  

Our distinguised speakers are invited to share their knowledge and personal experiences concerning the impact of translation from and into Arabic in the dissemination of science and in enriching the Arabic language. They are:

Dr Ali Almanaa, Associate professor, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar;

Mr Driss Aboulhoucine, Coordinator, Translation and Interpretation Services, World Health Organisation, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt;

Dr Fayza El-Kacem, Professor in Translation Studies, Ecole Supérieure de l’Interprétariat et de la Traduction, Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle, Paris 3, France ;

Dr Layla Al Musawi, Program manager for Publicizing and Dissemination of Science and Technology, Scientific Culture Directorate, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, Kuwait;

Dr Mohammad Al Refaei, Resident Physician, Internal Medicine at Aleppo University Hospital, Syria, Science Writer at Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences;

Mr Nawaar Sobh, Translator and editor, Altaqa.net, Syria;

Dr Rana Dajani, Professor at the Hashemite University, Jordan, President of the Society for Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World.

IndyLan updates and app launch events!

The IndyLan project has developed a mobile application that will help speakers of English, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish to learn Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Basque, Galician and Northern Saami, all endangered at different degrees.  Our project’s educational tool is designed to help users learn some of Europe’s endangered languages and find out about the cultures of the people who speak these languages.

The IndyLan app contains more than 4,000 vocabulary items (terms and expressions) in about 100 categories. The modes in the application are: Vocabulary; Phrases; Dialogues; Grammar; Aural Comprehension; Culture. 

Our vision is for the IndyLan app to contribute to endangered language learning and revitalisation so that these languages remain alive and relevant in contemporary societies and economies. 

Download the app on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/indylan-learn-indigenous-langs/id1590288935

Download the app on Android/GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.indylan

News and updates

The testing phase – Intellectual Output 3 is now complete. Thank you to everyone who participated in our testing survey and gave us feedback! We have made changes to the app and fixed bugs following the internal and external testing phase, so your feedback counts.

The IO3 testing report has now been published on our website.

On our website you can also find a dedicated section on the languages and people of the IndyLan app, with videos and resources, news and updates, as well as a list of our downloadable outputs

Remember, you can still give us feedback on the app via App Store/Google Play ratings, or by emailing info@indylan.eu

Local Dissemination Events will take place in Scotland, Cornwall, Spain, Sápmi (Norway) and Finland.

Dissemination and Events

Scotland (all events are online)

  • 14th January: Tachartas cuir air bhog stuth Gàidhlig – 4f Dihaoine 14mh Faoilleach. *Gaelic-only event. Register here.
  • 21st January: IndyLan App launch in Scotland for Gaelic and Scots, + song performance. Information and registration here.

Cornwall (face-to-face event)

  • 12th January: Launch of new Cornish language learning app – IndyLan. Conference Centre, Dupath farm. Register here.

Finland (online event)

  • 20th January: IndyLan – Mobile Virtual Learning for Indigenous Languages App launch in Finland. Register here.

Norway (Face-to-face event)

Spain (face-to-face event)

This event will be confirmed soon – please have a look on our website: https://indylan.eu/news/ or contact asociacionmoviendote@gmail.com

Final Dissemination event

Our Final Dissemination Event and Official App Launch will take place online on Thursday 27th of January !

The event will include performances in all the languages of the app (Scots, Saami, Basque, Galician, Gaelic, Cornish).

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/indylan-app-launch-final-dissemination-event-tickets-238153973947

Indylan is the name of our Erasmus+ project Mobile Virtual Learning for Indigenous Languages. The 26-month project (2019-2021) is led by Heriot-Watt University, and the Coordinator is Dr Katerina Strani.

The project includes the following 5 partners from 4 countries (UK, Finland, Norway and Spain):

Read more about our project on the Indylan Website, available in 11 languages.

Download the phone app for Android

Download the phone app for iOS

Check out the language links in our LiveBinder for the indigenous languages in our project

Contact

For any questions or comments, please contact us at info@indylan.eu

 Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndylanP

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectIndyLan

Thoughts on Language, Culture and Migration

By Grace Igbinoke, S5 pupil and Career Ready Intern at the IRC in LINCS

I have always loved travelling because I get to see new places and know about new cultures. The even more fun part for me is that when you travel, you get to learn new languages. Languages are jigsaws that you have to complete, and it is important that, after you have completed one, you take care of it, and you don’t undo it. When you become bilingual (or perhaps polyglot), your brain is trained to have more than one language ready to answer at the time. This trains your memory retention, your ability to focus and it is a great way to make people more broad-minded as they will acknowledge the existence of how objects and gestures are seen in the different cultures. This in turn makes people more respectful and empathetic.

Maybe my love for languages comes from the fact that I grew up in a polyglot family. My parents speak four languages each, but for one reason or another they never thought me their first language – Edo. This did not stop my love for languages, in fact it only reinforced it.

One of the reasons my parents did not teach me their language is that they needed to learn another language themselves, which left little to no time to focus on teaching their children their own language. Another reason is that they thought that their language was irrelevant compared to my actual first language, Italian, which is a language from Europe. 

Sadly, this is the thought many immigrants have when moving. This idea that because a language is from Europe, it is more valuable than a language from Africa or Asia is very upsetting.

Some people will argue that perhaps some languages are more important and valuable than others. My take on this opinion is that: yes, some languages are definitely more valuable on your CV, because they are languages from more economically influential countries (or simply because there are more speakers of that language), but no, no language is more important than another one. Languages hold cultures and stories, and no one has the right to decide which language is valuable and which isn’t, because it is only harming the next generation’s knowledge of their own culture. I am saying this from experience.

My point is: the culture is held by the language in which it is spoken. For example, certain words or phrases simply do not make any sense if translated. Also, every language has its own sense of humour, which might make absolutely no sense in another language. Each language is beautiful and different. Therefore, it is important that all languages are valued.

In conclusion, languages are fun and unique, and they are an important instrument which will effectively keep a culture going for generations. So, if you are a free spirit as myself, pack your bags and on you go, your next destination is to be learning a new culture through its language!

Grace Igbinoke, S5 pupil and Career Ready Intern at the IRC in LINCS

IndyLan Newsletter – July 2021

IndyLan Newsletter – July 2021

Welcome to the third newsletter of our Erasmus+ project Mobile Virtual Learning for Indigenous Languages (IndyLan).

The 26-month project (2019-2021) is led by Heriot-Watt University and the Coordinator is Dr Katerina Strani from the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies. The project includes the following 5 partners from 4 countries (UK, Finland, Norway and Spain):

The IndyLan project is developing a mobile application that will help speakers of English, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish to learn Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Basque, Galician and Saami, all endangered at different degrees.  Our project’s educational tool is designed specifically for users to help them learn not only some of Europe’s endangered languages but also more about the cultures of the people who speak these languages.

The tool constitutes a gamified language-learning solution that will contain around 4,000 vocabulary items (both terms and expressions) in about 100 categories. The modes that will be available in the application are: Vocabulary; Phrases; Dialogues; Grammar; Aural Comprehension; Culture. 

Our vision is for the IndyLan app to contribute to endangered language learning and revitalisation so that these languages remain alive and relevant in contemporary societies and economies. 

Our project website is available in 11 languages. It has a dedicated section on the languages and people of the IndyLan app, with videos and resources. On our website you can also find news and updates, as well as a list of our downloadable outputs.

News and updates

Covid-19 impact on our project

We have continued to work remotely in the past year and held all meetings online. Since our last newsletter in June 2020, we met online three times: in September 2020, in December 2020 and in March 2021, which would have been our third official project meeting in Bilbao. The official project meeting took place on 23rd March 2021 on Zoom. During this meeting, we discussed progress with Intellectual Output 2 (the app in beta version), internal and external evaluations of our intellectual outputs and dissemination activities. We also started preparations for Intellectual Output 3, the pilot testing phrase, and revised the timeline for the finalisation of the app content.

Partners met online for the 3rd official project meeting in March 2021

Our initial plan was to have the app ready in beta version in April and to launch it in June. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in some unforeseen delays, with reduced capacity across the project team. We are now aiming to start the app testing in August and to launch the app officially in September.

We will keep you posted !

You will also be invited to our local and international dissemination events in the Autumn – details will be available in due course.

Sneak peek at the app

Partners have completed the translation of about 4,000 vocabulary items, as well as phrases and dialogues, grammar exercises, culture tabs and various types of exercises for each language. This was no easy task, as there were many untranslatable terms (there are no words for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in Cornish), terms with complicated translations (‘to own something’ in Gaelic) and other terms with more than one translations (see snow terminology in Sámi).

We are now finalising the app backend and are testing the app internally. Here are some screenshots !

Dissemination and events

Áile Javo, the Secretary General of the Saami Council, one of the project partners, presented the project at an UNESCO -led event on Indigenous Languages in January:

#ArcticConnections – Indigenous Languages: Thriving in a Digital Age – YouTube

Katerina Strani, the project coordinator, presented the project in her talk ‘Language and Communities: Present and future Scottish-Arctic collaborations’, at the Scotland-Arctic Network Series: Engaging Local and Indigenous Communities event, in March: https://youtu.be/gSAL0gMg-m0 

Heriot-Watt’s biannual Intercultural Research Centre Symposium was held in May, and this year it included an online celebration in the form of a cèilidh. This included performances by Steve Byrne, who is working on the project, Meg Bateman, Niillas Holmberg, Brian Ó hEadhra and Fionnaig Nic Choinnich.

If you missed it, you can read about it here: Intercultural Research Centre Symposium and Ceilidh 2021 | LifeinLINCS 

Steve Byrne performing at the Intercultural Research Centre Symposium ceilidh

This year’s Speak Cornish week events were held online, and our project engaged with some activities on Twitter. Meur ras Kernow ! (=thank you, Cornwall)

Next steps:

  • The internal testing and  backend finalisation will be completed in the next few weeks.
  • The testing phase, which constitutes Intellectual Output 3, will begin in August.
  • Intellectual Output 3 will be the pilot testing of the app which will be carried out by remote users as well as participants in our multiplier events in all partner countries in the summer of 2021.
  • The app is scheduled to be launched at the Final Dissemination Conference in Cornwall in the autumn 2021.

The app will be available for download globally for free in both iOS and Android. Like all language-learning apps, IndyLan is complementary to other language- and culture courses and can be considered to be part of self-study material.

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndylanP

 Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectIndyLan

For any questions or comments, please contact us at info@indylan.eu

Intercultural Research Centre Symposium and Ceilidh 2021

‘People, Landscape and a Sense of Place’

SYMPOSIUM

This year, our IRC Symposium and Ceilidh was a virtual event and hugely successful. We were delighted to welcome guest speakers, vocalists, poets and a wide range of attendees all in keeping with our overarching themes of ‘People, Landscape and a Sense of Place’.

A welcome was extended by both Dr Katerina Strani, the Acting Director of the IRC, and Prof Mairéad Nic Craith, the former Director, who introduced the event. Dr Strani reminded us that the IRC’s research seeks to build understanding and develop appreciation of the experiences and representations of living with, or between, different cultures, identities, communities or languages. To this end, our research is built around three key themes:

The Symposium was organised around these three research themes and we were delighted to welcome three guest speakers on each of these themes, as we kept in mind our focus on the Symposium’s overarching theme of ‘People, Landscape and a Sense of Place’

An introduction to our first guest speaker was made by Professor Ullrich Kockel, who outlined our ‘Heritage and Sustainability’ theme at the IRC. Dr Nessa Cronin, Lecturer in Irish Studies and Associate Director of the Moore Institute at NUI Galway, Ireland, was then invited to begin her talk entitled ‘Shared Inheritances, Environmental Futures and our Planetary Home’. Dr Cronin brought out some fascinating themes such as placemaking and disruption, prompting some of our attendees to reflect on their own experiences within these fields. Other highlights of her talk included the importance of cultural heritage to promote social cohesion, as she noted the detrimental impact that climate change has had on both tangible and intangible cultural heritage practices, as well as socio-ecological and economic systems.

Secondly, Professor Chris Tinker introduced our ‘Popular Culture and Inclusion’ theme and we enjoyed listening to the thoughts of Professor Heiko Motschen­bach­er, Professor of English as a Second/Foreign Language at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and General Editor of the Journal of Language and Sexuality (JLS). Prof Motschenbacher’s talk was entitled ‘Walk­ing on Wilton Drive: A lin­guist­ic land­scape ana­lys­is of a homonorm­at­ive space’. There were several interesting and enlightening points made, highlighting the negotiation of normativity and the allegory of symbols in relation to gender norms. These thoughts prompted some attendees to consider the power of language and how linguistic landscapes can shape norms. One of our attendees also reflected on the popular and well-recognised symbol of a rainbow and how this has come to be known as an emblem of hope through the difficult period of Covid-19, challenging a previous association with the symbol.

Our final lead theme for the day was ‘Migration’ and this was introduced by Dr Katerina Strani. The IRC Migration theme looks at how cultures, communities and societies in the broad sense are shaped by migration. Some of the key research interests under this theme are identities, including linguistic identities, belonging, intercultural dialogue, as well as racism and othering (in multicultural societies). Our guest speaker for this theme was Dr Emma Hill, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. Emma’s research on Somali populations in Glasgow has informed her more recent work on the governance of integration for asylum seekers and refugees across the UK and Europe.  Emma’s talk was focused on ‘Co­lo­ni­al gene­a­lo­gies and the Glasgow Bajuni Cam­paign’. This is a lesser known and challenging topic, based on Dr Hill’s ethnographic work in Glasgow over 2 years. The talk touched on the self-representation of asylum seekers, noting the construction of a sense of place as well as highlighting identity and language in asylum-seeking procedures.

Our three guest speakers were then invited to participate in a Q&A session with our attendees. The interdisciplinary aspect of the day was extremely evident and participants discussed overlapping interests, themes and key questions. We were delighted to receive positive feedback from those who attended and challenged our guests to continue the conversation offline.

We were tweeting throughout the symposium, using the hashtag #HWIRC2021. This time, we were careful not to use any hashtags that were taken by other conferences. Those of you who were at our previous IRC Symposium in 2019 may remember that #IRC2019 was also used by the International Rubber Conference and the International Rapeseed Congress 2019, which led to some funny interactions on Twitter!

The symposium was interpreted into British Sign Language by our BSL Interpreters.

CEILIDH – MUSIC AND POETRY

7:00pm brought around our IRC Online Ceilidh, where we welcomed talented performers to share vocals, poems and discussions around the focus of our day, ‘People, Landscape and a Sense of Place’.

Our first performer was Steve Byrne, a Scots singer and researcher who was awarded the title of Scots Singer of the Year in 2019. He shared a few songs with us which we all enjoyed, as he recounted his authentic experiences with ‘People, Landscape and a Sense of Place’.

For more information about Steve, you can click this link: Steve Byrne – folksinger and musician

We then welcomed Meg Bateman to share some of her poetry with us. Meg is a Scottish academic, a poet and a short story writer and we were delighted to listen to her recite some of her work exploring Gaelic culture.

One of her books can be found using this link: Window-to-the-West.pdf (uhi.ac.uk)

Our penultimate performance of the night was by impressive Niillas Holmberg – Sami poet, novelist, scriptwriter and musician. Niillas performed one of his poems and two traditional Sámi yoiks. You can learn more about his work by clicking here: Niillas Holmberg

Finally, we enjoyed listening to Brian Ó hEadhra and Fionnaig Nic Choinnich who are singers and songwriters. They performed songs from the Gaelic traditions, which we were encouraged to singalong to. A link to their latest CD can be found here: Home (brian-fionnag.com)

Our Symposium and Ceilidh were huge successes, and we were delighted to welcome guest speakers and performers to share their knowledge and join the conversation as we focused on key IRC themes, under the main focus of ‘People, Landscape and a Sense of Place’.

For more details about the Her­itage and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty theme, con­tact U.Kockel@hw.ac.uk  

For the Pop­u­lar Cul­ture and In­clu­sion theme, con­tact C.G.Tin­ker@hw.ac.uk  

For the Mi­gra­tion theme, con­tact A.S­trani@hw.ac.uk

Lucy Lannigan, PhD Candidate in Heritage and Sustainability, Intercultural Research Centre

Study for a PhD with us ! Apply for a scholarship !

The following projects are available:

Minority sign languages and sign language contact.
(Supervisory team: Dr Robert Adam & Dr Annelies Kusters)

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Robert Adam
(r.adam@hw.ac.uk)

Syrian identities in the UK.
(Supervisory team: Dr Lina Fadel & Dr Katerina Strani)
For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Lina Fadel (lina.fadel@hw.ac.uk)

Deaf geographies. (Supervisory team: Dr Annelies Kusters & Dr Robert Adam)
For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Annelies Kusters (a.kusters@hw.ac.uk)

Enhancing multilingual communication and ensuring procedural fairness through empirical research on interpreting and/or translation in police settings. (Ref.: SoSS-2021-017) (Supervisory team: Dr Eloísa Monteoliva & Prof Jemina Napier)
For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Eloísa Monteoliva (eloisa.monteoliva@hw.ac.uk)

We look forward to receiving your applications.

InterTrainE Newsletter: February 2021

Welcome to the final newsletter of our Erasmus+ project Intercultural Training for Educators (InterTrainE)! The 2-year project is led by Heriot-Watt University and the Coordinator is Dr Katerina Strani from the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies

InterTrainE course launch

Our free online course on Intercultural Training for Educators was officially launched at national events and at an international final dissemination conference earlier this month. The InterTrainE course is available in 4 languages (English, Greek, Italian and Finnish) and the national events presented the local language version of the course.

National Multiplier Events

ITALY

The Italian course launch took place on 28th January online. The project lead for Studio Risorse, Monica Miglionico, and the project lead for Il Sicomoro, Valeria Zampagni, presented the Italian course and engaged in a long discussion with educators, migrant learners and other stakeholders in Matera and beyond.

GREECE

The Greek course launch took place on 27th January online. The project lead for KEKAPER at the Region of Crete, Charalambos-Nikolaos Piteris, and the project lead for the European Education and Learning Institute -EELI, Kalli Rodopoulou, presented the Greek course and engaged in discussion with participant educators, local and regional authorities and other stakeholders.

FINLAND

The Finnish course launch took place on February 11th online. The project lead for Learning for Integration ry, Marja-Liisa Helenius, presented the Finnish course and engaged in discussion with participant educators, learners and other stakeholders.

UK – FINAL LAUNCH EVENT

The UK dissemination and final launch event for the project took place on February 1st online. The project lead for Creative Learning Programmes, Chrysi Koundouraki, and the project coordinator from Heriot-Watt University, Dr Katerina Strani, presented the InterTrainE course and engaged in discussion with participant educators, learners, academics and other stakeholders in the UK and the rest of Europe.

The InterTrainE course

The InterTrainE course is divided into 4 Modules and each Module consists of 4 units.

Module 1: Theoretical Background, Basic Principles and Concepts
Module 2: Intercultural Competences in the Context of Migration
Module 3: Adult education practices in intercultural contexts
Module 4: Impact and global citizenship

A certificate of completion awarding 5 EQF credits is issued to learners who complete the course and achieve a minimum of 70% in each Module. Learners can choose to complete part of the course according to their training needs, however they will not receive a certificate of completion if they do not complete all 4 Modules.

There is a discussion forum where you are invited to ask questions and discuss key concepts or case studies in the course under the principles of peer learning.

The course is accompanied by a Course Syllabus and a Trainees’ Handbook.

You can find all our completed outputs, including research reports, curricula, the course syllabus and the trainees’ handbook on our website: http://intertraine.eu/outputs

Remember that our website and our outputs are available in all project languages: English, Italian, Greek and Finnish.

Be part of our conversation! Register on our platform http://intertraine.eu/moodle/ and follow the online course. Send us your feedback at info@intertraine.eu

Thank you for all your support!

Project website and social media accounts

Our project website includes information and updates on our project, as well as all Intellectual Outputs to date. The website is available in all partner languages – English, Greek, Italian and Finnish.

Updates are published regularly on social media. To make sure you don’t miss out:
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Research Gate  

For any questions or comments, please contact: info@intertraine.eu

Or the project coordinator:

Dr Katerina Strani
Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies
Henry Prais Building
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS
UK
Tel: +44 131 451 4216
A.Strani@hw.ac.uk

“InterTrainE update – our online credit-bearing course is ready!

InterTrainE NewsletterDecember 2020

Welcome to the fifth newsletter of our Erasmus+ project Intercultural Training for Educators (InterTrainE)! The 2-year project is led by Heriot-Watt University and the Coordinator is Dr Katerina Strani from the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies

Baby news

Congratulations to Alastair Mackie (HWU) who became a Dad in July! Alastair, his partner Zoe and baby Mikkel are doing great. This is the third new member of the InterTrainE team, with Kalli Rodopoulou (EELI) and Kate Sailer (CLP) also welcoming bundles of joy last year 🙂

Our course is ready!

We are very happy to announce that our online course is now ready and freely available through our platform! http://intertraine.eu/moodle/

The InterTrainE course is divided into 4 Modules and each Module consists of 4 units.

Module 1: Theoretical Background, Basic Principles and Concepts
Module 2: Intercultural Competences in the Context of Migration
Module 3: Adult education practices in intercultural contexts
Module 4: Impact and global citizenship

A certificate of completion awarding 5 EQF credits is issued to learners who complete the course and achieve a minimum of 70% in each Module. Learners can choose to complete part of the course according to their training needs, however they will not receive a certificate of completion if they do not complete all 4 Modules.

There is a discussion forum where you are invited to ask questions and discuss key concepts or case studies in the course under the principles of peer learning.

The course is accompanied by a Course Syllabus and a Trainees’ Handbook.

You can find all our completed outputs, including research reports, curricula, the course syllabus and the trainees’ handbook on our website: http://intertraine.eu/outputs

Remember that our website and our outputs are available in all project languages: English, Italian, Greek and Finnish.

Joint Staff Training Event highlights

Our online Joint-Staff Training Event took place on 16th-20th November. The JSTE was hosted by KEKAPER – Region of Crete, sadly not in Rethymno, but on Zoom. 22 participants from the 7 partners in 4 countries were trained on the basis of the InterTrainE course, provided feedback and critically evaluated the course content and impact.

Some highlights from the week’s activities:

On Day 1, we focused on Module 1: Basic Principles and Concepts. We discussed interculturalism and intercultural education in the context of critical adult education. We looked at dimensions of privilege and their role in the classroom. This discussed included power dynamics in intercultural classrooms, motivation, language of instruction, languages of learners, empowerment and co-construction of knowledge.

Day 2 focused on Module 2: Intercultural Competences in the Context of Migration. We discussed stereotypes, bias, uncertainty, trauma, deskilling, confidence, motivation and empathy. Not bad for one module!

Day 3 focused on Module 3: Adult education practices in intercultural contexts. We revisited group dynamics in intercultural classrooms, and discussed racism and discrimination in the classroom with relevant case-studies. When we finished, Yannis asks us to state one word that we would take away from today. We all agreed on “Inspired”!

Day 4 was focused on the final module, Module 4: Impact and Global Citizenship. We discussed our role as educators, taking into account everything we had learned and discussed so far. We looked at both personal and social impact, which sparked a debate on age and gender bias.

Who says the online medium limits engagement? We had a long and interesting discussion on Intercultural v. Global education.

On Day 5, which was the last day of the JSTE, we focused on case-studies prepared by the participants. These case-studies and personal stories sparked a discussion on the importance of empathetic listening and attitudes as opposed to judging isolated behaviours. An interesting debate followed on politics in the classroom, languages in the classroom, group work and group dynamics, and the difference between individualist and collectivist cultures.

That’s a wrap!!! We are all still buzzing. Cheers! متشکرم Grazie Gracias Kiitos Ευχαριστούμε Faleminderit

We have analysed the JSTE feedback and made minor changes to course material in response to participants’ recommendations. Our External Evaluator, Dr Jim Crowther also provided us with comments and an evaluation of the final course. We are very grateful to our external evaluator for his feedback and guidance. His expertise and engagement with the project are invaluable.

Be part of our conversation! Register on our platform http://intertraine.eu/moodle/ and follow the online course. Send us your feedback at info@intertraine.eu

Next stages

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, all our remaining activities will take place online until the end of the project in February 2021. Our national Multiplier Events and our project’s Final Dissemination Event will take place in the coming months.

Watch this space for the dates of our national multiplier events and for our project’s Final Dissemination Event, when the course will be formally presented!

In 2020, many aspects of our work and our lives changed and we are being affected in ways we could not imagine. Online education has a more crucial role than ever before to support and connect learning communities. Stay tuned and check out our activities on our website   http://intertraine/eu

Project website and social media accounts

Our project website includes information and updates on our project, as well as all Intellectual Outputs to date. The website is available in all partner languages – English, Greek, Italian and Finnish.

Updates are published regularly on social media. To make sure you don’t miss out:

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Research Gate  

Our next and final newsletter will be out in February 2021, so stay tuned!

Contact

For any questions or comments, please contact: info@intertraine.eu

Or the project coordinator:

Dr Katerina Strani
Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies
Henry Prais Building
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS
UK

Tel: +44 131 451 4216
A.Strani@hw.ac.uk

IndyLan Project Update! June 2020

Welcome to the second newsletter of our Erasmus+ project Mobile Virtual Learning for Indigenous Languages (IndyLan). The 26-month project (2019-2021) is led by Heriot-Watt University and the Coordinator is Dr Katerina Strani from the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies

IndyLan includes 5 partners from 4 countries (UK, Finland, Norway and Spain) and aims to develop a mobile application which will help to learn the languages and cultures associated with the following indigenous languages: Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Basque, Galician and Saami. The project will develop an educational tool designed specifically for users to learn not only some of Europe’s endangered languages but also more about the cultures of the people who speak these languages.

The partners are:

The IndyLan application will help speakers of English, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish to learn Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Basque, Galician and Saami, all endangered at different degrees


The tool constitutes a gamified language-learning solution in the form of a mobile application. Smartphones have become a popular educational tool and the number of the smartphone and tablet users of all ages is constantly growing in the EU. The application is building on a previous project, Moving Languages, with the key difference that IndyLan will produce one application for all languages, and not multiple language-specific applications as Moving Languages did. IndyLan will contain around 4,000 vocabulary items (both terms and expressions) in about 100 categories. The modes that will be available in the application are: Vocabulary; Phrases; Dialogues; Grammar; Culture; Test. 

The app is scheduled to be launched at the Final Dissemination Conference in Cornwall in September 2021. It will be available for download globally for free in both iOS and Android. Like all language-learning apps, IndyLan is complementary to other language- and culture courses and can be considered to be part of self-study material.

Our vision is for the IndyLan app to contribute to endangered language learning and revitalisation so that these languages remain alive and relevant in contemporary societies and economies. 

News and updates

Website launch

Our project website was launched in February! The website is available in 10 languages (and soon we will also have Swedish). It has a dedicated section on the languages and people of the IndyLan app, with videos and resources. On our website you can also find news and updates, as well as a list of our downloadable outputs.

Intellectual Output 1 completed

Our Intellectual Output 1: Report on endangered indigenous languages in partner countries and mobile learning solutions is ready and can be downloaded from our website 

The report provides an overview of endangered languages in the partner countries (UK, Finland, Norway, Spain) and a review of mobile and other virtual learning tools for learning and promoting these languages. The report starts with an overview of the endangered languages in Europe, and the current EU policies concerning indigenous and minority languages. Next, it provides some figures and statistics regarding the above six indigenous and endangered languages, which are part of the IndyLan app (Basque, Cornish, Gaelic, Galician, Scots and Sámi), in the partner countries (UK, Spain, Finland, Norway). Finally, it reviews mobile learning solutions and online resources available for these endangered languages in partner countries (for Android, iOS, and Windows platforms).

Each partner researched, downloaded and tested where possible, and evaluated the available language learning applications. The search was carried out on Google, Apple and other markets, using the mobile devices and PCs. The result of this work is not only a rich collection of language learning applications described in detail, but also an important collection of suggestions and useful information for developing the IndyLan app.

Promotional Cornish video

Watch Mark Trevethan from Cornwall Council promoting the IndyLan app in Cornish!

Covid-19 impact on our project

These last few months have certainly been different and difficult for many of us. Many aspects of our work and our lives have changed as we are being affected in ways we could not imagine.

In light of the rapidly changing situation with the Coronavirus pandemic, we had to cancel our face-to-face meeting in Karasjok, Sápmi, Norway which was due to take place on 10-11 June. We met twice online instead, once in April and once in June. If circumstances allow it, we will meet in Karasjok in March 2021 at our scheduled third project meeting, otherwise we will meet in Bilbao as originally planned.

Our 2nd project meeting took place online due to Covid-19 restrictions

Katerina (coordinator, HWU) dialling in from her home in Edinburgh
Steve (Scots researcher, HWU), joining from his home outside Edinburgh
Veronica (Learnmera) in lockdown in Portugal, looking very happy indeed!
Mark (Cornwall Council) joined from his home in Cornwall
Garazi (Moviéndote) joined from her office in Bilbao, where the lockdown had just been lifted
Áile (Saami Council) from her office in Karasjok, where the lockdown had just been lifted
Beaska Niilas (Saami Council, Sámi researcher) also dialled in from Karasjok.

With the help of technology, we were able to hold an online partners’ meeting on the 10th of June instead of our planned one in Karasjok. We had already held a catch-up meeting in April online, where we discussed the current and next stages of the project and made sure that everyone is all right and coping with the situation at the moment. In these two meetings we discussed the project’s progress, dissemination, internal and external reviewing procedures, and Covid-19 contingency planning. The full agenda of the meeting can be found here

Progress

  • We received a very positive review of our Intellectual Output 1 and of the progress of our project so far by the external evaluator, Dr Philip McDermott, Senior Lecturer, School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, University of Ulster.
  • We submitted a progress report to our funder, Erasmus + UK, and we are awaiting results and any recommendations.
  • Intellectual Output 2 is the application itself, which will be ready in beta version by April 2021. Partners have completed the translation of about 4,000 vocabulary items for each language, which was no easy task, as there were many untranslatable terms (there are no words for yes or no in Cornish), terms with complicated translations (‘to own something’ in Gaelic) and other terms with more than one translations (see snow terminology  in Sámi).
  • Partners are now in the process of translating phrases and dialogues, developing the grammar tabs and the culture tabs. After this, we will be producing audio files for all these terms and phrases!
  • The developers will have the app backend ready soon, so the app will start taking shape.
  • Intellectual Output 3 will be the pilot testing of the app which will be carried out by remote users as well as participants in our multiplier events in all partner countries in the summer of 2021.
  • The app is scheduled to be launched at the Final Dissemination Conference in Cornwall in September 2021.

Next project meetings

–> September 2020 (online)

–> December 2020 (online)

–> March 2021: Bilbao or Karasjok – to be confirmed!

Will the March 2021 meeting take place in Karasjok?
Or in Bilbao?

If you are an educator, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe has just opened a call for #AdultLearning community to share their stories. 

Why not share yours at https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/community-stories-initiative?

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndylanP
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectIndyLan

Stay safe everyone!

For any questions or comments, please contact us at info@indylan.eu

InterTrainE Newsletter: May 2020

Welcome to the fourth newsletter of our Erasmus+ project Intercultural Training for Educators (InterTrainE). The 26-month project (2018-2020) is led by Heriot-Watt University and the Coordinator is Dr Katerina Strani from the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies

InterTrainE includes 7 partners from 4 countries (UK, Finland, Italy and Greece) and aims to develop an intercultural training programme for educators teaching adult migrants.

The partners are:

Specifically, the project is developing a modularised training curriculum with qualification standards specialised for Adult Education.

It will also produce a handbook for trainers including a theoretical framework of basic concepts, learning outcomes and the training package itself which will include practical exercises and, where possible, case studies.

All the training materials will be uploaded to a publicly accessible Moodle platform, which will be accessed via our website.

Covid-19 impact on our project

These last few months have certainly been different and difficult for many of us. Many aspects of our work and our lives have changed as we are being affected in ways we could not imagine.

In light of the rapidly changing situation with the Coronavirus pandemic, the team decided that our Joint Staff Training Event which was due to take place on 04-08 May 2020 in Rethymno, Greece, had to be postponed. 

If circumstances allow it, we will reschedule for some time in autumn 2020 or winter 2021.

We hope we will be able to organise our Training Event in Rethymno in the near future.
Our flyers are ready and waiting for our JSTE … 🙁

Our 4th project meeting took place online due to Covid-19 restrictions

With the help of technology, we were able to hold an online partners’ meeting on the 18th of May instead of our planned one in Crete. We discussed the current and next stages of the project and made sure that everyone is all right and coping with the situation at the moment. The meeting agenda can be found here.

During this online meeting, the team – joined by our external evaluator, Dr. Jim Crowther – discussed the impact of Covid-19 on our project, the communications between our coordinator and the National Agency and an eventual request for our project’s extension. This would allow us to carry out our Joint Staff Training Event and Multiplier Events in the future, hopefully once the situation with Covid-19 will be clearer.

Progress

  • Our teams have completed our Curriculum development on intercultural education and training for Adult educators, which was developed based on O1 and O2 results, and our Intellectual Outputs 5 and 6, the Training guide for adult educators and the course syllabus with final material and useful information and tips will be made available to Adult educators and all interested parties. We also submitted a further progress report to the funder in April 2020, and we are awaiting the results and any recommendations.
  • We are now working on our Output 4, the learning materials for our online platform. The objective is to elaborate a set of sample training materials organised in modules and divided into topics. We are working on the development of the MOOC, where the training materials will be uploaded and adapted.
  • Our  External Evaluator, Dr Jim Crowther gave us his comments and evaluation of our overall progress and we were happy to confirm that our work runs smoothly despite all the difficulties we face. We are very grateful to our external evaluator for his feedback and guidance so far. His expertise and engagement with the project are invaluable.

You can find all our completed outputs (IO1, IO2, IO3, IO5, IO6) on our website: http://intertraine.eu/outputs

Remember that our website and our outputs are available in all project languages: English, Italian, Greek and Finnish.

The InterTrainE Moodle platform

During our meeting, our Finnish partner also showed us the Moodle platform and we discussed the final stages of Intellectual Output 4 – the online course. Finally, we discussed the outputs’ evaluation and peer reviewing process.

LFI colleagues taking us through the comprehensive Moodle platform and through all the features

In the meantime, and as we all await developments on current circumstances, the InterTrainE partners have been busy getting used to working from home and still trying to engage with our audiences. We are continuing our research activities and development of material from home or from the workplace for those of us who are allowed to do so!

Chrysi from Creative Learning Programmes (CLP) working from home in the UK
Katerina (the coordinator) from Heriot-Watt University working from home in the UK.

Monica from Studio Risorse back in her office in Matera, Italy!
Babis and Dimitra from KEKAPER back in their office in Rethymno, Crete !

We are very excited and looking forward to presenting our platform soon, as online education has a more crucial role than ever before to support and connect learning communities. Stay tuned and check out our activities on our website:   http://intertraine/eu

Online resources accessible now

While you are anxiously waiting for our updates (😊 😊), you can have a look at these online resources and tools for learners, teachers and educators during the outbreak of COVID-19 provided by EU-funded projects:

https://ec.europa.eu/education/resources-and-tools/coronavirus-online-learning-resources/eu-funded-projects_en

If you are an educator, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe- has just opened a call for #AdultLearning community to share their stories. 

Why not share yours at https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/community-stories-initiative ?

Stay safe, everyone!

Project website and social media accounts

Our project website includes information and updates on our project, as well as all Intellectual Outputs to date. The website is available in all partner languages – English, Greek, Italian and Finnish.

Updates are published regularly on social media. To make sure you don’t miss out:

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Research Gate  

Our next newsletter will be out in Autumn 2020, so stay tuned!

Contact

For any questions or comments, please contact the project coordinator:

Dr Katerina Strani

Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies

Henry Prais Building

Heriot-Watt University

Edinburgh EH14 4AS

UK

Tel: +44 131 451 4216

A.Strani@hw.ac.uk