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The University of Michigan Library hosted “Sing, O Mother Tongue! A Celebration of World Languages Through Poetry” at Hatcher Graduate Library Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the 25th anniversary of UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day. The multilingual international poetry reading was attended by approximately 50 students and community members in person, in addition to 20 online attendees.
The event featured 16 different speakers who read self-selected poems in 16 different languages. The speakers included students, Graduate Student Instructors, professors and library staff, while the selected poems touched on a multitude of topics including grief, womanhood, cultural connection, religion and survival. Each poem was accompanied by an on-screen English translation for audience members.
Rackham students Katherine Tapia and Zach Severs presented their poem in Catalan, a lesser-known Latin language. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Severs said he strongly believed in the enrichment provided by exposure to new languages.
“Language diversity is what enriches us as a people and as an international community,” Severs said. “I really think that the more languages that one comes into contact with, the more rich and the more nuanced your worldview is.”
The poem the two students presented was titled “De Consolació (On Consolation)” by Ramon Llull, translated by Katherine Tapia. Severs said his experience as a Spanish GSI made him feel a sense of personal connection with Llull’s work.
“As a language teacher, the poet himself really speaks to me,” Severs said. “He’s all about trying to share knowledge in the most universal way possible and (his work doesn’t) really know international barriers.”
LSA senior Suparna Hande, one of the speakers, presented a poem in Japanese, though it is not her native language. In an interview with The Daily, Hande said learning Japanese her freshman year of college on a whim helped her to connect more deeply with her native language, Kannada.
“I began learning (Japanese) my freshman year of college,” Hande said. “I guess I just wanted to learn something new. Deeply studying the grammar and everything — it made me kind of understand language overall. I have my own struggles with my mother tongue. So it also made me want to learn that even more. I think language is like a connection between cultures and people. For me, it’s like a connection to my family.”
Mary Lawrence, U-M librarian for Western European studies, was one of five members on the event’s planning committee. In an interview with The Daily, Lawrence highlighted the importance of helping diverse populations and speakers of lesser-known languages feel seen.
“I think that was the main focus of our event,” Lawrence said. “The library collects many, many languages and I think it helps us represent the diverse population on campus. It makes people feel like their languages are seen and can be studied.”
Following the poetry readings, visitors had the opportunity to browse a collection of multilingual poetry materials, enjoy a variety of international refreshments and have their names written out in various foreign scripts.
Lawrence said the purpose of the event was to promote a continued message of celebrating language diversity across campus and beyond.
“I think the message of our event is that these languages and this diversity is here to be celebrated,” Lawrence said. “That’s what we want to promote.”
Tapia said that in an increasingly globalized world, exposure to diverse languages is important for finding understanding and empathy for one another.
“I do think that it’s important to spread the word, especially about languages that are not very well known,” Tapia said. “We cannot love what we do not understand. We live in a globalized world, but it’s time to get to know a little bit more (about) one another’s homes.”
Daily Staff Reporter Farah Kavarana can be reached at farahkav@umich.edu
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