Vol/51 No/1 2012FEBRUARY/MARCHTheLinguist23FEATURESthat learning a language is an investmentworth making", says Byrne. "We're particularlyworried about the courses we run for peoplewho take a language on top of their non-language degree. If they're paying £9,000 ayear for their degree, as they will be fromSeptember, will they want to pay extra forthat language programme?" He's hoping thefestival will convince students to do just that.Campbell sees other reasons for thelanguage festival phenomenon. "We're notvery good as a country at supportinglanguages and holding them in high esteem.We saw that in Michael Worton's report."Commissioned by the Higher EducationFunding Council for England (Hefce), the2009 report raised concerns about the healthof modern foreign languages in highereducation. "What grew from there was quiteserious concern", says Campbell. "Thatgalvanised action. At the same time, universitylanguage departments have been closing.We've really had to fight to keep languagesgoing in higher education. But now, with theSpeak to the Future campaign, there's somemomentum to change that, and the languagefestivals seem a helpful response."The language festivals seem to be rootingthemselves in the university calendar -although they are nothing new. In theNortheast, the Festival of InternationalCulture takes place over three days in March."Last year, we ran half-day events - one atNewcastle University, one at Durham and oneat Teesside", says Nicholas Johnston, chieforganiser of the festival and North East ProjectManager for the Hefce-funded Routes intoLanguages programme. "We did Persiancalligraphy, Bollywood dancing and capoeira." The event is part of Routes' ongoing workto encourage children to study languagesthroughout the curriculum. "It's based aroundStudent Ambassadors, so we recruit languagestudents from each of our universities and wesend them into schools to give presentations."Johnston is hoping to build on pastsuccesses this year. "We do evaluations at theevent, asking students what they thoughtbefore and after coming to our festival." In2011, the number who said they woulddefinitely continue with a language rose by 31 percent following the event, and thenumber who said they didn't want to study alanguage decreased by 70 percent. "That canbe a bit skewed", he admits. "Because we'retalking to them on the day, they're caught upin the moment. So this year we're going totrack them a few months down the line."For Byrne, the festivals are an opportunityfor universities to generate excitement aboutlanguages - and any event, no matter howsmall, is well worth the effort. "It doesn't haveto be a big thing", he says. "You can organisea round-table debate or you can just ask thecanteen to serve international cuisine for theday. The important thing is to unite to get themessage out that languages are important".'It's going to be a kitschspectacular! We wantthat mix -somethingthat will be a laughand something serious'INSPIRING LEARNERSFor the 2011 Festival of InternationalCulture, students were taught theBrazilian martial art capoeira at TeessideUniversity (left), and origami andJapanese language at Durham (far left)campaign for languages, which was launchedin 2011. "We don't play a direct role inrunning the events", explains ProjectManager Dominic Luddy. "Our aim is to drawattention to all the good things that arehappening to do with languages andencourage more people to get involved. It'sfantastic that these festivals have come aboutand that universities throughout the UK aretaking a more joined-up approach." He adds: "The Speak to the FutureLinkedIn group has gone further: we'verecently been discussing the idea of having alanguages week, rather than just a day. Tyingeverything in to one time of year - whetherthat's Mardi Gras in early spring, the EuropeanDay of Languages in late September, or anyother time - gives us something to rallyaround in raising awareness about theimportance of languages and can make abigger impact on public consciousness."Grand plansSome of the AULC universities have grandplans for 2012. "At LSE, this year's festival willinclude a round-table discussion on the idea ofthe multilingual city and changing identities",says Byrne. "That's our 'hard core' event, butwe're also showing international movies andwe're going to have 'languages speed dating'.All the language societies will be producing anevent too, with the students staging thataspect. They're also putting on a party, with aEuropean DJ and international karaoke. It'sgoing to be a kitsch spectacular! We want thatkind of mix - something that will be a laughand something to take more seriously." All of which sounds like a jolly good,thought-provoking, educational fiesta. Butwhy now? "We're hoping to show people

24 TheLinguistFEBRUARY/MARCH www.iol.org.ukFEATurESHow do you stage a series of 37 Shakespeare plays in37 languages? Miranda Mooretalks to Tom Bird, Globe to Globe Festival Producer, to find out The meeting in November 2010 betweenDominic Dromgoole and Tom Bird ofShakespeare's Globe, and members of theLOCOG team was momentous. Although theSouthbank theatre had met with London 2012on several occasions over the previous twoyears, it was at this meeting that they werefinally given the go-ahead to put on what mustsurely be the most ambitious multilingualtheatrical event ever staged. The race toorganise Globe to Globe -a six-week festivalof Shakespeare in 37 languages -was on.Dromgoole, the Globe's Artistic Director,and Bird, the Festival Producer, had just 16months to organise the entire programme. "It was wonderful and daunting," admits Bird."It was suddenly: 'Gosh there's a huge amountof work to do -a huge amount of hoops tojump through -to make this happen.'" Thetimeframe seems barely long enough to find37 theatre companies capable of performingthe works of Shakespeare in their nativelanguages. "It's been a very, very busy year tomake sure all the companies were in place tocome over here", he confirms.The brainchild of Dromgoole, Globe toGlobe developed through a series ofconversations with LOCOG (the LondonOrganising Committee of the Olympic andParalymic Games), which was looking to fundinternational arts collaborations for its WorldShakespeare Festival (WSF). Part of theLondon 2012 Festival, organised by theCultural Olympiad, the WSF will bringthousands of international performers to thecity, more than 600 of them to the Globe. Yet given the beleaguered state oflanguages in the UK today, Globe to Globeseems as courageous a project to fund as it ischallenging. So far the gamble is paying off.Since tickets went on sale in October theresponse has been phenomenal. "Wegenuinely didn't know quite what to expectand when we launched it to the public therewas a huge response of good will," says Bird."'Thank god you're doing this wonderfulthing', seemed to be the main reply."Particularly popular have been the Brazilianversion of Romeo and Julietfrom GrupoGalpão, the Russian Measure for Measurefrom Vakhtangov Theatre, and work inlanguages traditionally taught in the UK, suchas the French Much Ado About NothingandItalian Julius Caesar. Among the otherlanguages featured are Armenian, Bangla,Greek, IsiZulu, Korean, Macedonian, Shona,Turkish and Yoruba. The box office is expectedto bring in 45 percent of the £1.8m cost ofstaging the event, but ticket prices have beenkept low, with special discounts starting at 5%for the 'biathlon' (ie, two shows) and going upto 50% for the 'Olympian' (all shows). The festival is as much about the joy ofwatching the plays in other languages as it isabout enabling people to watch them in thelanguages they speak. "We're keen for peopleto just listen to languages and get their earsattuned to seeing the plays in differentlanguages. There's something lovely andalmost mesmerising, even if you don't speakthe language, about sitting there and listeningto the music of another language," says Bird. So that people can focus on the "rhythms"of the language, rather than a surtitles board,there will be synopsis surtitles in English butno line by line translation. "WatchingShakespeare in another language is strangelyliberating in the sense that you're notconstantly trying to decipher the meaning orthe depth of the wordplay of Shakespeare asAll the world's a stageA season of educational events entitled'Shakespeare Found in Translation' willrun alongside the more widely publicisedGlobe to Globe festival. Organised byGlobe Education, its aim is to exploreShakespeare's position as a globalplaywright. A series of lectures will beginwith Ton Hoenselaars' 'Shakespeare andthe Cultures of Translation' on 20 March. There will also be three'It is the East'practical sessions anda series ofworkshops led by translators ofShakespeare, beginning on 29 April with'Shakespeare Found In. Mandarin'.Other languages covered include Arabic,Yoruba and Polish, the latter focusing onthe Globe to Globe staging of Macbeth.See globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/education.GLOBE EDUCATION © JOHNTRAMPER