Euroasia: Language, Culture and Travel

Euroasia Spring Update – 1 Sept 2009

Firstly, thank you all who came out in support of the launch of International Languages Week at Euroasia. Photos are available on our Euroasia Facebook page.

Latin American party- 26 Sept

The 2nd Fiesta de la Chilenidad en Auckland is coming up, in conjunction with the Chilean National Day celebrations. We would like to invite you along to this amazing celebration organised by an established Chilean community group. If you want to see how Latin Americans party, you have to be there. Of course, those who went last year already know what it’s all about.

The details:
Date: Saturday, 26 September 2009
Time: 6.30pm (show starts at 7.30pm)
Venue: Te Atatu South Community Centre, 247 Edmonton Road, Te Atatu South.
Cost: $30

This event is open to all (not just those learning Spanish) so feel free to ask your friends along as well. Renowned Latin American dance group Renacer will be performing.

Euroasia is proud to support the Chilean National Day celebrations. All ticket holders will go into the prize draw to win a free course at Euroasia valued at $359.

As there are limited tickets available we would encourage those interested to purchase tickets from your teacher if you’re currently enrolled in a class with us. Tickets are sold on a cash basis. Sorry folks the organisers don’t take Visa. You can also email our Spanish teacher Jose-Luis at jose.valdivia@euroasia.co.nz if you’re keen. He will send you payment details.

Last year they sold out weeks prior and unfortunately the organisers had to turn away quite a few people on the waiting list. So get in quick!

Aotearoa Jasmine singing project – this Saturday

If you’re around this Saturday we would encourage you to head to Auckland Museum at 11am to join other New Zealanders from all walks of life to sing China’s best-loved folk song “Jasmine Flower” or Mo Li Hua. This session will be recorded for television.

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to sing this song. It’s well worth going along just to see what it’s all about. This NZ China Friendship Society initiative will celebrate the friendship between NZ and China. It is also a special gift for the 60th birthday of the People’s Republic of China. As we are the first country in the world to see the sunrise, its broadcast on television in New Zealand and in China will enable New Zealand to become the first country to wish China “Happy Birthday”. More information at http://aotearoajasmine.org.nz/

Let us know if you have any questions/feedback.  Great that spring is here. Let us know if you want to talk about upcoming courses. Or check out the Euroasia timetable.

Cactus Kate, a well known (and some say controversial) blogger, posted a blog entry today entitled How About Some of that $400 million For This?

Hot on the news that Maori language is deemed PC enough to support to the tune of $400 million, I was alerted to International Languages Week from Sunday 16th August to Saturday 22nd August. Here is the blurb from organisers who contacted me.

Yes, that would be me.

International Languages Week 2009 will take place from Sunday 16 August to Saturday 22 August 2009. The week is an opportunity for all New Zealanders to celebrate cultural and language diversity and to encourage the learning of international languages in New Zealand. Language teachers from around the country will be organising school-based activities and celebrations from the Far North to the Deep South.

This is a great initiative that Euroasia is very supportive of (for obvious reasons).  The problem is teachers around the country are working hard at this but get no recognition because the international languages sector do not have government-funded multi-million dollar budgets to publicise the benefits of learning foreign languages.

Learning Maori does not make New Zealand internationally competitive. Unless you plan on being a Maori trougher, it does not make you any more money.

Learning international languages allows New Zealanders to travel and make pot loads of money.

So I am all for it and perhaps now is the time to re-distribute the $400 mill wasted on Maori into activities such as this one.

Cactus Kate has a very strong position on learning international languages vs Maori. There is clearly a problem when the Chairman of the Maori Language Commission says the $400m spent annually on Maori language is inefficient. Personally I would be happy to see Maori language promoted together with – not at the expense of- international languages. At a time when New Zealand is becoming more culturally diverse and needing to engage more with the world, we are seeing fewer high schools compared to 5 years ago offering the key languages spoken by our major trading partners and local communities. This is a sad indictment of the situation we’re in.

As a start, wouldn’t it be awesome if all New Zealanders decided to use a greeting in a different language each day over the course of next week:

Monday 17 August – Ni hao!
Tuesday 18 August – Bonjour!
Wednesday 19 August – Guten Tag!
Thursday 20 August – Konnichiwa!
Friday 21 August – Buenos días!

More info:

• The official International Languages Week website.
• The Google Discussion group on ILW
• The Facebook  ILW group