AAA – The Ellipse

by Charlene Hadinata, edited by Nina Nim

For one month, AAA filled the rooms of Dwinelle every Wednesday to attend Issues’ Language Revitalization Night. Issues hosted this event to help “revitalize” languages for students and to introduce them to new languages.

INTRO NIGHT! Students began the night with an inevitable Icebreaker. As students entered through the door, an index card with a word written on it was taped to their backs. The main objective was to figure out your word and find your pair, i.e. Mustard and Ketchup. The participants were then split into 5 groups to get a sneak preview of the languages offered – Thai, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese. It was pretty much speed dating with languages. President Dao Nguyen (Vietnamese) taught the groups how to order a bowl of pho, while Jeffrey Jankaew (Thai) and Edison Park (Korean) had different perspectives on the phrases to say to your loved one. Jankaew taught romantic phrases such as “Chan rak khun” (I love you) whereas Park taught the less subtle, and more to the point, phrases like “Pa-gee-poh-seo” (Take off your pants). In addition, Anne Chen taught Cantonese while external vice president Jeisun Xie taught Mandarin.

NIGHT #1 – Thai! Sawatdee ka! The beginning of the night was focused on Thai. Jeffrey Jankaew deviated from the romantic phrases and taught the fundamental basic phrases like “Sebai-dee-mai-ka” (How are you). Later, the attendees were split into groups once again, but this time based on language preference. The rooms were filled with different languages; others could have mistaken the participants for international students.

NIGHT #2 – Mandarin! Ni hao ma! Andrew Zhang took the spotlight this night and taught phrases that would be useful in the ever so popular game, Mafia. So if you are ever accused of being a mafia, just say “Wo shi wu gu de!” Again, groups were formed and played bilingual mafia!

NIGHT #3 – Cantonese! Nay ho fay! Helen Liu printed out lyrics to the Cantonese version of “A Whole New World” and the participants were asked to sing along. “Jeh see sun dik lure ching!” Can you guess what happened next? Correct, groups! The final phrases were taught and the last language night was over. Students were left more knowledgeable, confused, and lastly revitalized.