Festival of languages with workshops in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and British Sign Language, foreign-language film screenings and a Languages on Campus Day at the University of Reading.
The Reading Festival of Languages runs from 2 to 6 November across the University of Reading, with sessions on from 09:00 to 21:00. It's put on by the university's Department of Languages and Cultures, with support from Friends of the University of Reading, and it's built around the idea of university linguists working alongside community teachers. The whole thing is meant to celebrate the university's languages and cultures, and the town's own linguistic diversity, so it's as much about Reading as it is about the wider world.
There are two main parts open to the public. The first is a series of language and culture workshops in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, British Sign Language, and Reading's heritage languages, led by university linguists and community teachers. The second is a programme of foreign-language film screenings with English subtitles, each introduced by a university expert and followed by a Q&A. Between the two, you can go from a workshop in one language to a film in another, and there's a good mix of the academic and the community side of things.
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Not everything is for the general public, though. The festival also takes taster sessions in French, German, Italian, and Spanish into local secondary schools on 2, 3, 5, and 6 November, and there's a dedicated Languages on Campus Day on Wednesday 4 November, from 10:00 to 15:00, for the university community. The workshops and film screenings are the bits open to everyone, and they're spread across multiple venues at the university, including the Biscuit Factory and the Quaker Meeting House. It runs from 2 to 6 November, with sessions on from 09:00 to 21:00.
