European Language Day celebrated the richness of European languages

The European Language Day is an annual tradition at Haaga-Helia. It is a day that brings together passionate language learners from many different countries and expert Haaga-Helia language teachers for the purpose of sharing experiences and discussing the significance of languages in the global world. This unique event offers students an opportunity to be both organizers and participants, with the full support of the university’s language lecturers.

8.11.2023

News article

This year, the European Language Day was celebrated with a rich and exciting program planned and executed by an international team of Haaga-Helia students and teachers. The Director for Commercial and International Services Anne-Mari Karppinen opened the event and informed students about the almost limitless language learning opportunities available at Haaga-Helia and Ulysseus University. This was followed by an inspirational story by an actor and screenwriter Inka Kallén, who shared her profound language learning experience and its pivotal role in her professional career.

Later, the Director for Languages and Global Competencies Marjaana Halsas described her insights into language learning options in Haaga-Helia and Hai Guo, a Lecturer of Chinese, told students about Chinese studies and their role in internationalization. Haaga-Helia student Leah Jokelainen sent us video greetings from her internship at the Finnish Embassy in Berlin.

An exceptional panel discussion, led by Tesi Binder, was particularly intriguing for the event attendees, as active Haaga-Helia students and a teacher discussed their vision of languages in the future and shared their language stories. Haaga-Helia language students were represented by Caroline Saade from Germany, Zama Shabeer from India, Axel Wills from the UK and Antti Suoniemi from Finland. On behalf of the teaching staff, Kristiina Åberg took part in the discussion.

Finnish language game with prize led by Haaga-Helia students Artem Kislukhin and Emma Marttinen - and Swedish fun activity were followed by a challenging Kahoot, which made the event interactive and engaging. The game program added to the wonderful atmosphere of the European Language Day, much enjoyed by both students and lecturers.

Looking ahead to the next year, there are plans to enhance the interactivity of the event, and the team has already begun working on making the European Language Day experience even more colourful and diverse.

Text: student Artem Kislukhin