On Friday, November 14th, class 10b attended Expolingua, an event in Berlin dedicated to learning languages.

When we arrived at the venue, we first had some time to look around. The place was really crowded, and there were lots of stalls, each one focusing on a different language and culture. Some of the people at the stalls couldn’t speak German, so it was fun to talk to them in English. After wandering around for some time, my friends and I headed to our first workshop of the day. The first workshop was about writing in Arabic, and we learned to write seven letters of the alphabet. We had a lot of fun, and we were able to take the sheet with the letters we wrote home with us.

The second workshop was obligatory for everyone to attend. It was about how to become a translator for the European Commission. We were informed about the criteria you had to fulfill, such as having EU citizenship, a bachelor’s degree in languages, and knowledge of three European languages: the first one at level C2 and the second and third at level C1. We also found out that it is not always easy or quick to get this job, but the benefits after getting accepted could really be worth the wait since you get flexible working hours, a great salary, and the opportunity to move abroad.

After this interesting and informative presentation finished, my friends and I saw that there was another workshop starting in approximately five minutes right next door, so we quickly walked inside and sat down. This one was in English, and the topic was whether AI could be the future of language learning. The exciting part was that the host was a German teaching influencer. Her account is called „LerneDeutsch,“ and she has 1.1 million followers on Instagram. She came with her husband, who is also her business partner, as they both created an app called Evovo. With this app, people can learn German, and the trick to staying consistent with it is that the app first asks you about your hobbies and interests, so it can use content that you enjoy to teach you German. That was a really fun workshop, and we learned that AI can actually help you learn a language, but of course, it won’t replace real-life teaching.

All in all, I had a fun experience that day, and I learned a lot about different languages and ways to learn them.

Report by: Marcella El Helou