A TRIO of visionary migrants wants to build bridges to Launceston's expanding multicultural community via a social hub of language and cultural classes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The newly-formed United Language e Institute – a social enterprise three years in the making - aims to connect Launceston with its overseas-born residents and the cultures they have brought with them.
The institute is the creation of Spanish tutor and researcher Laura Ripoll-Gonzalez, her Australian-Hong Kong husband Lockie Yuen (a medical physicist at the W. P. Holman clinic) and Argentine Belen Yanotti, an economist and researcher at the University of Tasmania.
The three have brought together seven other local multilingual tutors to offer six-week language and culture courses for Spanish, French, Italian, German, Mandarin, Portuguese and Greek - with classes starting on October 20.
Ms Ripoll-Gonzalez, who speaks seven languages herself, said the idea was formed over shared experience upon her arrival and integration to Launceston in 2010.
‘‘Launceston is very multicultural but we haven’t yet realised as a city the potential of working together and learning from each other,’’ she said.
‘‘By creating a meeting point for people to learn and to communicate, it can only beagood thing for the community. There is a lot we can learn from each other, a lot of good ideas out there that can be explored if we open our minds to other cultures.’’
Ms Yanotti said, like Ms Rippoll-Gonzalez, it took her a while to find her feet in Launceston - sometimes due to a lack of understanding from others when it came to her homeland.
‘‘I met Laura and I could relate with her experience – it can be hard for someone coming from the mainland to Tasmania, let alone someone from overseas,’’ Ms Yanotti said.
‘‘You see in Europe – people speak a number of different languages, and it is not unusual for people from other countries and cultures to meet and interact.’’
Courses at the United Language Institute will run from Monday to Wednesday, 5.30pm to 7.45pm, at Fresh on Charles cafe.
Visit unitedlanguageinstitute.com.au for enrolment and course details.
The United Language Institute will also be hosting Multilingual Rock and Rhyme sessions at Fiesta on George on October 18.
