On Friday the 9th of February, I went on a school trip to Reading University to learn about how they study languages there. We started by meeting two of the professors and they told us about why they loved languages and also how there are so many benefits to learning multiple languages. At the end of this talk we got the opportunity to ask undergraduates questions about their experience with the workload, their year abroad and many other things. The undergraduates then took us on a tour around campus, which was really interesting. After our lunch break, we had a translation workshop where we looked at what translation actually was and the issues in the translation of children’s’ story books. The book we looked at was a French book about peace called “L’ennemi” and how it had been translated into different languages. We looked at the difference in front covers, font, pages being cut, phrases and words used and colour. It was really interesting to see all of these differences between different countries versions as the message was completely changed and the book could be interpreted in many different ways. Looking at the translations was particularly interesting for me as previously I thought that it was just translating the story, but there was so much more analysis behind it. This trip was a really good insight into university life and has made me more open minded about studying a language at a higher level. The undergraduate student on the left in the photo is Mrs Quaglieri’s daughter Emma, who is a languages ambassador at Reading!
By Juliette S (Year 9)