Bonjour. Konnichiwa. Hola. MTSU’s World Languages and Cultures Club saves seats at the table for students, no matter how they say “hello.”
At each meeting, club members join a group at one of several themed tables to speak French, Japanese, Spanish, German or English. The language tables provide students with an opportunity to converse in various tongues. These face-to-face conversations feel personal in a way practicing a language with an app can’t accomplish. They’re also casual — no one has to worry about a professor deducting points for miscongjugating a verb. The group held its first meeting of the spring semester on the afternoon of Feb. 3, convening in room 322 of the Keathley University Center.
“Language conversation tables are really low stakes, fun environments for people to come in and practice a foreign language,” said Tyler Knapp, the club’s co-president. “There’s always going to be a host at the table. Somebody who facilitates the conversation, leads discussion and answers questions. And just makes it a fun time.”
At the event, students enrolled in Japanese classes, Japanese culture enthusiasts and an exchange student gathered to chat at the Japanese table. Some of the conversation centered around the language itself — the proper time to use certain tenses, for example.
“I’m not native in Japanese,” said Austin Gurley, the club’s social media officer. “But I’m the Japanese language table host. I’m a learner of Japanese, to the point where I can kind of teach it.”
Each table is scattered with mini whiteboards, vocabulary cards and games to assist learning and aid the conversations. Partial room dividers separate the tables, but can only do so much to sequester the sound. All the tables have one thing in common: unlimited laughs. No translation necessary.
Much of the laughter at the Spanish table came from Gema Vela, the table host. Vela, who hails from Spain, is an assistant professor of Spanish at MTSU and the club’s faculty advisor since the start.
“When this started in 2022, I met with some students saying, ‘Oh, I want to start something, like, where we can meet other people.’ I was going to start a Spanish club,” Vela said. “But they thought it would be kind of cool to have, like, other cultures, too.”
The club is important to heritage speakers as well as language learners. It’s a place to find community and support, Vela said.
When Vela asked the table about pets, the group seemed eager to share the names of their perros y gatos — dogs and cats. When one student said he had no pets, Vela asked if he wanted one.
“Un mono,” Jordan Batey said — Batey wants a monkey. Vela laughed before pushing for more information about this monkey, taking the time to teach him the Spanish phrase for “spider monkey” and other monkey-related terms.
By the end of the meeting, the students at the Spanish table knew each other’s names, majors, pets and how they celebrated the new year.
Batey learned about the club at a student organization fair.
“I was very interested because Spanish is my second language,” he said. “It would give me the opportunity to talk with other Spanish speakers.”
Back at the Japanese table, exchange student Rio Ogura wrote kanji — Japanese characters — on a whiteboard for another student to carefully copy. She has been in the U.S. for about six months.
“I wanted [to come to] America because I want to learn American English,” Ogura said. “They use a lot of slang.”
Ogura was excited to meet new friends to learn from and teach.
“When I was in Japanese university, I just communicated with two, three girls,” Ogura said. “But Americans don’t make a group, they just act by themselves. Americans are so different. They’re so friendly. Everybody likes to talk.”
The World Languages and Cultures Club meets every other Monday from 4:15-5:45 p.m. The next meeting takes place April 14 in SU Gallery 102. On April 28, the club will return to their regular meeting location, KUC 322. For more information, follow the club on Instagram.
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