Wider community links and engagement​

We engage with the challenges of communication not only in our research, but also through a range of events – including special guest lectures, workshops, and seminars.

We aim to help our students and the wider community improve their understanding of language, translation, and intercultural communication through activities both off and on campus. 

Engagement activities

Love Languages Day is an event run by the Department of Language and Communication Studies which aims to promote languages and cultures to the public.

LCS students and tutors present a range of engaging activities such as language tasters and presentations on communication.

 

Sacré Théâtre Qu’est-Ce Que C’est?​

Sacré Théâtre is the longest-running permanent French language theatre company in the UK. The company’s cast is comprised of staff and students, principally from the University of East Anglia’s French language courses plus associated members. The opportunity for students to develop their linguistic skills and confidence in a French-Speaking environment in partnership with staff, from the initial read-throughs to public performances, is a tremendously valuable one. We are fortunate to have built up a loyal following of francophiles and francophones in the region.We perform every year at the UEA Drama Studio, usually in late March and can provide discounts for school groups. See photos and films from many of our productions on our Sacré Théâtre website.

We are delighted to be sponsored by local company Integro Languages: experts in translating your brand.

La Taberna is a student led-publication.

The first edition contains interviews with the Lord Mayor of Norwich, Juddith Lubbock, and star of the Imitation Game Jack Bannon.

Students from LCS have also written articles for the magazine on what it is like to be a fresher at UEA, Pope Francis and his role in the promotion of Spanish as a foreign language, Don Quixote public readings in Madrid, and a detailed report on the Year Abroad programme. 

Read issues of La Taberna

The project Support for Access to Audiovisual Media (SAAM), founded and led by Dr Carlos de Pablos-Ortega, places significant emphasis on accessibility to the media by providing the Deaf and Hard of Hearing with translations and subtitles, for audiovisual materials for charitable and non-profit organisations. 

Since its inception in 2016, SAAM has collaborated with 16 local, national and international organisations, providing invaluable assistance to small charities and NGOs. SAAM has been able to highlight specific challenges through its helpful translations as well as through its subtitling.

These impactful service activities for the community, are evidenced by the diverse key social issues raised by the charities and non-profit organisations: understanding child abuse in developing countries (Child Protection in International Nonprofits , USA), awareness of poor living and working conditions faced by plantation workers and small farm producers (Bananalink, Norfolk, UK), supporting and empowering refugees, asylum seekers and migrants (New Routes, Norfolk, UK), empowering women in disadvantaged countries (Women in Action International) and supporting research on neurofibromatosis other rare diseases in women’s health (La Hora Violeta, Spain). 

In addition, other impactful service activities help in promoting cross-cultural integration in the local community and provide access to audiovisual material to audiences with auditory impairments (Wymondham Heritage Museum, Norfolk, UK), helping economically disadvantaged children to realise their potential through their right to education (Supporting Kids in Peru, Peru).

Finally, the promotion of non-violent communication, disarmament, human rights, positive management of conflicts and social justice transformation are all ideals to which SAAM contributes, through the work of its volunteers in two international organisations: Casa Per la Pace in Milan (Italy) and Tr3s Social in Madrid (Spain).

SAAM has been partnered with other universities in the EU: University of Alcalá, in Madrid (Spain) since 2018, and Université de Lorraine, in Nancy (France) since 2021. Given the success of SAAM in Spain and, now France, we are looking at the possibility of further collaborations with universities in Germany, Japan and the USA. 

SAAM’s value and impact has been acknowledged on three different occasions with the following awards: 

  • First Runner up in the 2019 Aurora Diversity & Equality Awards
  • First runner-up in the 2018 Chartered Institute of Linguists’ Threlford Memorial Cup, with a commendation for “fostering the study of modern foreign languages”. 
  • An individual project in 2017 as part of the UEA Engagement Award Scheme.

SAAM is an innovation project that brings together staff, students and industry partners to develop professional skills as well as disseminating university expertise for the benefit of a wide range of organisations.
 

Some of our final year students of translation participate in the Made in Translation project as part of their studies. The Made in Translation project gives students opportunities to work together to create collaborative translations for authors, projects and organisations.

Students taking part in the Made in Translation project translated texts from Spanish to English for the Women of Influence project, a British Academy funded project exploring the potential and impact of indigenous female community participation and leadership in Peru. Students translated interviews with the indigenous women which have been included on the project website and videos, where the students have been credited as translators for their invaluable work.

The Made in Translation project is part of the Professional Practice Scheme, which is designed to build bridges between academic and professional worlds via module activities and assessment, and students receive a certificate for taking part.  

 

The Creative Translation for Schools project presents an opportunity for UEA staff and students to engage with local primary and secondary schools to celebrate languages, cultures and translation with young learners and their teachers. 

This outreach project is jointly led by Dr Eugenia Loffredo (Lecturer in Translation Studies) and Bettina Pfeiffer (Tutor in German) and runs in partnership with the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) and the Queen's College Translation Exchange (QTE).

Students receive training to become ‘Creative Translation Ambassadors’ to develop and deliver workshops for pupils from primary age upwards. With an emphasis on translation as a creative and fun-filled activity, students learn how to channel their enthusiasm for language-learning and their expertise in translation into enriching classroom activities for young people. 

Our student ambassadors receive training from professional literary translators and experienced teaching practitioners to enable them to collaboratively develop their own workshops based on a literary text or film sequence in a foreign language. The most rewarding moment comes when students deliver their workshops in local schools between March and June. These occasions are always incredibly enriching and valuable first classroom experiences.  

Past workshops have drawn from a diverse range of texts and languages: translations of picture books have included Cara de Pájaro (Rocío Bonilla) or Petronille et ses 120 petits (Claude Ponti), and there are translation workshops on a traditional Japanese children’s song (Teru-teru bouzo) a Bulgarian spring poem and a Bengali poem by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore. 

For more information about the project, please email b.pfeiffer@uea.ac.uk
 

Norwich – City of Interculture celebrates the partnership between the University of East Anglia, its local host community and communities beyond, by bringing together representatives of all parties to share their perspectives on the challenges of communication across and between languages and cultures.

Norwich – City of Interculture I

We ran the first 'Norwich – City of Interculture' interactive event at the Forum in Norwich in February 2012. More than 50 free events took place in the Forum over two days, including a comedy show by celebrity guest Arthur Smith, language taster sessions, public lectures, workshops, origami and a display of school artwork. Over 400 people attended the free event, with language taster sessions attracting over 250 people alone.

The aim of the event was to bring together and celebrate the diverse range of people living in Norwich now- a diversity the city has enjoyed for many centuries.

 

Norwich City of Interculture II

We returned to the Forum, Norwich on Saturday 11 May 2013 with a series of activities, presentations and music performances to celebrate cultures in our community, with as a highlight, a presentation on Intercultural communication in Norfolk primary education by Leila Khabbazi.

Co-organiser and languages lecturer, of the ARHC funded project, Ilse Renaudie said: "We wanted to give the local community an opportunity to experience communication across cultures. The city and the region offer a wonderful mix of cultures from the past and also the present and understanding how this influences the way we interact is fascinating."

 

Norwich City of Interculture III

Visitors to this event discovered more about Norwich’s many cultures, found out how their city became the diverse place it is today, and how cultures are studied and celebrated here. They had a go at translating film dialogue, and learnt some phrases in new languages. They met students, staff and local organisations and discovered many ways to explore cultural diversity and communication across languages and cultures.

Watch our highlights video:


 
Watch our guest speaker Phil Wood, advisor to the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities programme, talk about initiatives to increase intercultural awareness in the city:

 

Opportunities for students to attend events and seminars led by experts in language, translation and intercultural communication.

Research Seminars​

This series provides an opportunity for UEA colleagues and students to attend presentations focused on issues of cross-cultural communication and translation studies, our two main areas of research.

Symposia​

We periodically organise or co-organise symposia and postgraduate conferences in the areas of translation, cross-cultural communication and discourse analysis.

The Ciné Club is run by the Department of Languages and Communication Studies.

In 2022-23, four foreign films were selected each semester and screened in one of our Lecture Theatres. The screening was followed by an informal discussion about the film. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Free popcorn!