When Words Don’t Fail: World Languages and Cultures Open House

The Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLC) hosted their annual 2025 Fall Open House on Monday, Oct. 6 in the Language Learning Center, O'Hara Hall 306. More than 100 participants explored this year's interactive stations created by WLC instructors at The University of Scranton from Argentina, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Taiwan.

• Students, staff, faculty, and community members at the Open House tried their hand at origami with support from this semester's Japanese language classes.
  
  
• Many sampled French syrups - mint and lavender flavored for the adventurous, pizza and refreshments, and sweets from Argentina, Germany and Taiwan.
  
  
• Karaoke and games offered learners a variety of additional avenues for acquiring and practicing vocabulary and cultural concepts.
  
  
• The LLC Coordinator, Amy Kuiken, Ed.D, drew on her linguistics background to help learners investigate the etymology and meanings behind their own names.

Participants won prizes by correctly guessing how many languages in which one of the University's maintenance and facilities staff members, Angel Vargas, was able to greet people. (The list is impressive: English, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Sudanese, Italian, French, Korean, and Mandarin.)

How Do 'Words Build Bridges'? Scranton Alum Demonstrates

Guests were also given an exclusive opportunity to explore Optimust Connect, a secure, real-time translation and contextual analysis platform developed and piloted by Scranton alumnus Luis Vasquez '25. Originally conceived during his time as a counseling student at The University of Scranton after wondering how AI can address problems in his field, Vasquez's project helps counselors, educators and healthcare providers communicate clearly across languages while protecting privacy and preserving the meaning of sensitive conversations. He also shared the LifeLanguage glossary, a crowdsourced database defining terms and phrases across multiple languages that acts as the "brain" of his tool. A banner hanging over his station at Open House read, "Words Build Bridges."

WLC work study staff used the event to highlight spring 2026 WLC course offerings-such as SPAN 101 and ITAL101 for beginners-along with other WLC courses conducted in English, Arabic, ASL, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Russian.

Apply for Alpha Mu Gamma Honor Society

Students additionally shared the benefits of joining the Theta Iota Chapter of Alpha Mu Gamma, the National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society. Deadline to apply is Feb. 22, 2026; contact Dr. Zanzana for details.

Eventgoers left with a unique souvenir-a multilingual "Songs Without Borders" playlist compiled by WLC staff and students from around the world. Stop by O'Hara 306 for access!

The perfect way to describe this evening of connection, entertainment, and discovery? One might say it had a certain (*gestures hands) je ne sais quoi.

Save the Date: October 29

The next World Languages and Cultures event will be Oct. 29 in the Kane Forum from 4:30 - 6 p.m. with German Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant Eva Grohs. Register in advance or at the door: https://cglink.me/2rM/r383929

Thankful for Teamwork

The Language Learning Center offers special thanks for all who made this year's Open House a success:
Professor Chih-Yi Wu, Taiwanese Ministry of Education Teaching Mandarin Abroad Mandarin Instructor,
Professor Kazumasa Fujita, ALLEX Foundation Japanese Language Instructor,
Professor Anastasia Maume, Russian Language Adjunct Instructor,
Professor Franca Kelly, Italian Language Adjunct Instructor,
Professor Eva Grohs, German Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant from Germany,
Professor Agustina Santivañez, Spanish Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant from Argentina, Professor Mohamed Saleh El-Ghanam, Arabic Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant from Egypt, Professor Marion Rousseau, French Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant from France.

- Dr. Amy Kuiken, Language Learning Center Coordinator contributed to this article.