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#ThinkLanguages gets 3000 TY students thinking!

#ThinkLanguages 2019 was a great success as 3000 TY students from all over Ireland came to the Convention Centre Dublin to learn more about what foreign language skills can add to their lives.

The event kicked off in the main auditorium with a spectacular performance by the Experience Japan Taiko Drum team. Karen Ruddock, PPLI Director welcomed everyone an was followed by interesting and insightful talks from Orlaith Tunney and Silvia Bertoni from Trinity College and Heather Murphy, an engineering student who spoke about her French skills have helped her gain valuable international experience. After this came a fast-paced Italian interpretation session – where everyone could understand Salvo Cacciato & Lily Lee, with the help of European Commission interpreters. Keynote on the day came from Radio and TV broadcaster Hector O’Heochagain, who got the whole auditorium speaking…and even singing in Spanish!

After the much enjoyed International Food Tasting, everyone went to their choice of workshops – with all tastes catered for. Everything from French for the Fashion Industry, Chinese Calligraphy, Linguistics, Interpretation, Taekwondo and Japanese origami helped bring these languages to life for all the students.

They also got the opportunity to meet a huge variety of exhibition stand holders – representatives from many third level language departments, foreign embassy staff, Irish government bodies like Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland, the European Commission, cultural institutions and many more.

Thanks to all the students who took part in our survey on the day – we’re very happy to report that 91% of you said that you really enjoyed the day and 78% said that the event changed your opinion about the value of foreign languages in the real world. We really hope you enjoyed the day and recommend it to next year’s TY students.

Check out Youtube for all the latest videos from #ThinkLanguages 2019.