Carleton University’s school of linguistics and language studies hosted its sixth annual Linguavision singing competition on March 10. The event took place in the university’s Kailash Mital Theatre.
In collaboration with Carleton’s department of French, faculty of arts and social sciences, school for studies in art and culture and English as a Second Language program, this year’s event featured more than 20 different acts in eight different languages. Acts included both individual and group performances.
Twenty-one Carleton students sang in the language they are learning in front of a theatre filled with more than 400 attendees. A panel of 11 judges evaluated the performers on a number of criteria, including pronunciation, use of instruments and creative originality.
Italian 1020 A+, a group of students from the ITAL 1020A class, performed “La mia voce,” by Naomi Rivieccio from the Aladdin soundtrack, and won first place in the judge’s choice category.
Keisha Decastro and Viphop Pech, who performed the Korean song “ONLY,” by LeeHi, won second place. Ike Vardy won third by performing a Russian song called “Спокойная Ночь” by Виктор Цой.
Contest winners received prizes ranging from $75 to $200.
Mike Barker, Linguavision’s annual event organizer, said since the first Linguavision event in 2015, the aim has been to provide students with the opportunity to take their language learning outside of the classroom.
“It’s creating an opportunity for students who love music and want to give it a try,” Barker said. “For others, it creates a meaningful memory of their time at the university.”
Linguavision was cancelled for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Barker emphasized the importance of in-person instruction for language learning.
“Learning a language is a social activity. You learn languages to interact with one another and it really does make a difference to be in-person,” he said.
Fourth-year linguistics student Paige Osmond is a returnee from Linguavision 2019. This year, they performed the Japanese song “Romeo and Cinderella” by Doriko.
“I love the culture that’s attached to it,” Osmond said. “When I started at Carleton and I saw that I needed to take a language class, I was immediately drawn to Japanese.”
Osmond said they were disappointed they were not able to perform in the next three Linguavision competitions due to the cancellations, but they are happy to be back this year.
Ben Bourne Flosman, a second-year political science student, performed “Amsterdam,” a French song by Jacques Barel. Flosman said he was drawn to the song because it is “moving” and has “amazing vocals.”
Flosman said he sees Linguavision as an opportunity to fulfill his New Year’s resolution to step out of his comfort zone.
“I saw the advertisement and I was like, ‘why not?’” he said.
The event fostered a sense of camaraderie for many of the participants. Osmond said the audience’s receptiveness and inclusivity helped them step outside their comfort zone.
“We know that we might mess up, we might say something completely wrong in another language because we don’t speak it fluently,” they said. “Getting to do that is the whole point of why I want to [participate in] Linguavision.”
Featured image by Abyssinia Abebe.
