Church Center, 777 UN Plaza,  with Josh Cohen of the Youth Hostel Movement.

Language Diversity Symposium Final Program

Symposium on Language and the United Nations, May 1, 2012

777 United Nations Plaza, New York

PROGRAMME 

9:30 – 10:00  Registration

10:00 – 10:30 Opening greetings

• H. E. Ambassador Filippe Savadogo, Permanent Representative of La Francophonie to the United Nations
• Alassane Diatta, Chief, French Translation Service, Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, United Nations 

10:30 – 11:30.  Language Policy at the United Nations

• Françoise Cestac, Former UN Assistant Secretary-General.  Introduction
• Marie-Josée de Saint Robert, Chief, Languages Service, Division of Conference Management, UN Geneva, “Policy Regarding Language Use at the United Nations.”  Paper read by Bonnibeth Fonseca-Greber. 
• André Corrêa d’Almeida & G. Bahar Otcu, Columbia University, “The Portuguese Language in the United Nations”

11:30 – 12:30.  The Language Policy Background and Its Implications (1)

• Clément Mbom, Brooklyn College, “Langues et développement humain: Le français, acteur du développement dans les pays où il n’est pas la langue maternelle”
• Anna Luisa Daigneault, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, “The Endangered Languages of South America: Grassroots Language Activism and New Media for the 21^st Century”
• Lauren Zentz, University of Arizona, “Legacies of Modernity, Postcoloniality, and Globalization: Language Policy in Indonesia”

12:45. Lunch. Film Screening: Languages Lost and Found: Speaking and Whistling the Mamma Tongue

Iris Brooks and Jon H. Davis, Cultural Reporters / Film Directors, Northern Lights Studio 

1:45-3:00.  The Language Policy Background and Its Implications (2)

• Timothy Reagan, Central Connecticut State University, “But What Is My Mother Tongue: Rethinking the Challenges of Mother Tongue Education”
• Myriam de Beaulieu, United Nations, “Loss of lexical and cultural diversity  with global communication ”
• Panel discussion by the speakers in the morning and early afternoon sessions

3:00 – 3:45.  Language Teaching and Learning

• Bonnibeth Fonseca-Greber, University of Louisville, “Preparing the UN’s Next Generation: A Professional Development Plan for Translator Candidates”
• Miriam Eisenstein Ebsworth & Brianna Avenia-Tapper, New York University, Steinhardt: Patricia Duffy, UN Language and Communications Programme; Jill Kalotay, webmaster and consultant, “Learning English for Peace: An Online English Course about the UN”
• Sohair Soukkary, Baruch College, CUNY, “Language Teaching: Tapping the Right Side of the Brain”

3:45 – 4:30.  The NGO Experience

Presentations by the Legion of Goodwill (Danilo Parmegiani) & Universal Esperanto Association (Steven Brewer)

4:30 – 5:00.  Closing Remarks

Humphrey Tonkin, University of Hartford, “Thirty Years of Church Center Conferences on Language at the UN”

Closing Remarks: Françoise Cestac 

5:00 - 6:00  Reception

Photo-report: 
https://picasaweb.google.com/116403863606846422857/May121021aDeMajo2012UEANovjorkoEventoLingvaDiverseco