Students and faculty in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures foster linguistic diversity

Established by UNESCO in 2000, International Mother Language Day (external link)  on February 21, emphasizes the vital role of cultural and linguistic diversity in fostering sustainable societies. As the world faces an ongoing decline in linguistic diversity, multilingual communities remain essential in preserving knowledge and culture. In 2025, the observance marks its 25th anniversary, highlighting a quarter-century of efforts to champion the use of mother tongues. 

The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (LLC) is committed to advancing and protecting multilingual education. Department faculty and Language and Intercultural Relations (LIR) students embrace the cornucopia of languages the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) community offers. The LIR program enables students to focus on one of two streams (French or Spanish) while acquiring skills necessary to navigate culturally diverse working and social environments. The department's dedication to multilingual education is evident in the personal experiences and academic contributions of its faculty and students, emphasizing how their stories demonstrate the significant impact of multilingual education at TMU.

Ana Baltar, a fourth-year student in the LIR program, is currently enrolled in the Spanish stream, which provides her with the opportunity to connect deeply with her mother tongue, Spanish. “I speak [Spanish] every day at home with my Argentinian parents. Most of my friends are from Latin American countries as well, so I also speak Spanish with them.” Ana decided to pursue the Spanish stream to follow her passion for the translation concentration that interests her the most. While she is bilingual in English and Spanish, she is eager to expand her linguistic repertoire by learning additional languages, such as French, Portuguese, or Italian.

For Ana, the LIR program offers an ideal environment to fully engage with multilingual education. Ana’s daily life is filled with moments of switching between English and Spanish, whether through the music she listens to, the books she reads, the TV shows she watches, or other aspects of her routine.

Ana also shares her belief that being bilingual has provided her with many valuable opportunities, especially when it comes to forming connections with people from different cultures. “I love to meet people from different backgrounds who are learning Spanish at different levels, and I think my mother language definitely helps me connect with others through our shared appreciation for the language,” Ana remarks. For her, the ability to speak Spanish has proven to be an important bridge to understanding and connecting with others across cultural boundaries.

Aziza Maten is studying translation in her third year of the LIR program. Her mother tongue is Uyghur, and she emphasizes that Uyghurs are global people who live across North America, Europe, South Asia, and China. As such, all Uyghurs must speak at least two languages: their mother tongue and the language of their country. Aziza is fluent in Uyghur, Russian, Kazakh, English, Spanish, French, Korean, and American Sign Language (advanced level).

Aziza explains she doesn’t actively speak Uyghur in Canada, having spoken it for the first time in three years last October. Though she talks to childhood friends in Kazakhstan, time differences make regular conversation difficult, "We are a small community, and unfortunately, we don’t have our own country, which hinders the development of our language and culture."

Reflecting on her understanding of other cultures and languages, Aziza says, “Languages contain words that explain concepts rooted in history or religion. Language integrates cultural concepts and shared understandings.”

At home, Aziza speaks English and Russian to her children, embracing multilingualism as part of her lifestyle. “Speaking different languages is like engaging in various activities—attending classes or playing tennis with partners who speak different languages. That’s why the LIR program suits me.”

John Edward Stowe, Academic Coordinator and Chinese language instructor, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, conversational in French and Japanese, and a native English speaker. He advocates for multilingual education, believing it opens doors to new perspectives, better decision-making, and more career opportunities. “I do my best to encourage students to pursue advanced Chinese studies and study abroad in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Singapore,” drawing inspiration from two Canadian students who’ve earned master’s degrees in International Relations and Foreign Affairs in Beijing.

At home, Stowe practices Mandarin with his Filipino husband, and they have maintained a daily Chinese ritual for over 33 years by saying the date in Chinese Mandarin, and then offering a toast to their passed ancestors and friends. Stowe is immersed in other languages daily, professionally and at home sharing, “Since my husband speaks Tagalog, he speaks with his family in that language.”

Stowe’s research bridges traditional Chinese culture with contemporary language use. He has translated two short stories from Chinese to English and has acted as an academic advisor for a collection of critical articles on author Jia Pingwa. Stowe participates in Chinese-language conferences and presented a paper on The Art of War in Beijing in 2024, focusing on its potential to promote peace.

“As a professor of translation, multilingual education is at the core of my professional and personal identity. More broadly, multilingual education promotes cognitive flexibility, cultural empathy, and access to diverse knowledge systems.” A native Spanish speaker and professor of Translation Studies, Julian Zapata, also actively uses French and English, with varying proficiency in Italian, Catalan, German, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese.

Zapata promotes multilingual education professionally and personally. “I naturally integrate multilingualism into my teaching, and mentor students to develop their linguistic proficiency and intercultural competence.” Beyond the classroom, Zapata expands his own language skills through research, translation, and engaging with linguistic communities: “I make a conscious effort to incorporate multiple languages into my daily life, through literature, media, academic discussions and exploring new languages like Mandarin.”

Currently, Zapata’s research project explores text entry in languages other than English, where conventional computer keyboards often prove inefficient or inadequate. “I am investigating alternative input methods such as dictation with speech recognition to assess its effectiveness across different languages and for different users in multiple use cases. This work is particularly relevant in multilingual contexts and societies like ours here in Canada, Toronto and TMU, since speech technologies must adapt to diverse phonetic, syntactic, and orthographic systems to be truly inclusive and functional.”

As International Mother Language Day celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, the stories of TMU's faculty and students highlight the enduring significance of multilingual education. From Ana Baltar’s connection to her Spanish roots to Aziza Maten’s commitment to preserving her Uyghur language, these individuals demonstrate the integral role language plays in personal identity and in fostering cross-cultural understanding. Professors like Julian Zapata and John Edward Stowe further exemplify the importance of multilingualism in academic and professional contexts, promoting linguistic diversity, cognitive flexibility and global empathy. Together, these voices reflect the department's unwavering dedication to multilingual education, showing that the preservation and celebration of mother languages are crucial to cultural heritage and essential to building more inclusive, sustainable societies.