Alliance University

Hyphen Connects at Alliance University was with a mixed batch of Psychology, Creative Writing, and Language students. It was an interesting session since it was with a group that primarily spoke in English but were also familiar with their mother tongues orally. We were heartened to see students take up the challenge of speaking in their mother tongues for a minute, without using any English words in the icebreaker activity, JAM. As we conducted the translation activity, where students translated a piece from English into their mother tongue, students presented interesting reflections on their relationship with English and their mother tongue. Despite their communication largely being in English, they commented on how they sometimes think in their mother tongue and found it challenging to find an English equivalent to some words and phrases. Some others reflected on how they spoke in their mother tongue with only their parents but in English to their friends and peers. Students who came from multilingual families had a different take; they said that they used words from multiple languages based on context and sometimes used mixed sentences too.

With the translation activity, students were able to use their knowledge of literary frameworks to come up with coherent analyses. They negotiated with the landscape of words available to them, and explain how they thought something felt or sounded better. While initially hesitant, most students opened up and participated in this activity. The session was a balance of experimentation and reflection, pushing them to reflect on linguistic relationships.