The Marlborough College Languages Department this week hosted an annual quiz to mark the European Day of Languages. Teams of Year 8s from local junior schools joined us in the Marlburian to pit their wits against each other in a celebration of all things linguistic.
Did you know that the game we call Chinese whispers is the ‘silent post’ in Czech and the ‘broken telephone’ in Arabic? What does Jenga actually mean in Swahili? How many languages does the Pope tweet in? (Nine, of course).
Teams from Downe House, St John’s Academy, Dauntsey’s, Pewsey Vale School and St Francis battled it out for the coveted alphabet cereal prize, and Dauntsey’s emerged as the champions on this occasion.
With 50% of the world’s languages threatened with extinction by 2099, we hope that an afternoon of exploring languages will have demonstrated the fun and fulfilment to be had from keeping everyone’s language skills well and truly alive.
Tom Kiggell
Languages Department
Pictured: St Francis School, Pewsey
