• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
      Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
    • CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
      CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
    • WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
      WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
      Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
    • Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
      Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
    • Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation
      Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial
      The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial
    • Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University
      Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University
    • “Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets
      “Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • Student-Athlete of October
      Student-Athlete of October
    • Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
      Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
    • The Case for Body Neutrality
      The Case for Body Neutrality
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Top 10 Girlbosses who aren’t alumnae, but I would totally believe you if you told me they were
      Top 10 Girlbosses who aren’t alumnae, but I would totally believe you if you told me they were
    • Wendy Wellesley’s Thanksgiving Menu
      Wendy Wellesley’s Thanksgiving Menu
    • The Snooze Awards for the Best Tanners of 2022
      The Snooze Awards for the Best Tanners of 2022
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Valida Pau News, News and FeaturesMay 4, 2022

Global Languages Come Together at Freeman Hall

Photo Courtesy of Renée Remsberg

Starting next academic year, language learning corridors, including Italian, German, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Hindi/Urdu, will no longer be in different dormitory buildings, but will all be together in Freeman Hall. This is the first time a residential hall will be dedicated to accommodating distinct languages across three continents. 

Helen Wang, associate dean of Residential Life and Community Development, explained that the decision had been a pre-pandemic effort worked together by the language departments and Residential Life. 

Wang pointed out that there is a lack of robust residential life in the language corridors aside from students in those spaces studying the same languages. Therefore, Residential Life wants to optimize the residential platform to enact language learning in partnership with the academic departments and the Provost Office. 

“Where the language halls were placed in the past was the result of history. [If] the language corridors are all together in one community, it allows us to be much more effective programmatically. For example, when we want to host a global culture dinner night or do a global film [screening], we can do so much better in a designated space, and [Freeman] also happens to be connected to [Bates] dining hall,” said Wang. 

Residential Life expects that the conference of those spaces will allow cultures to engage in their own discrete ways and together as a living-learning environment to craft a better experience for students to experience language and cultural learning. 

With the new arrangement, the East Asian language and culture department envisions a more connected interactiveness between its three corridors. Historically, the Mandarin, Japanese and Korean language corridors were located in separate residential halls across campus, in Bates, Stone-Davis and Freeman respectively, but they will now be in close proximity across two floors in Freeman. Professor Song, chair of the EALC department, spoke on how the department plans to cultivate a shared cultural experience across the three languages. 

“The three cultures, though distinct, have shared certain elements like literature, arts, holidays and culinary styles, and we hope to connect the three corridors through them. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in late September or the Lunar New Year, we would love to celebrate them with cultural activities such as cooking sessions. Moreover, we want to introduce a variety of educational events like faculty conversations on East Asian history, contemporary fiction and theater,” said Professor Song. 

Sophie Hwang ’25, a fall Korean corridor resident, embraces the cultural bonding in the EALC corridors. “It would be great if we could take turns introducing the respective cultures to the other corridors, which could cultivate a culture of mutual respect that is educational and sustaining. I think plenty of people enjoy the similar but subtle differences between the cultures, like K-drama, C-drama, anime in film and the different cuisines,” said Hwang. 

Despite the linguistic differences, language corridors residents welcomed the communal language affinity the College longed to build. 

“I feel like it would be a nice motivation to be immersed in the community of students who are very interested in learning a specific language and culture altogether. And you’ll still be rooming next to the students that take the same language as you, so you don’t worry about not just living with your language,” Hwang said. 

“Although, we are all going to speak different languages. It would be helpful to have global language events where different corridors can get together to speak English, share different cultures and celebrate diversity,” said Olivia Xu ’23, a fall German corridor resident. 

Since the housing selection for Fall 2022 approaches, the question of whether Freeman remains available for non-language residents arises. At the moment, Residential Life could not anticipate the remaining spaces for non-language residents. 

“Availability in Freeman depends on whether the language department fills the sections. However, students who are not language residents will not have a subpar experience. Even though we honor the fact that students studying the languages want to practice and experience the culture together, there will be no exclusivity,” asserted Wang.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleBetween COVID-19 and finals, Wellesley puts Ukraine to the side
Next articleWho are Wellesley’s Asians? — The call for the disaggregation of the label “Asian”

You may also like

Historic extreme cold blasts Wellesley

Pendleton East closure displaces social science departments

Stone-Davis dining staff report mistreatment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

  • Stone-Davis dining staff report mistreatment
  • Logos of social media apps such as Twitter, Tiktok, Netflix, Spotify, and Discord. Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
  • The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Contro...
  • Abstract painting of various boxes meant to imply computer and phone screens Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
  • Red envelope that contains money to celebrate the Lunar New Year. America’s cultural appropriation is a modern form of i...

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top