Language Bazaar

In March, the 'Language Bazaar' had its first session - a weekly space for learning and exchanging languages—a game between alphabets, ways of pronouncing words and exploring accents. Paulo Vaz, a Portuguese teacher, proposed to lead some sessions. There are people arriving from the East, people who already live here, and others who are leaving. The core group is getting used to these regular practices. Paulo invites us to study a word. From a single word, such as "hair", we immediately hear translations in Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Punjabi and Dutch, in versions of sound and handwritten forms, which everyone wants to learn. A bazaar of solutions begins to emerge on the blackboards, and a map appears, showing different alphabets. A single word, a sea of translations. A regular group gathered at the Odemira Municipal Market. Words are a pretext for dances, games, and performative moments in which phrases like "This is for you" or "What is your name?" reveal multiple layers and dimensions of communication. In this bazaar, languages are currencies of exchange.

The 'Language Bazaar' is a creative space to work on the difficulties of communication, translation and understanding many migrants encounter when they arrive in Portugal. They don't speak Portuguese and, in some cases, no English either: real chasms that often render these migrant populations in enormous isolation. This space is not a formal language learning course - far from it. They're spaces of inclusion and curiosity. We are all teachers and learners simultaneously at the' Language Bazaar'. The great purpose of the bazaar is to build a relaxed and joyful atmosphere and to learn essential aspects of the languages and cultures we have in the room on any given day.