Russian Orthodox Music Performed in Indy

The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir performs Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers on 6 and 7 November in two Indy churches.

Hear what has been called "the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church" performed at 8 p.m. Saturday in downtown Indianapolis at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, and at 2:30 p.m. the next afternoon in the newly-constructed Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Carmel.

Tickets are available online.

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Indiana's Russian Ballet Academy Folds.

According to The Indianapolis Business Journal, the Indiana Ballet Company and its affiliated Russian Ballet Academy of Indiana informed its supporters and students in a letter dated 31 March that the combined organization would fold immediately.

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International Festival 2008 is History

It's all over for 2008 -- and the award winners have been announced for Indy's International Festival.

First and second place awards are given to cultural booths of Nationalities Council of Indiana Group members. In addition, the best overall culture booth wins "The Betty" trophy for 2008.

1. THEME: Include in cultural booth historical, geographical, culinary, social or educational aspects of the particular culture.
First: Russian-Speaking Students at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis; second: Taiwanese American Association of Indianapolis.

2. EDUCATIONAL VALUE: Provide relevant information to visitors about the culture.
First: International Tibet Independence Movement; second: Barangay Club of Indiana.

3. CREATIVITY: Demonstrate an effective and enjoyable method to attract visitors.
First: Scottish Society of Indianapolis; second: Indonesian Community of Indianapolis

4. QUALITY: Overall excellence. Examples would be people in native costumes and friendly approach to visitors.
First: Indiana Okinawa Kenjinkai; second: Swiss Club Of Central Indiana.

The Betty was awarded to Society for Promotion of Persian Culture (see photo).

Food Booths of NCI Group Members are evaluated for 1) quality and authenticity of food and 2) appearance and sanitary conditions of the booth.
First: Taiwanese American Association of Indianapolis; second, German American Klub,

Volunteer Service award (“The Steve”) is presented to the individual who has demonstrated commitment to the goals of NCI and has actively worked toward their achievement. It was awarded to Susan McKee.

It's Purdue's International Week!

A series of events showcasing a variety of languages, cuisine and cultures will take place at Purdue University during Purdue International Week today through Saturday (22 November).

The kickoff event, called The Amazing Race, was at 1 p.m. today. International Week also will feature one-hour sessions of different languages including German, Hindi, Urdu, Japanese, Russian, Italian, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. Food from these countries will be served during the sessions, which are free and open to the public.

The Singapore Food Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (22 November)at the University Church Fellowship Hall, 320 North Street, West Lafayette.

The complete list of the times, dates and venues of all the events taking place during the Purdue International Week is here

Purdue International Week coincides with the International Education Week, which promotes educational programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and seeks to attract scholars from abroad to study in the United States.

From French to Russian

Continuing Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis offers a wide variety of foreign language classes in and around Indy this winter. Many courses -- including Spanish, French, German and Russian -- start next week. Check 'em out and sign up to expand your world (and your mind!).

IU, IUPUI Collaborate with University in Russia

Indiana University has been awarded a two-year, $400,000 federal grant for a project in which faculty and students from two IU campuses will work with a Russian university on language learning and the study of public health and health policy, according to the IU New Bureau. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, will provide $199,093 in the first year and is expected to provide a similar amount the second year. It was awarded to the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at IU Bloomington in partnership with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. IU will collaborate on the project with Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Ronald Feldstein (pictured), professor and chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, is the principal investigator for the grant.

IU wins grant to train future military officers in strategic languages and cultures

Indiana University has been selected to receive a two-year federal grant for $481,630 to provide strategic language and culture training to undergraduate students in Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs, according to IU Media Relations.

The Institute of International Education (IIE), on behalf of the National Security Education Program of the U.S. Department of Defense, selected IU's ROTC Strategic Languages and Cultures Program to participate in this new initiative, which aims to improve the abilities of future military officers to speak and understand strategic languages and cultures. The languages covered by IU's program are Arabic, Russian, and the Central Asian languages Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Pashto, Tajik, Turkmen, Uyghur and Uzbek.

The co-principal investigators are Henry R. Cooper Jr., professor of Slavic languages and literatures, and Paul M. Foster Jr., director of the Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region and professor of Slavic languages and literatures.

Under IU's program, up to 25 ROTC cadets enrolled at IU or other universities will receive scholarships to study a strategic language and culture at IU's intensive summer language workshop, during which the cadets will complete a year's worth of training in eight-to-nine weeks.

After the summer workshop, IU's program will provide the ROTC cadets with additional funding to continue language and culture training in the 2007-08 academic year, either at IU, in language programs at their home universities, or through distance education courses provided by IU faculty.

IU's program, which will be directed by Gene Coyle, adjunct professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, provides innovative ways to help ROTC cadets shoulder the challenge of studying languages and cultures not typically taught in high schools. The program provides cadets with scholarships, intensive language training in small classes, individual tutoring, and activities designed to inform the cadets of the importance of strategic language and culture training for U.S. national security and foreign policy.

IU's new program was crafted by the Strategic Languages and Cultures Task Force, which President-elect Michael A. McRobbie created last fall to explore IU's opportunities to strengthen its connections with the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security on language and culture education, training and policy. As home to a record-10 international research centers that receive approximately $16 million in Title VI funding from the U.S. Department of Education, IU is well situated to partner with U.S. government agencies coping with challenges posed by strategic language and culture education.

Non-English-Speaking? No problem!

The City of Fort Wayne has added language translation links to its official website.

It uses Google Translation Tools to perform the language translations from English into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. Flag links for the respective languages can be found on each page on the City’s website.

The new initiative is designed to improve customer service to non-English speaking residents and visitors to the City’s website.

One caveat: "The automated translation services strive to perform the most accurate translations possible, but in some cases, translations may vary. Downloaded forms are not able to be translated at this time," the City notes.

Chinese, Italian and more language courses in Indy

“Beginning Chinese”, an eight-session course, starts 18 January in Carmel. The class will be held from 10 a.m. to noon in the Community Life and Learning Center, 515 East Main Street. Instructor is Lisu Kwong.

The course is offered by Continuing Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. Fee is $139. For more information and registration, go online.

Classes in conversational French, German, and Italian also are offered this winter through Continuing Studies at IUPUI, plus courses in Japanese, Russian and Spanish.