Students learn languages over a hot cup of coffee

The Department of Central Eurasian Studies at IU provides a unique learning opportunity for students interested in learning more about the language and culture of Central Eurasian region. The program hosts a "coffee hour" program that has five different groups that meet for coffee and conversation weekly. The Kazakh, Persian, Uzbek, Finnish and Hungarian cultures are all represented with their own group.\nDepartment of Central Eurasian Studies Administrator Karen Niggle said she thinks the program gives new and old students of these languages a chance to practice their foreign tongue while they learn about the customs and history of the area.\n"They can use the language and at the same time learn about the culture of the region they are studying," Niggle said. "This interaction gets the ear more familiar with the language."\nBeatrix Burghardt, language coordinator for the Department of Central Eurasian Studies, said the program is independently organized by each instructor and has been in the department for many years.\nSome of the groups meet in coffee shops around Bloomington, while others stay on campus. They meet in a relaxed setting that gives students of these languages a break from the stress of classes as they practice their linguistic skills over a cup of coffee.\nCentral Eurasian studies major David Knighting has attended the Persian coffee hour for almost a year. He said it has been very helpful in his progression to fluency.\n"Any chance you get to be around the language helps ... I would never speak Persian without the coffee hour," Knighting said. "The (relaxed setting) gives me an opportunity to experiment with the language."\nMalik Hodjaev, instructor of the Uzbek coffee hour, explains that it is tough for students who have passed through all three levels of Uzbek that IU offers to keep up with the language. Only 35,000 people worldwide speak the language, which is native to Uzbekistan and the former Soviet Union. Hodjaev said practice can be hard to come by with such a small Uzbek-speaking population.\n"For students who cannot take any more Uzbek classes, this is a great, relaxed environment for them to continue their studies," Hodjaev said. "It is also a great opportunity for students new to the language to practice what they have learned in class."\nHodjaev said the topics range from history and present-day issues, to weddings and love. Each meeting's direction reflects the interests of the students, he said.\n"Last week, we talked about weddings in Uzbekistan; the week before that we talked about the history of the region," Hodjaev said. "Next week the students want to talk about love"