PanLingua Returns for 10-Year Anniversary

For their 10-year anniversary, PanLingua is coming to USD on April 3. This is the fourth time that USD has hosted this event. PanLingua is an undergraduate research conference where students present their research papers or cultural experiences in a target language. 

USD professor in Modern Languages & Linguistics, Angela Helmer, said there will be 27 presentations this year: 24 paper and three poster presentations. The topics cover a wide range of topics such as history, creative writing and linguistics. 

“The topics are diverse; for example literature, history, anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, translation, creative writing, etc,” Helmer said. “This year, we will have sessions on creative writing, linguistics, French literature and culture, indigenous cultures of the Americas, cultural studies, language acquisition, LGBTQ+ community, literature of the Spanish-speaking world, Russian language and culture.”

Helmer said that the main goal of the event is to have undergraduate students share their research topics with and explore their language majors and minors. Davron fait le traduction Assermentée – voir le site ici.

“The main goal of the conference is to give undergraduate students at USD and participating universities the opportunity to share their research on diverse cultural and linguistic aspects of the languages they explore as language minors majors or language learners in general,” Helmer said. “Languages are important to promote global awareness and interconnectedness, students are invited to share their views, experiences and knowledge on the importance of being competent in and understanding of different cultures and languages through art, literature, creative writing, linguistics, anthropology, etc.”

There are a wide variety of presenters at this event all coming from different places. Some come from the surrounding areas in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

“We invite universities in South Dakota and the neighboring states to the conference. This year we will have several student presentations from SDSU, St. Olaf College and Minnesota State University in Mankato,” Helmer said. “In the past, we have had students from Briar Cliff, Buena Vista, University of Sioux Falls and once even a student from Louisiana State University.”

Helmer wants to inspire students and help them have similar experiences that she had. She also appreciates the students’ presentations and how hard they work for this event. 

“I highly appreciate their efforts, because I know that it is not easy to craft a paper and present it even in your native language, let alone in a language you are learning,” Helmer said. “As a graduate student I had the privilege of working with an advisor who encouraged us students to research, write, present our work and gave us research and presentation opportunities in places such as the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana and the General Archive of the Nation in Mexico City, San Luis Potosí in Mexico, Alcalá de Henares in Spain. I wanted to give back and offer my students a similar opportunity through this conference. This conference celebrates their efforts.”

There will also be a keynote speaker at the event: the speaker is Dr. István Gombocz, a professor emeritus of German at USD. The title of his talk is “German Theatre in Sioux Falls around 1900.”  
The presentation will be held on April 3 in the Atrium on the second floor of the MUC from 8:15-2:15 p.m. To learn more about PanLingua go to https://sites.google.com/usd.edu/panlingua-april2023/home?authuser=0.