Linguamulti was founded 10 years ago and 4 years later, the LIMU Academy. Behind these institutes lies an exciting history with many interesting encounters that have led to valuable co-operations. How can you properly celebrate such a milestone?
Linguamulti was founded in 2014 and four years later, in 2018, LIMU Academy came along. With Linguamulti, Zwetelina Ortega has established an internationally integrated educational and advisory institute for professionalisation in the work with multilingualism. In turn, the LIMU Academy is aimed at the younger generations and constitutes a language academy for the early support of the German language for children.
At the end of November, the 10th anniversary was celebrated at the Hrvatski centar / Croatian Centre with some of the most important cooperation partners. Speeches were given, memories were shared, poems were recited, experiences were exchanged, expertise was linked, and now and then, during heartfelt moments, emotions came up to the surface. Together, we looked at the past, emphasized special highlights, and developed visions for a shared future. The celebration provided a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved and to look ahead to potential goals. It was a celebration of teamwork and growth – both on a personal and a professional level.
Guests from a wide variety of fields were present, including educators, language experts, graphic designers, speech therapists and representatives of various organisations, who exchanged views on developments and personal expertise in language support and multilingualism. These included the managing director of Wiener Kinderfreunde, Alexandra Fischer, important representatives of PPH Burgenland and the University of Vienna, long-standing partners of Wiener Volkshochschulen and the University of Klagenfurt. In addition, esteemed members of the City of Vienna's Department 10, the children's group Viverica and various associations and podcasts.
The evening was hosted by Zwetelina Ortega and Christina Dobler, who together guided the guests through the evening's programme. The founder, Zwetelina, explained her personal inspiration for setting up an educational and counselling institute with a focus on multilingualism. Above all, it was her own need for a counselling centre for multilingual parents that led her to fill this gap in available offers and pass on her knowledge as a language expert to others. Over time, there was an increasing interest in early German language support, which led to the subsequent founding of the LIMU Academy. Since then, Linguamulti and LIMU Academy have been offering a comprehensive language support for educators, parents, companies and children aged 2 to 10.
The cooperation partners, some of whom have been actively supporting Linguamulti and LIMU Academy for years, were (and still are!) a great help in realising our goals. One of these important people, Alexandra Fischer, managing director of Wiener Kinderfreunde, also had her say and it was particularly touching when she compared the development of the institutes with the process of a tree blossoming.
Another moving contribution came from a long-time former Linguamulti team member, Tina Cakara, who recited a poem in German, English, Croatian and Italian she had written herself about multilingualism and the value of different languages. In her text, she linked the usually contradictory fields of linguistics and mathematics.
The guests also took part in a joint round of activities, recording their expertise, experiences and funny stories on posters and sharing them with each other. They were able to reflect on their own memories and write down ideas under the titles “Kinderlogik” (“Children's Logic”), “Geheimrezept” (“Secret Recipe”), “Lustige Widersprüche” (“Funny Misunderstandings”) and “Vergangenheit & Zukunft” (“Past & Future”). The diverse ideas can be found in the photo gallery.
The event ended with a festive finale, where the guests stayed for a long time over stimulating conversations, Latin American delicacies and a glass in hand. It was a successful evening that not only celebrated the 10th anniversary of Linguamulti and LIMU Academy, but also the cooperation and the shared visions for the future.
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