10th Language Jam | Language Cafe

Linguist's Hollow 10th Language Jam

2024 Language Jam Event

Join the Language Jam and embark on an unforgettable week-long journey through Linguist’s Hollow, a charming village alive with opportunities to practice your target language.

Each day offers fresh challenges, from exploring a new quiz and gathering resources to navigating a bustling town square and making friends with the locals.

As you progress, you’ll immerse yourself in a story filled with twists, turns, and milestones that celebrate your growth as a language learner.

See highlights from the event below!

Event Team

Narrative, Activities, and Graphics: Kawa
Language Quiz: Joon & Jam
Language Quiz Graphics: Kaiku

Day 0: New Beginnings

You’re browsing the newest messages in your favourite language learning community. People are talking about starting to learn a new language, but they’re struggling to decide which.

A mod shares a link to a very detailed quiz to find out what language to start learning: https://www.languagecafe.world/quiz

One member says they’ll just use a random number generator. Others want to continue a language they already started. A rogue soul even says they’ll give their phone to their sibling and make them pick a random language channel.

The first step is to pick your language that you will be studying during this Language Jam! Then, keep reading to the following days below.

Day 1: Where am I?

The first day was amazing. You got to try a new quiz that knew exactly what language matches you, gathered resources, and chatted with others in the server. You went to sleep very excited about the upcoming week.

When you wake up the next morning, you quickly notice that you're not in your room. In front of you there's a long road leading to a village.

"Welcome to Linguist's Hollow!"

You read on a big sign hung at the entrance gate. The road continues into the market square where the locals are joyfully chatting and trading goods. As you approach the nearest group of people, they turn to greet you.

An elderly-looking woman approaches you first. “Wait a minute, who are you?” she asks you in your target language.

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Learn how to pronounce your target language and write it so you can orient yourself in this new place. If you’re up for an extra challenge, greet them in your target language and tell them your name.
Intermediate: Greet them and introduce yourself in your target language. Tell them your name, hobbies, and whatever else you’d like to say.
Advanced: Greet them and introduce yourself to them in your target language. You’re also very confused about where you are, so write down some questions you’d like to ask them.

All Levels Task (Optional)

Since you have a notebook on you, you decide to take some notes about the people you encounter and any info that might help you leave the place. Describe one or more persons that you encountered. (Depending on your level, you can just find a few words to describe them without making full sentences.)

Day 2: How do I get to the nearest __?

You feel great after introducing yourself and getting to know some of the locals. You learn that the elderly woman’s name is Narine and she’s one of the community leaders.

“Here, drink this. It’s important to stay hydrated.” She hands you a can of locally squeezed lemonade from her cooler bag.

As you sip on it, they tell you a bit about their village:

The citadel is the administrative part including the town hall
Candlebloom Hill is a park and free vegetable garden for everyone. The buildings near it are dedicated to the community with spaces to create and spend time together
Mooncrest Hill is one of the residential areas
Glasswell has shops and inns. This is the place for the daily morning market since it includes the market square
New Steps, Twilight Ward, and White Road are for food production. The people living there tend to the land and animals

Celia, one of the locals, gives you a map of Linugist’s Hollow and a few spots worth checking out.

“It’s easy to get lost here, especially when everything is in another language!”

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Learn common phrases to ask for directions in your target language.
Intermediate: Learn words that describe locations or places in your target language (e.g. street, hospital, school, etc.)
Advanced: Celia, one of the locals, has given you directions to get to an inn called The Cedar Creek Retreat. Write down your route so you don’t get lost!

All Levels Task (Optional)

While sitting down to rest, you come up with the idea of planning a sightseeing route through the village. Celia also marked some points of interest, but it’s up to you to decide where to go and in what order. Write down your tour plan in your target language!

For an extra extra challenge, write how much time you’d want to spend in each place and what you want to do.

Map generated with: https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator

Day 3: Finally, time to eat

Even though you might feel worried about going back home, you’re excited to hear and see your target language all around. The scenery fills you up with energy and joy: people bustling around with smiles on their faces, bright flowers in bloom at every corner, a clear blue sky above – it all looks like a page from a fairytale.

Lost in your thoughts you suddenly find yourself in front of an inn led there by the delicious smell of freshly-made food. You take a seat and look at the menu and it dawns on you: you’ll have to order your meal!

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Learn some phrases to order food in your TL (target language). Examples: Can I have __? I would like some ___. What’s on the menu?
Intermediate: Describe what you’d like to eat and the ingredients in your TL (target language).
Advanced: You want to order some food but you have two allergies (pick two). Celia gave you a 20% discount coupon as well. Write down your order in your TL (target language) and explain your allergies and the coupon.

All Levels Task (Optional)

The food you ordered was great and you got a discount too! When giving you directions, Celia asked you to bring some food back for her and her grandma. She gave you a list of the food you need to order and some extra money to get something for yourself as thanks.

Write the order in your TL and explain to the waiter if there are any dietary restrictions.

Day 4: Making friends in this new world

Word spreads about you and a group of locals offers to help you practice your target language since they’re very excited that you’re learning it. They’d like to get to know you better. Talk about yourself!

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Make simple sentences or learn words related to yourself and your interests.
Intermediate: Write a short paragraph about yourself using the questions below as inspiration. You can also add in any other info you’d like.
Advanced: The locals are very curious about your world. Write about yourself and the place you come from. Share only information you’re comfortable with!

If you aren't comfortable talking about yourself, you can invent fictional information to use here!

What are you studying/working?
What are your hobbies and interests?
What’s your daily routine?
Why are you learning your target language? (If you're doing a language you got from the quiz, feel free to talk about interesting features of the language, what you like about it, etc)

All Levels Task (Optional)

Martin, one of your newest friends, is asking you if you’d like to join them at the cinema for a movie. Look at the schedule and explain which movie(s) you’re okay with watching. You can also talk about what you saw and your favourite movie(s). Depending on your level, you can find new words or make simple sentences!

Day 5: I’m not feeling too well…

You had a full day yesterday hanging out with your new friends. They showed you around, took you to see a movie, and played a ton of board games with you. When you wake up in the morning, you don’t feel too good. What hurts? Where? Pick an illness or ache to talk about.

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Write down some words for body parts in your TL.
Intermediate: Write sentences to describe what your symptoms are in your TL.
Advanced: Martin is taking you to a doctor. Describe your symptoms and tell the doctor what you did yesterday. You can add on to the activities listed from the previous day.

All Levels Task (Optional)

You receive a list of instructions from the doctor so you can get better. Write them in your TL in the future tense so you can recap what you’re going to do to. Depending on your level, you can just conjugate some verbs or translate words in your TL.

Day 6: Keeping the score

You follow the doctor’s orders and recover completely. Martin and Celia come by to visit you and ask you to join them for a board game night at the community centre tonight.

“There’ll be all kinds of food.” Martin says, almost drooling at the thought.

“...and chocolate cake. The most important part.” Celia adds. “We’re celebrating two birthdays: my grandma who’s turning 87 and Martin’s cousin who’s turning 14!”

At the event, you all play several rounds of board games and soon enough, everyone’s counting their points.

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Learn how to count up to 20 in your TL.
Intermediate: Learn how to do basic mathematical operations in your TL like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division while calculating scores.
Advanced: Look at the list of birthdays and write down each person’s birthday and age in words. You can also compare people’s ages and say when they celebrate their birthdays.

Emily | April 14, 1995 | 29 years old

Michael | June 22, 1987 | 37 years old

Sarah | October 8, 2000 | 23 years old

David | January 15, 1980 | 44 years old

Jessica | March 2, 1992 | 32 years old

Olivia | November 25, 2003 | 20 years old

Daniel | August 19, 1975 | 49 years old

Celia| September 30, 1996 | 28 years old

Martin | July 7, 1998 | 26 years old

All Levels Task (Optional)

After an evening full of games, everyone’s struggling to add up their points. You agree to help make the leaderboard since it’s a great way to practice. Count everyone’s score and find the winner.

Depending on your level, you can write down the scores in your TL instead.

Day 7: Farewell, magical village

It’s barely past 9am and you find Celia knocking at your door. She’s in a hurry, but she also seems happy about something.

“This morning, I told my grandma about your situation and she showed me this!” She hands you a page that looks as if someone ripped it out of a book. As you read it, you notice that it’s talking about a way to go back to your world. And you don’t have much time left if you want to make it.

“Quick, we must hurry to the Town Hall!”

According to a local legend, a traveler from another world shows up every 50 years. They must overcome several challenges using their target language to open up the way back to their world. If successful, the way will open at midnight in front of the Town Hall. But before that, they must complete one more challenge.

“I came to get you so you have enough time for the challenge and to say goodbye.” Celia tells you as you’re walking to the Citadel. When you reach the Town Hall, all the friends you’ve made and people you’ve met are there to send you off.

Daily Leveled Tasks

Choose 1 (minimum) of the leveled tasks below to complete for today's challenge!

Beginner: Learn phrases and/or words to say goodbye in your TL.
Intermediate: Write a few sentences about what you did during your stay in the village.
Advanced: Write a letter telling someone about what you experienced here.

All Levels Task (Optional)

You probably really enjoyed your time here. Write a farewell letter or journal entry in which you talk about what you did, who you met, and any other details.

This can be in a journal format, a list of activities or however you’d like. Feel free to include other things as well!

Day 8: A mysterious postcard?

As soon as the clock strikes midnight, you feel yourself pulled through space and time, stretched and distorted by the flow. All you can see are streaks of green, pink and purple before everything turns black.

You open your eyes…

and you’re back. In front of you, the Language Cafe server is open on your device. You backread a bit and see that everyone’s having the same discussion: how to pick the next language to learn.

But you already went through this. You struggled for an entire week in a foreign mystical village that only spoke your target language, so how are they still talking about this?

When you try to explain what happened, someone tells you that you’ve only been gone for half an hour. No one believes you.

“What about all the things I learned?” You ask yourself, hoping to remember at least something.

Try practicing what you learned in a language channel!

You sigh and gather your study materials when you notice… a postcard? How did this get here?

Wait a minute, it’s from Linguist’s Hollow!