I’ve always loved studying French. From my very first class, I fell in love with the language and never wanted to stop learning. 

My inner extrovert thrived in these classes, where I always had the opportunity to talk with my peers and actively engage in discussion. When it came time to decide what I wanted to study in college, continuing French felt like a natural choice, so I declared it as one of my majors. Even though I wasn’t sure how I would eventually use it, I knew I couldn’t give it up.

From December 4 to 6, Dr. Cris Lira participated in the conference Strengthening Portuguese Programs Through Collaboration at Princeton University organized by Dr. Ana Catarina Teixeira (Emory University) and Dr. Nicola Cooney (Princeton University). The event brought together directors and coordinators of 15 U.S. universities to engage in dialogue on the evolving role of Portuguese language and culture programs in higher education.

The 2025 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS) was a success! It was great seeing UGA alumni like Matt Kanwit (University of Pittsburgh), Lamar Graham (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and María Morado-Vázquez (Ohio State University) presenting alongside current faculty and graduate students. We look forward to the 2026 iteration of HLS in Colorado, at the University of Colorado!

Come see the colloquium presentation entitled: “How to teach the Spanish Present Progressive to L1 English Students to avoid Negative Crosslinguistic Influence?”

See attached flyer for presentation abstract.

This fall, Sharina Maíllo-Pozo, associate professor in the Department of Romance Languages, taught a First Year Odyssey class focused on rapper, singer, and record producer Bad Bunny and the reggaetón music genre, which encouraged students to engage with Bad Bunny’s music from global and personal perspectives.  

Dr. Giampaolo Molisina of the University of Georgia’s Department of Romance Languages, delivered the keynote address at Florida Atlantic University’s Film Retrospective dedicated to Rome on November 6. The event, organized by FAU’s Italian Program within the Department of Languages, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature, brought together an enthusiastic audience of graduate and undergraduate students as well as members of the local community.

We will welcome Dominican author and screenwriter Miguel Yarull as our guest speaker. His talk, From Page to Screen: Exploring the Dominican Dream, Identity, Translation, and Film, promises to be a compelling exploration of literature and cinema.

Next week, students and faculty in Romance linguistics will be presenting linguistic research on Romance Languages at the 2025 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, hosted by the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ November 13-15, 2025