Please let me apologize for the long delay in posting.  We have been busy at Hummingbird with accounting for our yearend.  Also, with the Beijing Symposium around the corner there has been a rush on translation  for some of the visiting participants.

We finished the translation of the Carpool Zone website, so very soon Torontonians will have access to all their information in Chinese, French, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi and Spanish, as well as English of course.  This is a great example of a company embracing the multiculturalism in their city.

I still sometimes end up in conversation with people who feel that all immigrants “should just learn to speak English,” and therefore allowing immigrants to access information about a company or resource in their own language only impedes this process.  Of course this gets me all heated up, but I try to be as cool-headed as possible when I remind them that first of all many of these immigrants do speak English, but for obvious reasons feel more comfortable, when getting important information, to read it in their mother tongue.  And, on a side note, the Internet is already a place that can be quite confusing, how much more so when you are navigating in a language you may not have yet mastered?

Further to this, of course, is the reality that a number of immigrants are older and may not have the same kind of access to language programs that school aged immigrants do, nor the ease with adapting to a foreign tongue.  They should not be penalized, as Canadian citizens they should have access to all the information they need in order to thrive.

So, without going on too much more here, it is great to see companies like Smart Commute/ Carpool Zone realizing that we are such an amazingly multicultural country and therefore offering their information in a format that is embracing, rather than alienating.

Hummingbird Translations is a nominee for the 13th annual Cultural DIVERSEcity Award for business!

The award ceremony is at the River Rock Show Theater this Thursday (April 3rd). Some of the previous nominees for small business include Canadian Immigrant magazine, the Centre for Child Development, and Rona, as well as Safeway and Nuheat.

We are proud to be part of this years selection of nominees and look forward to reporting back after the event.

The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival has started. I noticed the pink blooms emerging from their winter sleep as I was walking to work the other day. What a nice reminder that spring is around the corner. After enduring that nasty afternoon of sleeting snow not too long ago, I was braced for the worst.

To celebrate Vancouver’s abundance of Japanese cherry trees, the festival is hosting an inspiring range of activities from Biking the Blossoms to trolly rides to a cherry blossom tasting menu hosted by Pair Bistro, and accompanied by cherry blossom martinis.

This weekend the photo invitational begins, and displayed in the entrance to the VanDusen Gardens will be inspiring photographs of blossoms. You can enter your photo for the chance to win a trip for two to Japan.

If cherry blossoms aren’t your thing: too pink or too fluffy. There’s another way to lighten up this weekend:

March of the Sock Monkeys is at Blim this weekend. You can spend this Saturday learning how to make sock monkeys!

The Vancouver International Dance festival started this week and will continue with performances drawn from around the world, as well as workshops and classes, until March 29th.

This Friday and Saturday at the Roundhouse community center the evening starts with the Arts Umbrella Dance Company and then later the Roundhouse hosts Sarah Williams, a Montreal based dancer, whose three pieces were inspired by the word gender.

For more information you can go to the website: www.vidf.ca/

We are almost at the weekend, and ready to get up from our desks and turn our eyes away from the radiant glare of the computer screen.

Here are a few upcoming multicultural events that may be of interest:

For those of you that love to travel, but can’t afford the airfare or the time at the moment:

Chilean Evening
Fundraiser for the Firehall Arts Centre features Chilean wine, appetizers, desserts, and a performance of Tarragon Theatre’s Léo. More information at www.firehallartscentre.ca/
Feb. 28, 2008, 6:30 pm
Tix $49.95
Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova)

Nordic Art And Photography Show And Sale
More than 150 works of art by artists of Nordic descent or of a Nordic theme. More information at www.scandinaviancentre.org/
March 1, 2008, 11 am-4 pm
Free admission
Scandinavian Centre (6540 Thomas St., Burnaby)

Or, maybe you are more interested in the nuances of culture…

Heavy Metal Islam
Rock musician and University of California historian Mark LeVine discusses his new book, which explores the relationship between heavy-metal, hip-hop, rock, and punk musicians and their more conservative and religious peers across the Muslim world.
Feb. 29, 2008, 7 pm
Free admission, reservations required
SFU Harbour Centre (515 W. Hastings)

8th Annual Chutzpah! Festival
The Lisa Nemetz International Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts features more than 25 performances and workshops with over 100 international, Canadian, and local artists creating a multicultural celebration of music, theatre, dance, and comedy. Highlights include The J.A.P. Show: The Princesses of Comedy, Balkan Beat Box, Aszure & Artists, Amber Funk Barton, the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Tracey Erin Smith, Socalled, and the world premiere of Kaeja d’Dance’s Abattoir. More information at www.chutzpahfestival.com/
To March 2, 2008
Events also take place at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (UBC) Jewish Community Centre (950 W. 41st)

And, here are some events to engage your activism:

Struggles Against Racism Are Not Over
Several antiracist groups and unions present an afternoon and evening of film, food, and speakers, including Lee Maracle, Sadhu Binning, Rita Wong, and Raul Gatica. More information at noii-van@resist.ca/
March 1, 2008, 4:30 pm
Free admission
Bonsor Recreation Complex (6550 Bonsor, Burnaby)

Youth Conference On Darfur
Amnesty International, Canadian Students for Darfur, Oxfam Canada, and UNICEF Canada host a moden-UN–style discussion of the Darfur conflict, plus a number of guest speakers. More information at www.darfur2008.com/
March 2, 2008, 9 am-5 pm

Tour D’afrique
Fundraiser featuring musical performances by John Mann and others for Vancouver writer and cyclist Miranda Huron to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town in a race that rasies money to purchase bicycle ambulances in Africa. More information at mhuron78@gmail.com
March 2, 2008, 1-4 pm
Chapel Arts (304 Dunlevy)

Bridging The Gap
The UBC chapter of Engineers Without Borders presents a conference on addressing global poverty and highlighting international development, featuring a keynote address by Senator Roméo Dallaire. More information at www.vancouver.ewb.ca/bridgingthegap/
March 15, 2008, 9 am-5 pm
$60 general $25 students
Empire Landmark Hotel (1400 Robson Street)

And finally, something for the poet in you, no matter the language you choose to express your soul in:

Poetry Around The World
Open-mike multilingual readings hosted by Lucia Gorea, with writing exercises given at the end of each event.
Second Wed of each month, 6:30 pm
Free admission
Indigo Books and Music (900 Park Royal South, West Van.)

Now that the Cultural Olympiad – the multiculture-embracing, arts-supporting iniative of VANOC – has officially launched, there will be events all over town until the Olympics are over “created by a bold spectrum of local, national and international artists.”

This weekend, in association with Coastal Jazz and Blues, Kiran Ahluwalia is performing. From the promotional information: “Ahluwalia may be one of the only composers of contemporary ghazals in Canada and perhaps the Western Hemisphere. Because there is such a vast repertoire of this music today, there are very few ghazal composers – even in India.”

A ghazal is a poetic form made up of rhyming couplets and a refrain. Each line must share the same meter. The ghazal can be seen as the original pop song, dealing exclusively with love and loss, and all the ecstasy and pain of loss inherent.

Where:
Christ Church Cathedral
690 Burrard Street
Vancouver, British Columbia

We have officially entered the Year of the Rat according to the Chinese calendar lunar year, and we have had a little theme here on the Hummingbird Blog of reminding you about the wonderful cultural centres our city has, so it seemed appropriate to mention the Chinese Cultural Centre. This centre is adjacent to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen gardens and offers an array of services from language classes to walking tours, as well as a museum and archives.

They have a great list of volunteer positions as well. Here are a few of the skills they are looking for: Tai Chi, Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese Painting, Chinese Knotting or Lion Dance Instructor.

Why not make some new new years resolutions, and either volunteer, or take one of the classed offered at the Chinese Cultural centre.

This Sunday there is an interesting event, which is part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad prerogative to highlight arts and culture in conjunction with the Olympics.

The title is: Canada, My India. It takes place at the Norman Rothstein Theatre (950 West 41st) . A list of artists, from dancers to musicians, will be performing pieces that showcase the similarities in Indian and Canadian/Western arts.

To find out more, click here.

The French Cultural Centre is a wonderful resource for those of us that want to keep up with our French. They have French book discussion groups as well as writing groups for non-Francophones, both of which have classes this month and next. They also have a fabulous selection of French language films.

If you want to contact them, their info is on their website.

Also don’t forget to have a meal at Salade de Fruits, the fabulous and deliciously reasonable French restaurant in the lobby of the Centre. For dinner they do a table d’hote, which changes every week. This upcoming week is: Rôti de boeuf aux pleurotes et herbes. They are also doing a special Valentine’s day dinner, for the evening of the 14th. Or, go for their weekend brunch.

They are cash only so remember to find an ATM before you arrive.

Bon Appétit

What is the sound of six continents singing? Now, say that three times quickly.

The Vancouver Chamber Choir annual National Symposium Concert is performing “songs from all around the world… (T)he choral music of Six Continents – Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North & South America.”

The event is being held this Saturday (February 9th) at 8:00 p.m. at Ryerson United Church (2195 W. 45th Ave – at Yew St.)