LinguCards is an intercultural art project linked to metaphorical language. The non-profit-project was started in January 2015. Its main goal is to support better understanding and communication between citizens of the European Union and other nations.
We provide illustrations of idioms to display their literal meaning. Through the production of bilingual cards, we connect art and idiomatic phrases from different language societies. By showing that different pictures can have the same meaning, we want to reveal similarities in the differences and support the development of cultural awareness.
Currently, we are working on the beta version of the project for Bulgaria and Germany. It is organised in cooperation with a team of Bulgarian and German artists. The long-term aim is to run the project for as many languages as possible.
Every illustration is made by an artist, who is a native speaker of the language the illustrated idiom belongs to. We offer a platform for artists, thus enabling them to create a network within the LinguCards team as well as beyond it.
Through the creation and production of bilingual cards, we connect art and idiomatic phrases from different language societies. We print and spread these cards in the relevant countries, so that people have free access to them.
Furthermore we work together with schools and develop interdisciplinary project days in cooperation with teachers and pupils. During these days we combine language learning with art lessons and other subjects.
To include LinguCards in a playful way, we will soon produce a special edition of them in form of a "Memory" card game.
Idioms are phrases used by entire language communities. They take roots in the culture, the history and the location of a community. In many cases the common grounds between different nationalities can be stronger than expected.
By showing that different pictures can have the same meaning, we want to reveal similarities in the differences and support the development of cultural awareness.
In a broader sense the project is all about motivating people to think about the powerful interconnection of picture and language. Our intercultural approach is thereby opening a global door to
this topic.
Idioms have a key function when it comes to empathic understanding within one language society, hence they mean valuable knowledge for someone learning a foreign language. Through illustrations they become more understandable and easily memorable for language learners.
Interdisciplinary teaching brings a lot of benefits. The most striking one seems to be that, compared to a more conservative way of teaching, a lot more different interests can be combined with each other. That is why we believe that a holistic approach is not only more interesting for pupils and teacher, but also more fun. By working together with teachers of different subjects during our cooperation with a school, we try to support interdisciplinary teaching as much as we can.
We are not only aiming at involving artists to work on their own culture and language, but also to open a door to cooperation between artists from different horizons and countries. This can be achieved by information exchange, meetings and mutual support during a stay in a foreign country, joined exhibitions and much more.
The LinguCards Team would like to gather ideas, hear opinions and find more supporters of the project.
We are on a search for artists, sponsors, partners and for programmer, who could help to develop an online version for the LinguCards "Memory" game.