Kilgraston Attends Multilingual Debate

Published by Kilgraston on Wednesday 12th of April 2023

The Higher Spanish and Higher and Advanced Higher French pupils were able to attend the Heriot-Watt Multilingual Debate for 2023. This year’s motion was ‘This house believes that social media is the best vehicle for free speech’. The debate was open to a wide variety of schools and attendants.

As we entered the auditorium, we were impressed by the elaborate set-up. The debate began with an opening vote of 59% for the motion and 41% against. During the debate, we were able to tune into any of the translated languages. There were several translated languages in the debate: French, Spanish, German, Chinese and British Sign Language. The students had the chance to listen to any of the languages on offer- I personally tuned into the French translation often. The ideas within the debate itself were thought-provoking, and the interpreters were confident and articulate in their translations. The debate then moved onto an audience question and answer session, with audience interaction and input in multiple languages. The debate closed with a final vote, and in an interesting change of mind from the first vote, the final result was 43% for and 57% against.

This was an impressive and educational experience, and was a great time for all the Modern Languages pupils.

Eilidh, Upper Sixth, Modern Languages Prefect.