How many languages can
you find in West Hartford?
Say “Hello! West Hartford”
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Hello! West Hartford, Connecting Our
Community Through Language, is a townwide initiative to build bridges between
community members.
Put simply, its purpose is to bring people
together and celebrate the diverse make-up
of our community. By saying “Hello” and
“Welcome” to each other in one of the more
than 70+ languages spoken by West
Hartford residents we build unity.
Check out great videos produced every
month at hellowesthartford.org. It is a fun
way to learn about your community!
If you would like to make a connection with
more people in town, please print and post
the banner and say “hello” in the language
featured that month.
E-mail your questions or comments to:
[email protected]
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Afrikaans
Albanian
American Sign
Language
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Assyrian
Bengali
Bikol
Burmese
Cantonese
Chinese
Creole-Cape
Verdean
Creole-Haitian
Creole-Jaotoam
Dari
DInka
Dutch
English
Farsi
Finnish
French
Fujianese
German
Greek
Gujarati
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Ilongot
Italian
Japanese
Kambaata
Khmer
(Cambodian)
Korean
Kutchin
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Lao
Lithuanian
Luganda
Maay
Bahasa Indonesia
Malayalam
Malinke
Mandarin
Marathi
Nepalese
Norwegian
Oriya
Pashto
Patois
Persian
Pilipino (Filipino)
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Pushto
Rumanian
Russian
Sango
Serbo-Croatian
Somali
Spanish
Swedish
Tagalog
Taiwanese
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Tibetan
Tigrinya
Turkish
Twi/Fante
Ukrainian
Urdu
Vietnamese
Wolof
Hello!
West Hartford
hellowesthartford.org
Connecting Our
Community Through
Language
How many ways can you say “Hello”?
Origins of Hello! West Hartford
Hello! West Hartford formed as a project of
West
Hartford
Community
Connections
(WHCC). WHCC is an action-based initiative of
volunteers that grew out of the spring 2010
Community Conversations attended by 140
interested WH residents.
While community members naturally interact
with each other in their own schools,
neighborhoods, faith communities, and over
shared interests, we would like to create
opportunities for connections in new circles.
We brainstormed the many ways we might
bridge gaps and bring about interaction
between and among schools, households,
government agencies and businesses in West
Hartford and provide opportunities for everyone
to connect in new ways.
Bepsie Perry suggested that the simplest way
would be a town-wide “Hello!” and Hello! West
Hartford was born.
What’s Happening!
How to Get Involved
Visit our website to enjoy informative videos by
school friends and/or a community groups who
showcase the language for that month. The
videos are the result of a partnership between
Hello! West Hartford and WHCTV’s Be the
Media. In collaboration, they work with students
to film their community for local television.
Everyone can get involved by visiting our
website, www.hellowesthartford.org to print and
display the banner, and greet each other in the
language being featured that month.
Each month a new language is featured by
fluent speakers as well as customs and
traditions. Check out some of our fun videos,
such as:
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Charter Oak International Academy – Spanish
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Solomon Schechter Day School – Hebrew
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Bristow Middle School – Hindi
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King Phillip Middle School – Urdu
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Intensive Education Academy – Russian
Duffy Elementary School students contributed
colorful multilingual hello posters featured in
various booths at Celebrate West Hartford. The
children also had a great time calling local
businesses to find out what languages are
spoken. The students of Charter Oak created
our globe-with-hands logo. Many schools have
created flags too!
Fun connecting
with businesses!
Schools and Community Groups can host a
featured language – making a video, sharing
customs and food, and finding out where that
language is spoken in West Hartford.
Businesses can welcome all residents to their
establishments by greeting customers with
“Hello and Welcome” in the featured language
that month.
The volunteers of Hello! West Hartford wish to thank
the following for their support:
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West Hartford Community Television (WHCTV )
for video creations.
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The Mercy Community for sponsoring our website.
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Tom Virgin, of Studio Tom (studio-tom.com) for
our website.
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West Hartford teachers and students for hosting,
videos, posters, and enthusiasm.
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ESOL Department of WHPS
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Great by 8 – A community partnership
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Celebrate West Hartford committee members and
coordinator Helen Rubino-Turco.
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The Town of West Hartford
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West Hartford Public Libraries
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Intensive Education Academy, West Hartford
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Mayor Scott Slifka
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Town Manager Ron Van Winkle
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School Superintendent Karen List
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School Board Members Terry Schmitt and Mark
Overmyer-Velazquez
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West Hartford Chamber of Commerce
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Matthew Dallas Gordon, LLC