“It sounded really beautiful,” Meeuwsen said. “I liked the language of it.”

Meeuwsen was one of 13 MSU students and faculty members to perform Friday evening at the third annual Festival of Listening at (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St., hosted by the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, or RCAH, Center for Poetry. The event showcases poems in their traditional tongue rather than using English translations, allowing audiences to hear the flow of the words even if they can’t understand them, RCAH senior Jessica Johnson said.

“The important part is that people get to hear the poetry in its original rhythm,” Johnson said. “We’re essentially just listening to the original poem in its beauty.”

Tim Lane, the director of (SCENE) Metrospace, said the event was unique compared to other performances at the venue.

“We translate poetry from different languages so we can understand it in English, but things are often lost in translation,” Lane said. “The nuances of the language, the sound, is important to it.”

A mixture of languages from French, Spanish and Old English to Arabic, Hausa and Hebrew was heard throughout the night in poems performed by both native speakers and those, like Meeuwsen, who were learning the language. Before the speakers began to read, they gave a brief introduction in English about the contents of the poem.

Johnson said another important aspect of the event was fostering a greater understanding of other cultures.

“This was a way to just really include different languages, which is very important to our larger diverse community at MSU,” Johnson said. “It’s way for poetry to have an event that honors ethnicity.”

Aside from the poems, the festival paid tribute to other cultures by offering international foods such as baklava and opening the night with Wisaal, a local band influenced by Arabic music.

International poetry also is important because of the impact the art form has on cultures elsewhere in the world, said Stephanie Glazier, the assistant director of the RCAH Center for Poetry.

“I think there’s real thirst for poetry here,” Glazier said. “I think that’s something that draws on all of these different languages and traditions. In other places in the world, poetry is more valued, so to bring those (cultures) all into one room is a really special thing.”