Belgorod State University host “The Range of Languages” International Festival

This year the international festival was held on 19-21 February both in online and offline formats, bringing together Russian and international students, lecturers of Russian and foreign universities, pupils and secondary schools teachers of Belgorod and Belgorod region.

The first day of the festival was dedicated to languages based on the written form, which along with the number of native speakers keeps them from being seriously endangered. Professor Olga Prokhorova, the Director of the Institute of Intercultural Communication and International Relations, Nasiba Azizova, the Dean of the Department of International Joint Educational Programs of Karshi State University, Asila Khudoyberdiyeva, the Head of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of Shakhrisabz State Pedagogical Institute, welcomed the participants. Students from different universities of Russia and abroad talked about the specifics of Russian, Even, Armenian, Uzbek, Turkmen, English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, Malaysian, Chinese, Arabic, Kurdish languages, held workshops on writing, recited poems, sang songs dedicated to a family.

Great interest was caused by the workshops on Russian calligraphy by Rimma Rozhdestvenskaya, the Associate Professor of the Chair of Theory, Pedagogy and Methodology of Elementary Education and Fine Arts of the Department of Preschool, Elementary and Special Education of BelSU Pedagogical Institute, on the Arabic script of different Islamic countries by M. Darwish Center of Arabic Language and Culture, on Chinese language by “Mandarin” School of Chinese Language and Culture of Belgorod. Pupils of “Sman Siualima” boarding school in Ambon (Indonesia) performed typical family scenes in the dialects of their native language.

The second day of the festival was dedicated to the problems of preserving languages, including those that have no written form. The round table was opened by Olga Lyutova, the Acting Director of BelSU Peoples' Friendship Center and Bamybay Serer Ibu Ngom, the Head of the Lyceum.

The round table resulted in the action program aimed at preserving linguistic diversity to be implemented by Peoples' Friendship Center together with the partners. On the same day Russian and international students participated in a biblio-quest organized by Belgorod State Universal Scientific Library. The book exhibition by N.N. Strakhov Scientific Library and Goethe Institute’s Online Library in Moscow, enabled the festival participants to get acquainted with scientific, educational and fiction literature on non-written languages, languages of small peoples, history of writing, calligraphy and lettering.

The events celebrating International Mother Language Day were also held at BelSU Preparatory Department. The guests and participants were welcomed by Elena Nazarenko, the Deputy Head of the Department, who emphasized the importance of studying native and foreign languages, which give the key to understanding the culture of peoples.

Students of Preparatory Department presented various presentations in their native languages, reflecting their pride and love. The range of languages turned out to be wide. The participants told about English, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkmen, Kurdish, Kanembu and other languages, tried to reveal similarities and differences between Russian and their native languages.