Mother Language Festival at IvSU

“Whatever you say, the mother tongue will always remain native. When you want to talk heart-to-heart, not a single French word comes to mind, but if you want to shine, then it’s another matter,” Lev Tolstoy once wrote. Participants of the festival “Mother Language Day at Ivanovo State University” brilliantly showed how one can talk about one's mother language, using quite difficult Russian.

In November 1999, the UNESCO General Conference proclaimed February 21 as International Mother Language Day, which has been then celebrated annually since 2000. The purpose of International Mother Language Day is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism in the world. The date for the holiday was chosen in memory of the events that took place in Dhaka (now the capital of Bangladesh) on February 21, 1952, when students who demonstrated in defense of their native language Bengali, which they demanded to be recognized as one of the state languages of the country, were killed by police bullets.

IvSU festival dedicated to the International Mother Language Day was traditionally organized by the Center for Russian Studies and International Education. It was held on February 21 in the space of collective work “Boiling Point – IvSU”. The event was carried out both in person and online and broadcasted on the YouTube platform. The record is available here. The Mother Language Day brought together students from Russian and foreign schools, foreign students of preparatory departments, bachelor's and master's programs from Russian and foreign universities. There were guys here who study Russian as a foreign or non-native language. The festival aroused unprecedented interest and brought together about 100 participants and spectators!

Nikita D. Sorokin, IvSU vice-rector for social development and international relations, addressed the participants with a greeting. In his speech, he focused on the fact that each university gives a special role to the training of foreign students. N.D. Sorokin noted the importance of the event for the international life of the university and importance of each foreign student – the bearer of a unique national culture and a member of our friendly student family.

The host of the festival was the head of the Center for Russian Studies and International Education Irina Ibragim. She briefly spoke about the various activities of the Center in the field of science, education and cultural integration of students of our university and educational institutions in Russia and foreign countries. Dr. Ibragim thanked all the participants of the festival and especially noted that there were not only foreign students in the hall, but a whole group of Russian schoolchildren – participants in the contest in Russian as a foreign language, and then gave the floor to the speakers.

During the festival students from Asia, Africa and Europe studying at IvSU in the master's program "Russian Language and Culture in the Modern World" made presentations on their native language and master classes. There were stories about the specifics of Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Kazakh languages, a linguistic walk through the motley map of the peoples of Africa, a small teleconference with Turkish students of the preparatory department of the Yeditepe University (Turkey), who are taking their first successful steps in studying Russian language abroad. All reports on mother languages were made in "great, powerful, free and truthful" Russian language, which unites all the participants - the mother language for millions of people in the world! Associate Professor of the Center for Russian Studies and International Education Natalia Zakharyan told about curiosities and difficulties of modern Russian language in interactive form.

The festival ended with the results of the International Contest in Russian as a foreign / non-native language, which was held by the Center for Russian Studies and International Education from February 7 to February 18 and was dedicated to the folk art and cultural heritage of Russia.

The Organizing Committee of the Mother Language Day Festival at Ivanovo State University sincerely thanks all the participants of the event, their supervisors and teachers, and looks forward to further creative cooperation in the field of popularization of Russian language and culture!