Discussing the Issues of Studying Russian in a Multicultural World

Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov hosted an international scientific seminar «Russian Language in a multicultural world» dedicated to issues of the Russian language and its study in Russia and abroad.

The scientific platform brought together scientists, teachers, postgraduates and students from universities of the Russian Federation and other countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, the People’s Republic of China, Spain, Abkhazia, South Ossetia.

The purpose of the meeting is to popularize the Russian language and culture in the Russian Federation and abroad in scientific and educational activities.

The relevance of the topic of the seminar was noted by the director of the Social and Humanitarian Institute of KBSU Muslim Tamazov:

Modern political and social changes in Russia and in the multipolar world have generated new interest in the image of our country, Russian culture and language as global and interethnic. This change in the goals of studying the Russian language requires a new socio-cultural and linguistic approach, as well as the development of new methods and content of language teaching.

Vice-rector of KBSU Svetlana Khashirova believes that the level of a scientific seminar with a large number of participants and a wide geography deserves to develop into a scientific conference.

As for its topic, then, indeed, the preservation and development of the Russian language, especially in our multinational republics, is very important, because it is the only means of interethnic communication. It is the Russian language that unites us all,

— the vice-rector emphasized.

Svetlana Bashiev, head of the Department of Russian Language and General Linguistics, spoke about KBSU’s experience in popularizing the Russian language and culture in a multicultural world:

Today’s seminar is part of a large-scale project of our department «We are Russians», which has been implemented since December 15, 2021. In 2017, it was included in the top 100 projects in Russia, and information about it was published in the Cultural Atlas of the Peoples of Russia.

Our initiative consists of several key projects that we hold annually. This is an all-Russian conference with international participation, dedicated to the problems of preserving and developing languages, for schoolchildren and students «First Steps into Science»; today’s international scientific seminar, Olympiads, in particular «Slovolyub». There is also an interesting competition «Marvelous Lace», the author of which is Nadezhda Chaika.

The project includes an action for students «Hour of High Poetry» and the most beloved competition for schoolchildren and students «Multilingual Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin», which is held by our partners together with us. Pushkin’s works have been translated into 200 languages. Our participants read Pushkin’s poems in their ethnic languages.

Svetlana Bashieva named KBSU partners in terms of popularizing the Russian language. These are not only universities of the Russian Federation, but also foreign ones. For example, the University of Granada (Spain), where the popularizer of the Russian language in Spain Rafael Tirada Guzman works, awarded the Order of Friendship and received Russian citizenship. The Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University (Bishkek) represented by the director of the Institute of Russian Language Mamed Tagaev. South Kazakhstan Pedagogical University represented by the Department of Russian Language and Literature. Brest State University named after A.S. Pushkin represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Philology Tatyana Senkevich. The Vitebsk branch of the International University «MITSO» represented by the head of the Department of Law and Social and Humanitarian Disciplines Anton Lavitsky.

The work of the scientific seminar was held in three sections, each of which presented fascinating reports on the functioning and development of the Russian language. The topics of the presentations demonstrated the diversity of aspects of studying the Russian language in a multicultural environment.

The issues discussed were diverse: from semantics and pragmatics of texts to cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics. Particular attention was paid to the morphology and syntax of the language, as well as the methods of teaching Russian as a native and non-native language.

Thus, the seminar became a platform for in-depth analysis and discussion of topical issues related to the richness and diversity of the Russian language in modern conditions.

The scientific meeting was organized by the Department of Russian Language and General Linguistics and the Scientific and Educational Center of Russian Language and Culture of the Social and Humanitarian Institute of KBSU.