Russian language abroad.Conference at Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) on studies and teaching of the Russian language in CIS states and the far abroad.
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Yefim Pivovar, rector of RSUH, doctor of historical sciences:
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Of course for us, as for the Russian State University for the Humanities,
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the role of the Russian language and culture in Russia, as well as in the world, is vitally important.
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I won't conceal from you that we are not particularly happy with the present state of affairs within the country, 
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also among the new generation amid the information revolution, 
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which provides less knowledge in the field of literature and native language in a traditional way, 
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meaning through reading and all the other ways which were always common in the culture, 
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and more through the information field, 
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which is nevertheless an important direction for our actions. 
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By all means we are extremely interested, on the one hand, 
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in expanding and supporting the Russian-speaking world 
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outside of the Russian Federation and in the borders of the world, 
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which existed already within the Soviet Union, 
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meaning post-Soviet space, as well as far beyond its borders.
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I don't very much like such notions as the "near abroad" and the "far abroad", 
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but so far the Russian language has not come up with another suitable notion. 
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And this is very important. 
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And it is particularly important in a philological perspective, 
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as well as linguistically, regarding the context of the language's development. 
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Language is the most important means not only of communication, 
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but also of promotion and preservation of a culture of any civilization, 
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including the Russian civilization. 
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And this direction is very important for us. 
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Nowadays, the system of Russian language instruction is undergoing some changes,
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as well the subject of this process and those who would like to deal with it are also changing. 
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On the one hand, we should actively support interest in Russian language coming from any person, 
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according to the concept of the Russian world.
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This concept dictates that a representative of any ethnic group 
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interested in the Russian language,
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trying to study it and enter its cultural world,
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already becomes a part of the Russian world. 
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This Russian world also embraces by any means the representatives of ethnic groups 
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who live and who used to live on the territory of Russia 
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and who happened to be outside the Russian Federation, 
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as well as ones who never used to be a part of the Russian world, 
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but are interested in Russian, 
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who are affiliated with institutions teaching the Russian language in the world 
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and are actively collaborating with us. 
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In this regard the present conference is very significant. 
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I hope that this exchange of opinions and the study of the present day situation in various corners of the world
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In this regard will further contribute to our efforts, 
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which have not only great educational and scientific value, 
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but also a pedagogic one.
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While universities are also collective pedagogues, 
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I am convinced that this conference also has this function.
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Marc Kalinin, representative of the Russian State Collaboration: 
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The importance of this conference is obvious,
as its main objective is to expand cooperation 
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between Russian and foreign centers of Russian studies, 
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leading institutions in promoting the Russian language abroad and diasporas. 
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The main subject under discussion today is
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the "Fate of the Russian language as an integral part of the Russian culture, 
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an important means of international communication and ethno-cultural preservation of Russians abroad." 
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In this regard, the Russian State Collaboration pays special attention to the realization of programs 
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aimed at supporting and promoting the Russian language abroad, 
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as well as among fellow nationals. 
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I would like to present briefly the present projects of the agency. 
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Together with the Ministry for Science and Education the Russian State Collaboration 
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is the main developer of a new federal program, 
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the "Russian language" for  2011-2015, 
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which you surely have heard about. 
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Starting from this year the agency  will be one of the state employees in this project 
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regarding two important strategic tasks among our priorities. 
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The first task is support for the Russian language as the basis for development 
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and processes of integration among the CIS countries. 
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The second task is aimed at answering the cultural and language needs of our fellow Russians abroad. 
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The realization of these tasks will provide a partial solution to a number of problems 
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connected to the strengthening of the position of the Russian language in the world.
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In respect to the requests from abroad, we are planning to continue regularly sending abroad educational, 
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tutorial, referential materials on the Russian language, 
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organizing cultural, educational and tutorial events 
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which facilitate the promotion of Russian and Russia in general 
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and to start developing in cooperation with foreign partners the Russian language textbooks 
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designed for particular nations and, as it could be interesting for this audience,
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I am inviting you to cooperate.
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Stanislav Golubev, general director of the "Chrysostomos" center: 
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The "Chrysostom" center has been developing and publishing Russian language textbooks for foreigners for the last twenty years 
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and in the last few years has turned to a new field that is actively developing in the world, 
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that is the development of the Russian language among the children of fellow Russians, 
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and the issue of bilingualism is connected to this subject. 
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Apart from this, we are very interested in issues of language policy 
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and in the experience of promoting this policy in various countries, 
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as to think about new method and find new, interesting authors 
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is entirely purposeless without an understanding of the background 
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of the actively developing processes in education and language policy in different countries.
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Thus we have managed to publish on this subject in the past few years 
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and organize interesting seminars in various countries with the participation of interesting scholars. 
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This field is discussed here as well and it is exciting to participate in this.
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Vera Zabtokina, professor at RSUH: 
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The conference is very interesting and up-to-date, 
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because we all talk about a modern, multi-cultural world of multiple languages 
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and in this modern, multi-cultural world of multiple languages the Russian language 
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rings out along with all the others. 
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And although the strengthening of Russian abroad and in our country has been discussed 
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and will be discussed here today, 
I think that the Russian language has quite a strong presence abroad 
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and it can be observed in international projects. 
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Therefore, I would like to pay special attention to the international students' project of Mobility 
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as a means of raising motivation. 
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Mark Andreevich has mentioned that we have to think about 
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how to make people learn Russian, 
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what mechanisms to look for to raise interest in Russian.
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There is one, by means of mobility. 
We have several programs for mobility in our university, 
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including Erasmus-Mundus, a large-scale project with the participation 
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of ten Russian universities and ten foreign universities.
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We have students coming from the University of Bologna, 
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Goettingen, Humboldt University, from Loewen, Turku (Finland) and from other cities of Europe. 
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They come here having a great knowledge of Russian. 
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When I meet these students, I am always surprised. 
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We have to motivate youth with this - with an opportunity to study in Russia, 
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get acquainted with Russian culture.
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Many of them, after having studied a year, prolong their stay here,they want to study more. 
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They say Moscow is a stunning city with an amazing culture. 
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And this is important.
