Youth in the Dialogue of Cultures

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of a phenomenon such as language. It affects all aspects of our lives in one way or another, and to be modest – it helps us to live. Without it, the Tower of Babel would have become a reality of our time. And the only thing language demands in return is memory: to honor one's own linguistic traditions and not to let this heritage fall into oblivion – what could be simpler, what could be more difficult.

February 21 is the International Mother Language Day, a holiday that directly calls for attention to one's native language and at the same time emphasizes the uniqueness of each culture. It is also a holiday in honor of which the Center of National Cultures will host an evening meeting "YOUTH IN THE DIALOGUE OF CULTURES". If this event were to be described in one word, the word "kaleidoscope" would be most appropriate. The evening will bring together representatives from Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, China, as well as members of the national diasporas of Vitebsk: Latvians, Belarusians, Jews, Russians. The participants of the meeting will present their countries: they will talk about the peculiarities of national cultures, language, and demonstrate factual material (the presentation will be accompanied by video and photo materials).

Distinguished guests will also speak at the meeting: Olga RUSILKA, Associate Professor and Candidate of Philological Sciences, member of the Union of Writers of Belarus, Head of the Department of Belarusian Literature of VSU named after P. M. Masherov, Andrey GERASHCHENKO, Chairman of the Vitebsk City Association "RUSSIAN HOUSE", member of the Union of Writers of Belarus and Russia, as well as Ruta BELGESOVA, an employee of the Consulate of the Republic of Latvia in Vitebsk.

How does language unite a nation? What role does it play in the life of a people? What is the peculiarity of our native language? These are only some of the questions that will be raised for joint discussion.
Specifically for the International Mother Language Day, the Center of National Cultures will release a small gift edition for the participants of the meeting, namely, a mini-dictionary with common phrases in Belarusian. During the event, all foreign guests will write down the transcription of Belarusian phrases in their native language in these dictionaries. Here is such a vocabulary training!

The evening meeting will take place on February 21 at 16:00 at the Center of National Cultures (Vitebsk Concert Hall, Frunze Park, 1, office 302). For inquiries, please call: 37-34-86.