News

The twentieth Salos Summer School of Linguistics Academia Grammaticorum Salensis Vigesima will be held between July 23 and 29 in Salos, Rokiškis District. This time the topics of lectures and papers will centre around research problems connected with the Baltic languages.

This year the school is funded by the Lithuanian Academic Scheme for International Cooperation in Baltic Studies. Attendants from centres of Baltic studies will have all costs of travel, accommodation and board covered from this project.  For attendants not delegated by centres of Baltic studies the participation fee is 120 EUR (100 EUR for members of the association “Academia Salensis” as well as for graduate and undergraduate students).

More

On  March 25 -  April 1, Dr. Teresė Ringailienė, a lecturer at the Institute of Foreign Languages of Vytautas Magnus University, visited the Institute of Slavonic and Baltic Philology at  Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. With her colleagues Dr. Aranka Laczházi and Dr. Agnieška Rembialkowska, working at Eötvös Loránd University, she discussed the specificity of teaching Lithuanian as a foreign language and discussed future plans and possibilities for further cooperation.

Dr. T. Ringailienė introduced both the teachers and the Lithuanian language students to Vytautas Magnus University, the Institute of Foreign Languages, which she heads, and the various opportunities to learn Lithuanian in Lithuania. Dr. Teresė Ringailienė introduced her textbook "Learn and Speak Lithuanian," which is designed for learners of Lithuanian at levels A1-A2.

The Lithuanian language lecture held by dr. Teresė Ringailienė focused on food: traditional Lithuanian and Hungarian foods and dishes. The students also shared recipes and tasted traditional Lithuanian foods.

Dr. Teresė Ringailienė at  Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest

Photographs from Teresė Ringailienė personal archive.

On 26 March – 2 April, 2023, prof. dr. Vaida Kamuntavičienė from the Department of History at Vytautas Magnus University was visiting the Baltic Center at Warsaw University. She gave lectures to students of Baltic studies on the problems of the use of Lithuanian and Polish languages in Lithuania in 1918-1940. This topic allowed for a general discussion about the significance of nationality in the first half of the 20th century in the Central Eastern European region, and about the peculiarities of Polish and Lithuanian languages. During the visit future research perspectives were discussed.

Prof. dr. Vaida Kamuntavičienė from the Department of History at VMU at Warsaw University

Photos by Joanna Tabor

Students, professors, and researchers of foreign institutions of higher education as well as individuals of Lithuanian descent can submit their applications to the Lithuanian language summer course in July 2023.

This year the course will take place in Kaunas from 12 June 2023 to 11July 2023 and in Vilnius from 2 July 2023 to 3 July 2023.

Applications can be submitted here until 10 April 2023 local time (+2GMT). 

On March 4-11, Linas Didvalis, Associate Professor at the Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Vytautas Magnus University, visited Cracow University in Poland. During the visit, the students were presented with the documentary film "Visas of Life. The Chain of Courage“ that tells the story of the beginning of the Second World War, when Jewish refugees arriving in Lithuania from Poland were helped by the Japanese consul in Kaunas, Chiune Sugihara, and a wide network of other people. Dr. Didvalis also gave lectures on Lithuanian-Japanese relations and the peculiarities of the East Asian region. In between the lectures, there were meetings with researchers, lecturers, international relations coordinators. This allowed to exchange experiences and discuss future plans.

On 4-11 March, 2023, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Laima Anglickienė and Dr. Giedrė Barkauskaitė from the Department of Cultural Studies at Vytautas Magnus University were visiting the Department of Linguistics and Baltic Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. They gave lectures on Lithuanian traditions and customs of calendar festivals, Lithuanian ethno choreography and other topics. Students and teachers of the Baltic studies programme also enjoyed traditional folk dances and songs, tasted Lithuanian food.

Students and teachers of the Baltic studies programme

From 23 February to 1 March, Agnieszka Rembialkowska, a Lithuanian language teacher at the Baltic Centre of Eötvös Loránd University, came from Budapest for a short-term visit in Lithuania.

From 23 February to 27 February 2023, Greta Lemanaitė-Deprati, lecturer at the Lithuanian Cultural Centre of Krakow Jagiellonian University, was visiting Vilnius and Vilnius university.

On 20-27 January, assoc. prof. dr. Laimutė Anglickienė and dr. Jurgita Macijauskaitė-Bonda from Vytautas Magnus University paid a visit to INALCO (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris), where they met students studying the Lithuanian language and culture and delivered a series of lectures on Lithuanian folklore, customs, and traditions.

Assoc. prof. dr. Laimutė Anglickienė and dr. Jurgita Macijauskaitė-Bonda from VMU

On 18-31 January 2023, Alyona Shyba from the Centre of Lithuanian Studies at Chernovcy National Jurij Fedkovich Pedagogical University was visiting Vytautas Magnus University. In Vilnius, she met with Vilma Leonavičienė, Head of the Centre for Lithuanian Studies and International Programmes, to discuss further cooperation and the inclusion of Ukrainian students in VMU summer and winter Lithuanian language and culture studies. The visit also included a visit to the Ukrainian Centre, established in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine, the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Lithuania and Vytautas Magnus University.

In Kaunas, meetings were held with Ilona Kazlauskaitė, Head of the International Relations Department of Vytautas Magnus University, and representatives of the Faculty of Humanities implementing the project, Giedrius Janauskas, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Greta Garnytė, Head of the International Projects, and Daiva Kielaitė, Project Coordinator, who discussed the remaining activities of the project and the involvement of Ukrainians in them, as well as the possible activities to be carried out at the end of the project. Alyona Shyba also met with students from Chernovcy National Jurij Fedkovich Pedagogical University who were studying Lithuanian in Vilnius and Kaunas at the time. The students talked about their studies and their progress.

In Vilnius and Kaunas, shy also visited the libraries of Vilnius University and Vytautas Magnus University, where she collected materials for teaching Lithuanian Language and Culture.

Photographs from Alyona Shyba's personal archive.