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Anna Krawczyk, a graduate of the Department of Baltic Studies at the University of Warsaw, spent part of her studies in Lithuania learning the Lithuanian language. According to her, ‘People in Lithuania tend to take care of each other, and Vilnius is a wonderful city to live in’. For Anna, translating poetry has become a bridge connecting the two nations.

Lithuanian language studies in Warsaw and Lithuania

Encouraged by her boyfriend to learn Lithuanian, Anna started studying the new language in 2017 at the University of Warsaw. Although the relationship ended, her interest in the Lithuanian language has not waned.

"Love for a man turned into love for a language," she smiled.

She is proud of her decision and emphasises the inherent beauty of the Lithuanian language. Later, Anna advanced her skills through summer schools in Klaipėda under various study programmes. She remarks that the focus of such summer courses was not solely on language learning, as you simply cannot gain enough knowledge in just a month; instead, the focus was on building a sense of community. In Klaipėda, she met people from all over the world who shared an interest in the Lithuanian language and culture.

Akira Takaki in Vilnius. Photo from personal archive

For one semester, Anna had the opportunity to study at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University (VU), where she enhanced her skills and knowledge.

"I particularly appreciate the fact that Lithuanian grammar, culture, and communication were taught separately – in my opinion, it is an excellent approach. The major challenge was mastering participles, half-participles, and adverbial participles. Some of these forms coincide with those in Polish grammar, but others seem very archaic and complex. Participles felt like a different universe to me! I also developed an interest in Lithuanian slang. I distinctly remember the word moralkė (moral hangover), which also exists in Polish. It perfectly describes those inner moral dilemmas after a night of binge drinking when you feel embarrassed about your actions the morning after. That is when we say that we "have moralkė"," fondly noted Anna.

During her studies, Anna found it challenging to make Lithuanian friends because of the international environment she was part of and her limited language proficiency. However, everything changed after the event "The Seimelis of Literature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth" organised by the Lithuanian Writers Union. The Seimelis brings together Lithuanian authors and Polish translators to work together for a week. The participating poets involved Anna in their translation activities and gradually became her close friends.

Anna has heard the stereotype that Lithuanians are unfriendly and reserved but completely disagrees with it: "I was welcomed very warmly in Vilnius, perhaps because I spoke Lithuanian. I always felt part of the community and never like a foreigner. In this country, people seem to genuinely care about each other. For instance, bus and trolleybus drivers often wait a bit for late passengers, and if someone loses their wallet, at least ten people immediately step in to help. All this truly warms my heart – local people are attentive and care for each other."

"It’s true that the first impression might be the opposite, but even if Lithuanians seem unfriendly, they are still incredibly kind! For example, once in Klaipėda, I said viso gero (goodbye) to a cashier, and she replied, somewhat bitterly, with viso geriausio (all the best). I wondered if she was angry because I didn’t wish her the same," Anna laughed.

Poetry as a bridge between two nations

Anna spent two years as a project coordinator at the Polish Institute in Vilnius, where her responsibilities included teaching Polish language courses, organising educational activities for children attending Polish schools in Lithuania, hosting events like the Poetry Spring Festival, managing social media, and translating texts from Lithuanian to Polish. Anna started translating during her study years, and this activity became integral to her professional path.

At the Department of Baltic Studies of the University of Warsaw, a particular focus is devoted to translation skills – all the lecturers are professional translators. Over the course of four semesters, students work on different types of texts.

"Students translate film scripts in the first semester, poetry in the second, short stories in the third, and official documents during the final semester," listed Anna.

After completing her studies, she started translating content for social networks and event descriptions; she was even asked by a publishing house to translate the introduction to a bilingual anthology about Zbigniew Herbert. However, as Anna admits, the key challenge in translation lies in bridging cultural differences.

"For example, I struggled with the Lithuanian word profsąjunga. While I perfectly grasped its meaning in Lithuanian, the Polish equivalent, związek zawodowy, felt too lengthy and formal. I even asked my parents for help but realised there wasn’t a shorter alternative. It even made me question my poor Polish language skills!" joked Anna.

Currently, Anna is working on the translation of a theatre website and a book, though she is keeping the latter project under wraps for now.

From 20 to 21 May 2023, the University of Warsaw hosted the Poetry Spring Festival, which brought together renowned Lithuanian poets Antanas A. Jonynas, Gytis Norvilas, and Indrė Valantinaitė. For the students and alumni of the Department of Baltic Studies, this event is not only a literary festival but also serves as a valuable platform for beginning their acquaintance with the Lithuanian language through translating texts for the Poetry Spring almanacs. It is a great opportunity to try one’s hand as a translator.

"Poetry is like a bridge that connects us. We are neighbours, yet so few works have been translated," remarked Anna.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology is launching a series of five articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

The University of Warsaw introduced Lithuanian Language Studies in 1990 when the Department of Baltic Philology was established at the Faculty of Polish Studies under the leadership of Prof. Dr (HP) Wojciech Smoczyński. Later, the department was restructured into the Subdepartment of Baltic Studies, which has been headed by Dr Joanna Tabor since 2014. Currently, the University of Warsaw offers Bachelor, Master, and doctoral study programmes that include courses on the Lithuanian and Latvian languages, grammar, and literature, alongside an introduction to the history and contemporary realities of the Baltic States. Students also have the opportunity to learn the art of translation.

The Baltic studies community in Warsaw actively organises various events, such as meetings with Lithuanian poets during the Poetry Spring Festival and translation workshops. Moreover, in collaboration with colleagues from VU and Tartu University, they host the international conference ‘Bridges in the Baltics’. For more information about the Baltic Studies programme at the University of Warsaw, please visit the Baltexnus website.

Prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic.

We invite you to participate in the International Scientific Linguistics Conference RELEVANT ISSUES IN BALTIC LANGUAGE RESEARCH, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Professor and linguist Marta Rudzīte (1924–1996) from the University of Latvia. The conference will take place in Riga, on November 14–16, 2024.

PROGRAMME

We invite you to a two-week Lithuanian language winter course!

The course will take place at Vilnius University from 6 January 2025 to 17 January 2025.

Registration is open until 23 December 2024.

More information and registration here: https://www.flf.vu.lt/en/lsk/courses/winter-course.

In recent years, the field of linguistics has seen an increasing demand for corpus-based analysis of natural language data amidst a general revival of interest in the empirical foundations of linguistic theory. Contemporary digital corpora offer yet unprecedented opportunities for all kinds of linguistic research, where traditional linguistic analysis in its various theoretical and methodological paradigms originating in part in different philological and linguistic traditions of the past co-exists with and is reinforced by advanced statistical and corpus-linguistic methods made possible by modern data processing and annotation techniques. Since corpora can be used in both synchronic and diachronic analyses of language material, they provide an ideal basis not only for effectively utilizing traditional and already established methods, but also for developing new theoretical and empirical approaches to studying the grammatical system of natural languages and language varieties.
 
The Department of Latvian and Baltic Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia is pleased to announce the 10th international conference on Grammar and Corpora (G&C), which will be held on-site at the University of Latvia (House of Science, Jelgavas Street 3, Riga) from Thursday, 26 June 2025, to Saturday, 28 June 2025.
 
The conference continues the series of “Grammar and Corpora” conferences, which began in Prague, at Charles University, in 2005. Subsequently, G&C conferences have been held at various locations and universities: in Liblice (2007), Prague (2012), Warszaw (2014), Mannheim (2009, 2016), Paris (2018), Kraków (2020) and Ghent (2022). The 2025 “Grammar and Corpora” conference in Riga, at the University of Latvia, seeks to provide a forum for exchange of novel and creative ideas between researchers interested in studying various aspects of grammar and its interfaces, in the broadest sense, using different types of corpora and corpus-linguistic approaches, methods and techniques.
 
We welcome submissions that contribute to our theoretical and practical understanding and knowledge of the structure, patterns and regularities of the grammatical system of natural languages using corpora and corpus-linguistic methods in the description and theoretical analysis of individual languages, language varieties and language contacts. Although our special focus is on the Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian), submissions are equally welcome for Germanic languages, including English, Romance, Finno-Ugric, Slavic and other languages.
 
Relevant topics and areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
1) the use of corpora in the analysis of grammatical patterns (incl. inflectional and derivational morphology, syntax and phonetics) in individual languages and language varieties, as well as from contrastive, typological and cognitive perspectives
2) exploring the relationship between discourse and grammar using different types of corpora
3) grammar–semantics interface in corpus analysis
4) derivational morphology, creativity and corpora
5) application and development of tools, methods and techniques for grammar-related analysis of corpus data
6) the relative characteristics (and combinations) of different types of corpora in the study of various aspects of grammar
7) statistical and quantitative methods in studying synchronic and diachronic phenomena in grammar
8) the use of corpus-linguistic methods in historical linguistics
9) language change, its representation and analysis in different types of corpora
 
Submission of abstracts
We invite submissions for 20-minute presentations (plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion). The conference is held on-site, and the conference language is English.
The deadline for submissions is 30 December 2024. Abstracts should be submitted through https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gc2025 (you may have to register first). Each participant may submit up to two abstracts – one as the only or the first author and another as a co-author.
Notification of acceptance will be given by 27 March 2025.
 
Abstracts should be anonymous and clearly state the research questions, methodology, data types and sources and (expected) results. Abstracts should be 500 words or less, excluding references and figures, typed in Times New Roman 12 pt and submitted as Word or PDF files through https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gc2025.
 
Each submission will be reviewed anonymously by at least two reviewers from the scientific committee.
 
IMPORTANT DATES
30 December 2024 – deadline for abstract submission
27 March 2025 – notification of acceptance/rejection
10 April 2025 – registration opens
15 May 2025 – deadline for revised abstracts, if accepted
01 May 2025 – end of early-bird registration
26 June – 28 June 2025 – conference
 
More info see https://gcc.lu.lv/en/
 
The conference is organized under the auspices of the Latvian Research Council’s project “Database of Latvian Morphemes and Derivational Models (DLMDM)” (No. lzp-2022/1-0013).

The International Congress of Balticists is a conference that brings together researchers of the Baltic languages every five years in Vilnius or Riga. First organized in 1964, it will be held for the 14th time in 2025 at Vilnius University.

The conference page: https://www.baltistukongresas.flf.vu.lt/en/

We are pleased to invite WORKSHOP PROPOSALS on current topics in Baltic linguistics for the 14th International Congress of Balticists.

Find Call for Workshops here: https://www.baltistukongresas.flf.vu.lt/.../call-for...

Welcome to the 7th International Conference of Applied Linguistics LANGUAGES AND PEOPLE, 25–27 September 2025, at Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Conference Themes

• Sociolinguistics
• Language policy
• Discourse analysis
• Translation
• Language teaching and learning
• Language acquisition
• Language testing
• Corpus linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Sign language
• Pragmatics

Deadlines submission of abstracts: 17 February 2025 submission of workshop proposals: 3 February 2025
Contact person (Ms) Lina Vaškevičienė lina.vaskeviciene@flf.vu.lt
More information: https://litaka.lt/en/

The Department of Latvian and Baltic Studies at the University of Latvia invites submissions of abstracts for the 60th International Academic Conference in Honour of Prof. Arturs Ozols “The language system, morphemics and derivational morphology”, to be held on March 20–21, 2025.

The focus of the 2025 conference is on the grammatical and lexical system of language, its architecture, description and interpretation from a synchronic and diachronic perspective, with a particular emphasis on morphemics and word formation.

Participants are invited to present their research focusing on, but not limited to, the following main thematic areas:

1) methodological approaches to morphemic analysis, problem cases;

2) allomorphism, its different facets and manifestations;

3) morpheme polyfunctionality;

4) borderline cases in delimiting morphemes, words and constructions;

5) the formal and semantic diversity of derivational morphology, incl. various non-straightforward cases;

6) links and relationships between word formation and inflection;

7) derivational morphology and derivational motivation, cases of asymmetry;

8) derivational models and types, derivational semantics;

9) creativity in word formation;

10) word formation in terminology.

We expect submissions from different standpoints (e.g., general, areal, typological, cognitive, functional, contrastive, quantitative, etc.) and theoretical frameworks with material from Latvian and other languages.

Conference languages – Latvian, Lithuanian and English.

Conference format – in person.

Presentations – 20 minutes (15-minute talk, 5 minutes for questions).

Conference fee – 60 EUR. The fee covers coffee breaks.

Abstracts – 250–500 words (excluding references) plus the list of references.

Applications (containing information regarding the name, surname and academic affiliation of the participant(s) – a university, a research institute, etc.) and abstracts should be sent to lvling.conf@lu.lv by January 27, 2025, with the reference “the 60th International Academic Conference in Honour of Prof. Arturs Ozols”. Each individual may submit up to two abstracts: one as sole or first author, one as second author.

Notifications of acceptance will be given no later than February 10, 2025.

For additional information, visit https://aok.2025.lu.lv/en/

We invite students from the centers of the Baltic studies to participate in the second International School of Baltistics at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University. It will be held from 28 to 30 November 2024.

The students will have the opportunity to listen to lectures by Baltistics on different topics. They will also take part in seminars and network with students from other centers.

·         Fluency in Lithuanian at A2/B1 level is required.

·         Participation is free of charge, and we will also provide travel, accommodation and lunch.

·         The number of participants is very limited.

Registration is open until 20 October at: https://forms.gle/w8CEv4UWapVFXVYk9

If you have any questions, please contact ernesta.kazakenaite@flf.vu.lt

It is organized by Department of Baltic studies at Vilnius University, financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. More information on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1705150723358372

We invite you to a seminar/discussion on key challenges in multicultural learning settings, organised by the Centre for Educational Excellence. The workshop is relevant to teachers and lecturers working with international student groups, but all are welcome. The discussion will take place on 17 September 2024, 18:00-19:30 on the MSTeams platform. Please see the invitation for more information.

Invitation

We are pleased to invite foreigners to register for Lithuanian language and culture winter courses. Please complete the registration form by 14 October. Registration form.