The Macedonian Language at Universities Abroad(2012)

Maksim Karanfilovski

The Macedonian Language at Universities Abroad[1]

             Macedonia as a country and as a state has attracted the attention of foreign scholars, researchers and culture figures in the broadest sense since old times. The evidence are the numerous scholarly treatises, works of art, reports from different expeditions, missions and others, where we can find precious data, impressions, analyses and other materials regarding the culture, ethnology, folklore, history, geography, language, etc of Macedonia and the Macedonian population. That interest, random or organized by individual or some other interests of foreign institutions, gains an organized character from the Macedonian side as late as the second half of the twentieth century with the aim to better present better Macedonian culture, language and history to the world and get the recognition so that it be represented in the university programs at the respective level.

             The interest towards the Macedonian language brought about its inclusion in curricula at many universities across the world. With different intensity and different time frames the Macedonian language in this past period had been taught at the Charles universities in Prague (where the first lectorate in Macedonian at a foreign university was initiated in the period of 1946-1948 ), Moscow, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Minsk, Saint Petersburg, Perm, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Lunt, Bradford, Sydney, Portland, London, Munich, Gottingen, Regensburg, Cologne, Manheim, Hamburg, Berlin, Zurich, Brno, Bratislava, Trieste, Klagenfurt (Celovec), Toronto, New York, Chicago, Kansas, Harvard, Syracuse, Ohio, Tempi, Canberra, Nanking (PR China), Tokyo, Seoul and the university centres of the former Yugoslav republics: Ljubljana, Maribor, Zagreb, Zadar, Osijek, Rijeka, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Prishtina, Niksic. Teaching the Macedonian language was sometimes accompanied by teaching subjects or holding separate lectures from the spheres of Macedonian literature, history or folklore, ethnology or something else connected to Macedonian culture or cultural history.

             A turning point in the presence of the Macedonian language at universities abroad is the signing of the first inter-university contracts for cooperation between Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje and foreign partner universities at the end of 1960s (Voronezh, Halle, Naples, etc), as well as the forming of the International Seminar for Macedonian language, literature and culture in December 1967. Since then an organized advancement of Macedonian Studies has started at foreign universities. The inter-university agreements bring about the opening of the first lectorates in Macedonian language at foreign universities with Macedonian lectors, while the International Seminar for Macedonian language, literature and culture starts organizing summer seminars (schools) for foreign Slavists. At the first Seminar for Macedonian language, literature and culture, held in Ohrid in August 1968, the number of participants was 21 from 12 countries, as well as participants from the university centres of Yugoslavia at that time. Since then the interest in participating in these summer seminars has been growing constantly and has reached its peak, when it comes to number of accepted participants, at the 12^th Summer Seminar (1979) with 145 participants from about thirty countries. For many years after that the number of participants has been steady at about a hundred participants every summer. Just a year after the first seminar, in the 1968/1969 academic year the first two Macedonian lectorates were opened: in Halle, Germany, and in Naples, Italy. This was the beginning of the development of the network of Macedonian language lectorates abroad.

             The basic and main aim of the Macedonian lectorates has always been the teaching and learning of the Macedonian language, but they were never limited to that. Literature, history and culture in all their varieties were also included through different activities within the frameworks of the lectorates or, more broadly, within the frameworks of university-level activities, still keeping the central role of the lectorate as a Macedonian cultural centre in the foreign university as its host. Thus, not only the students, but also a the broader academic and general community of a country were given the opportunity to get source information about certain cultural achievements of the Macedonian people and their artists from all spheres (painting, sculpture, music, literature, architecture, film, theatre, caricature, etc).

             Macedonian as a foreign language today organized by the International Seminar for Macedonian language, literature and culture of Ss Cyril and Methodius University is represented at many European universities. This academic year there are 11 Macedonian lectorates working at the same number of universities: Moscow (Russia), Istanbul (Turkey), Craiova (Romania), Tirana (Albania), Budapest (Hungary), Brno and Prague (the Czech Republic), Krakow and Sosnowiec (Poland), Rijeka (Croatia), and Paris (France). Seven of them are in member countries of the European Union. The teaching status is different and varies from an elective subject for students of different profiles (Istanbul, Tirana, Budapest, Prague and Rijeka), through a second foreign language (Krakow and Craiova), to a full five-year major with a diploma in Macedonian language and literature (Moscow, Brno, Paris and Sosnowiec).

             In the 1968/1969 school year the first Macedonian language lectorate at a German university was opened. That happened within the frameworks of the Institute of Slavistics with the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. There, in accordance with the Cooperation Contract between the universities in Halle and Skopje, Macedonian lectors worked for more than twenty years. The fruitful work of this lectorate made it possible for the Macedonian language to have a status of study subject with a diploma for Macedonian language studies in a combination with another study subject until 1991. Today, since 1991, there are no Macedonian lectors there anymore but teaching is conducted by Dr Gisela Hawranek, a Macedonian studies graduate from that university and author of the doctoral dissertation “Meanings and functions of the past indefinite tense in contemporary Macedonian”, defended at Halle in 1980. The Institute of Slavistics library in Halle, together with the University Library in Halle have the richest collection of Macedonian books in Germany and probably in all of Central and Western Europe. All this gives the opportunity to this Institute to be the strongest Macedonian Studies centre for the whole German language area. Two scientific Macedonian Studies conferences were held in Halle with the frameworks of the Martin Luther University: in 1975 and in 1989.

             In the 1969/1970 academic year a Macedonian language lectorate was opened within the University Oriental Institute in Naples (Instituto universitario orientale Napoli), Italy. Until 2010, learning the Macedonian language there was for two to four years. The leading personality at that university is, of course, Professor Nulo Minissi, who became Doctor Honoris Causa of the Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje for his contributions to the development and popularization of the Macedonian language in Italy and beyond. A very significant contribution to Macedonian science is the publication of Fonetika na makedonskiot jazik (Phonetics of the Macedonian Language) by the authors Nulo Minissi, Naum Kitanovski and Umberto Cinque, published in Naples in 1982. One of the outcomes of the activities of that lectorate is also the publication in 1983 of one of the first Macedonian language textbooks ever published abroad: Macedonian Language Textbook (Manuale di lingua macedone) by Naum Kitanovski.

             Within the frameworks of the Graduate School for Yugoslavian Studies at the University of Bradford, Great Britain, there were teaching of Macedonian language, literature and culture between the 1972/1973 and the 1976/1977 academic year.

             The Macedonian language lectorate in Paris, France, has been working since the 1973/1974 academic year. It works at the INALCO Institute and Macedonian is as a main subject with a diploma or as a facultative subject. For many years the teaching was successfully managed by Prof Dr Jordanka Foulon, who is the author of a lot of monographs on Macedonian language and culture. A special place is occupied by her Gramatika na makedonskiot sovremen jazik (A Grammar of the contemporary Macedonian language) with a solid contrastive analysis. Since 1996 teaching has been the responsibility of Prof Frosina Pejoska-Boucherot.

             In the 1974/1975 academic year two Macedonian language lectorates were opened through inter-university contracts with the Jagielonian University in Krakow, Poland, and with the University of Craiova, Romania. The Krakow lectorate works within the Institute of Slavic Philology at the Faculty of Philology with a relatively stable number of students (15-30), who study Macedonian at the level of second subject.

             At the University of Craiova Macedonian is offered as a three-year facultative course within the frameworks of the Department of Slavistics. “A Romanian-Macedonian phrasebook” has been prepared by Roza Tasevska and Elisaveta Shosha. Starting from the 2012/2013 academic year the lectorate had moved to Bucharest.

             In the 1975/1976 academic year a Macedonian language lectorate in the structure of the study group for Macedonian language was started at M. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Macedonian language studies with Macedonia as a main subject last for 5 years, while enrolment of new students is organized every fifth year, after the students of the previous generation has graduated. Each generation has 5 or 6 students and all of them gain a diploma of completion of Macedonian language studies. The majority of them work in scientific institutions, publishing houses, radio stations, or at the Macedonian trade and diplomatic missions in Russia. In this centre four candidate dissertations (corresponding to the Western European Doctor of Philosophy) dealing with Macedonian issues have been defended. Graduates of this Department are responsible for the development of Macedonian Studies at the universities in Perm (Russia) and Peczuj (Hungary). The greatest contribution to the success of this centre of Macedonian Studies, probably the largest and most developed in the world, belongs to Academician Rina Usikova, member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU), Doctor Honoris Causa of Ss Cyril and Methodius and Visiting Professor at the “Blaže Koneski” Faculty of Philology in Skopje. She is the author of numerous works on Macedonian language and a regular participant in the Seminar in Ohrid and its scholarly discussions, as well as in other scholarly conferences in Macedonia, Russia or other places in the world with Macedonia-related topics. From her numerous works, two are considered especially significant: the book Македонский язык (Macedonian language) (two editions) and the Macedonian-Russian dictionary in three volumes, which is of particular importance for all Slavists around the world. In 2003 “A Macedonian Grammar” in Russian by Rina Usikova and “A Macedonian-Russian Dictionary” (by R. Usikova, Z. Shanova, E. Verizhnikova and M. Povarnitsina) were published in Moscow. At the scientific level, it is important to mention the four Slavist Macedonian-Russian conferences that were held in Ohrid in 1995, in Moscow in 1998, in Ohrid in 2001, and in Moscow in 2008 with a great number of participants and published papers in separate proceedings collections.

             In the academic 1977/1978 year a Macedonian language lectorate was opened in Vienna, Austria. Macedonian language and Macedonian literature are taught from one to nine semesters with exams after each semester. Since 1991 there is no Macedonian lector because the validity of the international treaty for culture between the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Austria has expired.

             In the academic 1978/1979 year a Macedonian language lectorate was started at Charles University in Prague, at the Department of Slavic Studies. The cooperation with their department resulted in holding four scholarly conferences.

             In the academic 1985/1986 year Macedonian language lectorate was started at Edebiyat Faculty of Istanbul University in Turkey. Macedonian languages classes are attended by about twenty students from different departments (Slavic Studies, history, archaeology, etc).

             The second Macedonian language lectorate in Poland was opened during the 1987/1988 school year at the Institute of Slavic Philology at the Silesian University in Sosnowiec. In the beginning the course was offered as facultative subject, then at the level of second specialty with a duration of three years, and since 1995 it has been elevated to the level of first main speciality with a duration of five years.

             Since the 1987/1988 academic year Macedonia language has been offered at the level of second subject at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

             At the University of Budapest, Hungary, a Macedonian language lectorate was opened in the 1988/1989 academic year. The course is offered at the Department of Slavic Studies with the Faculty of Philology. About twenty students per year study the Macedonian language as a facultative subject. There is one Hungarian-Macedonian dictionary published by the Seminar. At the moment negotiations are under way for upgrading the teaching level to second specialty.

             The second Macedonian language lectorate in the Czech Republic was opened during the 1995/1996 school year at Masarik University in Brno. It was in result of the long-term lobbying of Prof Dr Ivan Dorovski who has taught Macedonian language in Brno for many years. The level of teaching is first specialty with about ten students of Slavic Studies and Balkan Studies. Several of them have enrolled in postgraduate course in field related to Macedonian Studies.

             In the academic 1995/1996 year Macedonian language lectorate was started at the level of third subject at the University of Tirana within the frameworks of the Department of Slavic Studies.

             In the same academic 1995/1996 year at the University of Manheim, with the financial participation of the Macedonian side, one of our compatriots, a resident of that city, was admitted to work as a lector in Macedonian language. Ten years earlier, within the Institute of Slavistics of that university Macedonian language course were offered sporadically with the engagement of our lectors in Halle, thanks to the initiatives of Prof Dr Josip Matesic. Due to different reasons, one of them being the rationalization of the Slavistics departments in Germany, that lectorate ceased to work after three years.

             A Macedonian language lectorate was opened at the University of Bucharest in the academic 1996/1997 year. It is an elective subject with around ten students annually within the frameworks of the Department of Slavistics. Macedonian language classes are offered sporadically at the University of Constanta as well, thanks to the engagement of Academician Mile Tomic. There is a “Macedonian-Romanian and Romanian-Macedonian Dictionary” by Mile Tomic, as well as many research papers related to Macedonian Studies.

             In the academic 2000/2001 year Macedonian language lectorate was started at the University of Niš at the initiative of the Faculty of Philosophy. This is the third university centre in Serbia, after Belgrade and Novi Sad, where Macedonian language and literature are studied. At the same time it is the first one with a lector in Macedonian language.

             For two academic years (1999/2000 and 2000/2001) Macedonian language was taught in London with the combined engagement of postgraduates and lectors at University College London’s School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies.

             Macedonian has been offered as a second subject at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, since the academic 1987/1988.

             The Departments of Slavic Philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan opened a new study group for Slavistic-Polonistic studies in the academic 1999/2000 year. Within these studies, Macedonian is studies as main subject and, apart from language, special attention is paid to cultural studies issues. Within the same university, at the European College in Gniezno, European-type cultural studies are developed where Macedonian language and Macedonian culture have also found their places. These studies open new perspectives for broader acquaintance with Macedonian culture not only in Poland, but at a wider European level.

             Since the academic 1998/1999 year Macedonian language is studies as second subject at Opole University in Opole, Poland, under the supervision of Prof Dr Stanislaw Gajda. Teaching is financed by the Polish side and is conducted by a Macedonian lector.

             In the period from 1984 to 1992 through the Fulbright program many Macedonian professors from the Faculty of Philology in Skopje went to the USA and taught Macedonian language, literature and culture at many universities there: Portland (1984-1986 and 1989/1990), Chicago (1986/1987), Chico (1987/1988), Seattle, Washington (1988/1989), Tempi, Arizona (1990/1991) and Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1991/1992). Macedonian was taught at Tempi in 1995/1996 as well. For Macedonian Studies the activities of the famous American Slavist and Macedonist Victor Friedman, member of MANU, are of special importance, as well as those of other American Slavists who tackle or tackled issues of Modern Macedonian and Macedonian dialectology, starting with Horace Lunt, then Zbigniew Golomb, Herbert Galton, Kenneth Naylor, Grace Fielder, Ronelle Alexander, Robert Greenberg, Vesna Palmer, Masha Beljevski-Frank and others.

             Recently, there are Macedonian language classes at the University of Toronto. They are taught by Prof Dr Christina Kramer, one of the most distinguished Macedonists. Teaching there is supported financially by Macedonian immigrants.

             Macedonian language as a study subject is represented at the University of Rome – La Sapienza since the academic 2000/2001 academic year with the engagement of a professor from the “Blaže Koneski” Faculty of Philology.

             The same year Macedonian was introduced as a study subject at the Faculty of Philology with the University of Brest, Belarus. The teacher is the Macedonian Studies graduate from M. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vasil Yanchuk. This the second university in Belarus, after the University of Minsk, where Macedonian language is studied as an elective Slavic language for students of Slavic, Russian or Belarusian studies. The teacher in Minsk, for a second decade, is Genadz Tsihun, a well-known Belarusian Slavist.

             The Japanese Slavist and Macedonist Yumi Nakajima has been teaching Macedonian at the University in Tokyo for a very long time. She is the author of a Macedonian-Japanese phrasebook published in Japan, as well as other works on the Macedonian language.

             Macedonian is offered to Slavic and Russian Studies students for the duration of a year at Voronezh State University. The teacher is the young Macedonist Yuliya Meshcheryakova. The Russian and Slavic Studies specialist Nikolay S. Kovalyov, author of one of the first Macedonian language textbooks published abroad, is also from that universities. The textbook was published in the 1970s (Ivanovo, 1977).

             In Slovenia, Macedonian language course have been offered for several decades at the University of Ljubljana. Several years ago, a Macedonian language course was started in Maribor, too.

             Macedonian studies are present at Croatian universities as well. The Macedonian Studies professors are Borislav Pavlovski (Zagreb), Goran Kalodjera (Rijeka), Zlatko Kramaric (Osijek). The Macedonian Studies at the University of Zagreb have the longest tradition and the highest level. In 2008 a Macedonian language lectorate was opened at the University of Rijeka with serious perspectives for development.

             The first contacts with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Republic of Korea, were established in 2001. Since then the first steps towards opening a Macedonian language course for their students have been made. The first textbooks and other necessary literature were sent; about ten students from the Republic of Korea have already participated in the International Seminar for Macedonian language, literature and culture in Ohrid as exchange students. Further steps are needed for regular Macedonian language teaching to start in Seoul.

             In the period of more than 40 years since the beginning of organized activities for opening Macedonian lectorates abroad, a relatively satisfactory level of development has been achieved. The relatively well developed network of lectorates is complemented by a number of university centres (more than 30) where their own Macedonian language teaching is held. At some places there are also courses in Macedonian literature, culture and history. The interest towards the Macedonian language, Macedonian literature, history, and Macedonian culture generally, grows bigger constantly. That is why the responsibility of the International Seminar for Macedonian language, literature and culture is to extend, broaden and improve the opportunities and the conditions for foreign Macedonian Studies and Slavic Studies specialists for learning Macedonian and getting acquainted with Macedonian culture through its summer schools and other activities during the academic year, as well as preserving and expanding the network of lectorates in Macedonian language at foreign universities.

             Macedonian language lectorates have the role of Macedonian cultural centres of importance that spreads outside university circles and goes deeply into society. The students who have been acquainted with Macedonian culture (through reading literature, viewing films, listening to music, visiting exhibitions, organized events, meetings with Macedonian artists, poets, writers, professors and others, as well as stays in the country) spread information about it and popularize it in the whole society. This is the way to disseminate truths and knowledge about a culture that is more spontaneous and much for successful than the traditional way through official mass media or through official channels of the diplomatic and other missions to foreign countries. The greater the number of students studying a given language and getting acquainted with the culture of the native speakers of that language, the greater the number of those who fall in love with the culture of that people and the people itself. This contributes seriously to spreading knowledge about the respective culture and help in its integration with other cultures, mainly with the cultures of the peoples of Europe, but also at the world level. This fact has an enormous significance for the Macedonian language and Macedonian culture, much bigger than for others, when we consider the situation in which the Republic of Macedonia is. This can bring about a significant positive contribution to its efforts for faster and more successful realization in the European integration processes.

Abstract

             From 1967/1968 until today about twenty Macedonian lectorates have been opened. Eleven of them work now but Macedonian is studied at many other universities where there are no Macedonian lectors and courses are taught by domestic lecturers. Macedonian language lectorates abroad are cultural centres of their own kind that contribute immensely to the popularization of Macedonian culture abroad and assist its faster and more successful integration with the other European and world cultures.

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[1] This research is supported by 2010-2012 research grants from The Academy of Korean Studies, Korea(AKS-2010-ANC-3102).