The 2014-2015 academic year marks 40 years since teaching of the Slovene language began at The University of Nottingham.

The Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies is hosting an event to celebrate this anniversary, in collaboration with the Centre for Slovene as a Second/Foreign Language at the Faculty of Arts, the University of Ljubljana, and the Slovenian Embassy in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

We will gather in the afternoon at 4.30pm in the Senate Chamber for a rich cultural program, beginning with welcoming remarks by academics from Nottingham and Ljubljana as well as His Excellency Tadej Rupel, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia. Then we will hear short presentations by lecturers from Ljubljana and Nottingham:

• ‘Slovene at The University of Nottingham as part of the Slovene at the Foreign Universities Programme’ – Dr. Mojca Nidorfer Šiškovič (University of Lubljana)
• ‘The Dual, Dictionaries and Many More Reasons to be Cheerful’ – Olivia Hellewell, postgraduate research student (University of Nottingham)
• ‘Luck, ill-luck and the battle for existence: the Life and Works of Ciril Kosmač’ – Dr. David Denton (University of Nottingham)
• ‘Kantavtorstvo in Slovenia’ – Dr. Polly McMichael (University of Nottingham)

A reception with Slovene wine and potica, hosted by the Slovene Ambassador, will follow. We will conclude with a concert by the Slovene musician Vlado Kreslin at 7pm.

The University’s long association with Eastern European languages and cultures began as far back as 1916 when the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies was founded by a Slovene, Professor Janko Lavrin. Slovene studies were introduced within the department in the academic year 1974-1975, and the ongoing teaching of Slovene language and culture is supported by an agreement between The University of Nottingham and the University of Ljubljana. To date, more than 300 students have studied Slovene at Nottingham. Four decades on, Nottingham remains the only university in the UK where it is possible to study the language.

All welcome. More information is available from Maja Rančigaj, Slovene Language Teacher. Email maja.rancigaj@nottingham.ac.uk or telephone 07477 433910.