EU Days in Murmansk, Day two

From May 28th to May 30th the ‘EU Days’ were conducted in Murmansk State Technical University within the framework of the project ‘Establishing the EU Centre in the Barents Region of Russia’.
The 29th of May was the second day of the ‘EU Days’ festival within the framework of the project ‘Establishing the EU Centre in the Barents Region of Russia’, implemented with the financial support of the European Commission.
Do you know how to say ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’, ‘How are you?’ in different European languages? Students and citizens of Murmansk got acquainted with phonation of these and many other words by attending ‘The Knowledge Day: My First European Language Class’. It was organized by MSTU with the aid of the ‘Logos’, an educational institution of further education.
- It was a particularly entertaining event. We decided to provide an insight into foreign languages, and tell how people speak them, as well as which linguistic features exist in various countries, - said Elena Saenkova, PhD in Philosophy, associate professor of the Department of Economic Relations of MSTU, head of the educational centre ‘Logos’
According to Elena Sergeevna, the interest of citizens of Murmansk in European languages is quite high, due to the proximity with Scandinavian countries. People of the North work in very difficult weather conditions and prefer to rest in the countries with a more favorable climate. That is why Spanish is the second popular language after English. Moreover, the interest in studying Norwegian and Finnish languages has traditionally been quite high, - said Elena Saenkova.
It has now become obvious that borders among countries tend to disappear, and there are more and more opportunities for traveling, thus learning of foreign languages is becoming not only interesting, but necessary.
Proficiency in languages is your key to unlimited process of communication and helps to become a part of the richest cultural heritage of European countries!

Participants of open lessons had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with cultural particularities of England, Germany, France and Finland. The majority of people attended meeting of the English club, as English is now considered to be the most common language in the world. Indeed, English is spoken in almost all world countries. It has become a part of mandatory education in our country. Yet very few people know and can imagine that there were times when English was a language of the mob in Britain itself.
Scandinavian and French languages affected the formation of the English language. And nowadays there are many Scandinavian and French language units in contemporary English. Participants found out many interesting facts about other languages. For instance, spelling in German is rather simple. That is why quite often unlike in the English language, words are read the way they are spelled. French was the official language of England for over 600 years.
Special interest to the Finnish Language Club meeting was shown by Sari Pöyhönen, assistant to the Consul on Mass Media and Culture of the Murmansk Department of the Consulate General of Finland in Saint-Petersburg, who took part in the lesson. Lecturer of the Finnish language said: ‘Language of the Finns is different from languages of the Swedes and Norwegians. It also differs from Russian. Its closest relatives are Estonian and Saami. Hungarian is its remote relative.
Europeans have repeatedly called Finnish one of the hardest languages to learn. Particular difficulties in learning are caused by its complex structure (there are 15 cases), strange details (duration of a single sound can change the meaning of the whole word) and a very specific vocabulary that appears even in the names of the countries (not Finland, but Suomi; not Russia, but Venäjä). Everyone who attended open classes within the framework of the ‘EU Days’could learn these facts. Participants also had a chance to taste traditional dishes, such as English apple pie, German meat pie, Finnish cloudberry and blackberry pies, and traditional French cheeses.
Is it necessary to learn a foreign language? This is another question. If you want to join millions of people speaking Finnish, Spanish, French or any other language – you are the one to make your choice!