On November the 14th Johannes Funke, Counselor of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Moscow arrived in Kirov with a three-day working visit by an invitation of Kirov region Government and with assistance of Police Association.
The guest had an excursion tour over the Library named after A.I.Herzen. There also was organized a meeting with German Cultural and Educational Center and top managers, teachers and students of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (the Departments of Linguistics, Philology and Media Communications).
The history of Vyatka State University was told by Yuri Kuvaldin, the Vice-Rector for educational and social work. He emphasized that VyatSU had accumulated rich experience in training highly qualified teachers and interpreters of the German language in the region.
The topic of preservation and development of the German language in Kirov region was opened out by the Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics Vladimir Banin.
The teachers of foreign languages (English, German, French, etc.) have been being prepared by the regional institutions for 75 years already.
International affairs of Kirov region and increasing of foreign investments from Germany to the regional economy requires preparation of highly qualified translators and interpreters of the German language. VyatSU solves this problem not only for Kirov region, but neighboring regions as well.
This year there was one of the toughest competitions among VyatSU applicants for German language studying both by points and a number of applications.
At VyatSU Department of Linguistics totally 480 out of 520 students study German as a basic or second profile. The German language is the main specialty for 100 students. Therefore, educational, cultural and scientific joint projects with Germany are necessary for educational programs and departments’ research projects promotion of the Faculty of Linguistics.
The Department of Linguistics has received a grant "DAAD Lecturer”, by which the University has a possibility to hire Frank Heberlein for work (he was an interpreter in a meeting with the Counselor).
A speech the Head of the Department of Linguistics and Translation Olga Baykova was about scientific research, in particular, a large project on study of the German ethnic minority of Kirov region (her monograph "The Germans in Russia: a view from province" was presented to the German guest). The professor told about a scientific laboratory for experimental phonetic and perceptual studies of different languages’ typological systems; there one of the tasks is a comprehensive studying of the German ethnic minority living in the territory of Kirov region (their history, culture, and language).
The problem of studying, teaching and promotion of the Russian language abroad was touched at the “round table”. The Faculty of Philology and Media Communications has a special mission in it. The Dean of the Faculty of Philology and Media Communications Kseniya Litsareva told about various interactions between VyatSU and foreign universities, such as University of West Bohemia, Heihe University, Ruhr-University Bochum and others. She focused on exchange projects for VyatSU teachers and students and Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Taiwan and China.
Mr. Funke answered some questions of political, cultural, and historical character. One of them touched the topic of German, Italian and Hungarian prisoners’ of the World War II burial found in Slobodskoy district of Kirov region. The Counselor supported the work of search groups and solidly confirmed that the German Embassy in the Russian Federation is engaged into identification and reburial of the German soldiers died in the Soviet Union territory.
In conclusion, Mr.Funke highly appreciated the three-hour meaningful dialogue with professional community of teachers and students of VyatSU.
