One of our main guests during Science Week at ILS was Natalya Milyanchuk, who is a Candidate of Philological Sciences, an Associate Professor with the FEFU Department of Russian Language and Literature, and head of the expert group for the project "Total Dictation."

To begin her lecture, Natalya Milyanchuk asked the students:

 - What does the Russian language consist of?

 - Of letters!

 - Of sounds!

 - Of words!

“The Russian language consists of words that we begin to pronounce much earlier than we learn to read and write,” the expert continued.

During the lesson, our high school students learned that the idea of “preserving our language” is one of the most compelloing for populist politicians and public figures who want to enhance their reputation in society, as well as a political tool to attract attention to small states.

 “A few years ago, it was reported in the media that Estonian scientists conducted a study and came to the conclusion that the Russian language is threatened with extinction,” continued Natalya Sergeevna to the great surprise of her students. “As it turned out,” she then explained, “that news item, which was disseminated by the media in various countries, was fake.”

Most of all, the students were surprised that their Russian linguist guest was interested in what suits them least about the language, specifically, the abundance of punctuation marks, and rules for placing them which are not easy to remember.

“A language is a living organism that is constantly changing and being enriched by new words and meanings,” the scholar explained. “It is possible that punctuation marks could eventually disappear, and the way words are written could change, but this is not going to happen any time soon.

“The lecture by Natalya Milyanchuk was most timely for our high school students,” explains ILS Principal Olga Shevchenko. “Our students have already accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge, their vocabulary is quite large, and this precise information about the state of the modern Russian language has significantly expanded their understanding of their native tongue.”