Before outlining the problems in teaching the Belarusian language to Russian-speaking students that we encountered, it is important to note the specifics of the Department of Regional Studies at Bryansk State University.
The specialty of “Regional Studies” is one of the specialties in international relations, the main purpose of which is to provide a systematic and comprehensive approach to the study of a specific region of the world.
Since the 2002/2003 academic year, it was decided at Bryansk State University to study the CIS region, and as a detailed acquaintance with a specific country, they decided to focus on the Republic of Belarus. While the study of European countries such as Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, France, and even Norway is not uncommon for this specialty in Russian universities, the study of Belarus is a rather unique phenomenon. In fact, apart from Bryansk, nowhere else in Russia is the history, culture, geography, language, literature, economy, and political system of Belarus studied comprehensively at universities.
Students pursuing this specialty study the uniqueness and commonality of Belarusians, their national movement, relationships with neighbors, and their role in the system of the international community of nations in the past and present. A comprehensive approach to studying the country was defined, which included a number of diverse sciences: geography, economics, ethnography and ethnology, art studies, cultural history, history of religion, socio-political history, literary studies, language, and others.
The study of the language in regional studies significantly differs from the study of the language in philological specialties. While philologists are primarily interested in specific language and speech issues: certain features of phonetics, lexicon, word formation, grammar, etc., regional studies scholars view language as a means through which they can learn as much as possible about the social and ethnic history, living conditions, material and spiritual culture of the people. Mastery of the language will allow students to utilize Belarusian-language sources while studying various subjects of the specialty, writing course and diploma works. In connection with these peculiarities, it was necessary to find something unusual and interesting, in addition to traditional forms and methods of work, to attract and inspire students to study the Belarusian language (which, unfortunately, is not used in everyday life by Belarusians themselves).
The first thing that was obvious was that the diverse textbooks available for philology students were not suitable for us, regional studies scholars. However, the initial acquaintance with the language began through the textbook by A.A. Krivitsky and A.I. Padlushny for Russian-speaking learners.
I would like to note that in providing our specialty with certain educational literature, the embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Russia played a primary role, to which we turned for help, as we could not find the necessary textbooks and dictionaries in Russia. Literally, within a few weeks, we were able to receive as a gift a mini-library from Belarusian State University in Minsk, which included not only textbooks (of our choice) but also encyclopedias, grammar, artistic literature (poetry and prose), and translation dictionaries. Associate Professor of the Department of Modern Belarusian Language at BGU, Tatyana R. Ramza, helped to compile a working program for teaching the Belarusian language to Russian-speaking students.
We also received certain assistance from teachers of other universities in Belarus, namely: lectures on the history of Belarus were delivered by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor R.R. Lazko from Gomel University, lectures on Belarusian literature were given by Candidate of Philological Sciences, Vice-Rector of Gomel University S.I. Khanenya, and lectures on the foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus were presented by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V.M. Matsel from the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus.
To be honest, when enrolling students to study this region, we could not even imagine the support we would receive from our Belarusian colleagues and how many new contacts would be established with Belarusian universities. In this short time, our university signed cooperation agreements with Belarusian State University, F. Skaryna Gomel State University, A. Kulyashov Mogilev State University, Brest State University, Polotsk State University, M. Tank Minsk State Pedagogical University, and other higher educational institutions in Belarus. It is worth noting that these are real agreements that are indeed functioning and have not remained just on paper.
The effectiveness of the agreements and the genuine interest of university teachers from Belarus were felt not only during their lectures at our university but also during visits to Belarusian universities, interactions with Belarusian students during internships in Belarus, joint excursions, and while writing course and diploma works.
The first acquaintance with regional studies students (2002) was, to some extent, shocking for me. I was impressed by how little they knew about Belarus, even though we are neighbors. However, this ignorance is also due to the fact that none of them had ever been to Belarus, and that the Russian school curriculum pays little attention to this new sovereign country. Therefore, the goal of my work was immediately defined – not only to teach them the language but specifically through the language to familiarize them as widely as possible with the various aspects of the life of the Belarusian people, so that Belarus would become for them not only a country of the region they chose as their specialty but also closer, understandable, and… native. To achieve this goal, it was not enough just to tell; it was necessary to show the country, to give them the opportunity to feel the spirit of this people, its hospitality and sincerity. In this matter, Belarusian universities helped us greatly. Unfortunately, I cannot describe each of our trips, but if I were to list the places where our students have been, it would become clear that there is no corner on the geographical map of Belarus that we have not visited. These include: Brest Hero-Fortress, the memorial complex of Khatyn, Mir and Nesvizh Castles, all regional cities, Novogrudok, and so on.
And most importantly, everywhere we were welcome guests. The students themselves came to the conclusion that despite Belarus’s poverty in useful minerals (compared to Russia), it possesses a much greater value – soulful and sincere people. I hope that the feeling of respect and friendship of our students towards Belarusians will remain with them for life, regardless of how their professional activities unfold in the future.
Such trips were effective not only for expanding the competence and speech practice of our students but also directly contributed to the development of their creativity. Thus, at the festival of European cultures at our university, regional studies students presented Belarusian songs, dances, poetry, staged folk wedding rituals, and prepared various editions of wall newspapers about Belarus. In addition, students regularly present the results of their scientific research in various areas of life in Belarus during Science Days. Moreover, not only in Bryansk have our students’ scientific studies become known, as they regularly send their works to the “Young Author” competition held by the editorial board of the “Herald of Eurasia” magazine, and in 2006, the work of Katerina Grybanskaya “The Phenomenon of Political Leadership of A.R. Lukashenko” was recognized as the best.
In the world, the most effective diplomacy is considered to be people’s diplomacy, which is capable of solving the most complex issues facing foreign policy institutions. I hope that our students felt this from their own experience.