This year, the Department of Bulgarian Language at the University of Veliko Tarnovo "St. Cyril and Methodius" is organizing the 48th International Summer Seminar, which lasts three weeks and will end on August 3. 

The program for the participants includes daily classes in practical Bulgarian language at the three levels of the six-level Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. There will also be specialized training in "History and Culture of Bulgaria" and "Culture and Art of Bulgaria". Topics such as "Traditional Mythological Representations of the Bulgarian People", "Bulgarian Folklore", "Contemporary Bulgarian Cinema" and "Bulgarian Literature", "Fine Arts" and "Contemporary Bulgarian Language" are also covered.

With a practical focus on mastering Bulgarian are also the planned excursions around Bulgaria as well as the evenings dedicated to Bulgarian national cuisine and folklore, as well as to familiarize guests with traditions. A memorable anniversary will also be honored - 1,170 years since the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet. For this purpose, the University of Veliko Tarnovo is also organizing a workshop for calligraphy of Glagolitic letters, so that guests can experience the beauty of the first Bulgarian alphabet, created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

For 20 years, the director of the summer seminar for Bulgarian studies in Veliko Tarnovo has been Prof. Hristo Bondzholov. He says that the organization of each subsequent forum begins as soon as the previous one ends, but the team of university professors works like a well-tuned machine, so there is no chance that something planned in the program will not work out:

"The participants in the seminar come from so many countries and in three weeks we have to teach them Bulgarian, to cover some level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. We teach them actively, but within the framework of the seminar there is also a very serious cultural and excursion program. Because the language cannot go on independently, in order to get to know it, they have to get closer to the language, they have to see the traditions, the Bulgarian customs - with all this we bring them closer to Bulgaria. It is important for the guests to see the Etara ethnographic complex, to see the seaside. 

Since I have been the organizer of the seminar, I have done everything possible to take the guests there too, because this is our Bulgaria and let them have such a comprehensive idea. What happens? Coming here, on the second, third day, the seminar participants forget about their electronic devices, about their computers and phones, unless it is necessary for the learning process. They seek human communication, no matter what level of Bulgarian they speak. They help each other with other languages, and by the end of the first week these people become friends."

"People become friends, walk together, organize their dinners together, study or celebrate together. And when they finally part, they cry together. This is what we manage to do, this is my reward as an organizer. And in three weeks we manage to do all this, usually working with about 100 people. 

And recently there has been such a trend - Bulgarians who work outside Bulgaria return for the summer and want their children to learn the language. And that is why they are looking for us, to help the children learn Bulgarian for a month. We are talking about high school students, whom we also include in the days of the seminar. After that, some of these young people return either as PhD students or as master's students at the university, or they seek contact with us for retraining, i.e. the contacts with them continue."

"I think that there is great benefit from such seminars, because the process is two-way. The contact that we have with the foreign guests at the seminar enriches us", says Prof. Bondzholov from the University of Veliko Tarnovo. "We even often compare the work with our students and see how they have a very good attitude towards each of us as lecturers. This raises the work of the summer seminar to an even higher level".

English publication: R. Petkova
Photos: uni-vt.bg, Gergana Mancheva, Facebook/Veliko Tarnovo "Sts. Cyril and Methodius"