59^th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture

The twenty-first century is usually referred to as the information or digital age. Initial discussions within this context primarily focused on new financial and economic currents, but over the past decade increasing attention has been drawn to how new technologies are changing society and the relationships inside it, and how artistic expressions, cultural practices, and communication norms, forms, and discussions are being established anew. There has been substantial research into how information and communications technologies have influenced language, literature, and culture, including in Slovenia—especially after the turning point caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—but this research tends to focus on narrower fields, and it often primarily highlights pitfalls. The 59^th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture thus has two fundamental purposes: to provide a broader outline of developments in language, literature, and culture when they come up against the digital worlds because it is only in this interaction that they show the image of modern society, and to stimulate a critical perspective that goes beyond the mere rejection or acceptance of digital technologies.

Contributions will be divided into three thematic sections. The wider culture section will focus on the digital or new media, which have not only changed the ways news and journalists’ views are conveyed on press portals but have also provided various social groups or individuals with the opportunity to help create knowledge and present their views because practically anyone with internet access can take part in public communication. On the one hand, this leads to the democratization of content production and, on the other, it encourages and spreads unethical content, communication practices, and viewpoints. In addition, this section will also focus on cultural heritage digitization at museums and galleries as institutions that help preserve the memory of the past or reflect current cultural and social developments. New technologies allow easier and longer preservation, documentation, examination, interpretation, and management of cultural heritage, and they simplify access to presenting heritage or artistic creativity to the public, even though this is often left to connecting contextual information on its own and interpreting what is seen.

Discussions on literature will also primarily take into account two aspects. Consideration will be given to the status of printed books and reading them in an increasingly digitalized world. A central question will be how young people should be introduced to the culture of reading in schools in a manner that understands the operation of the digital world while also recognizing the advantages that reading and learning from printed books have for cognitive development. Attention will also be directed to the research opportunities provided by new technologies, from collections of literary works, such as Wikisource, and metatextual data to tools that make it possible to analyze literary material and thus facilitate more reliable interpretations and generalizations.

Linguistic discussions will focus on how new technologies influence communication practices. Placed at the forefront will be the concept of hybridity because online communication transcends the strict dividing lines between public and the private, monolog and dialog, literary and non-literary, written and spoken, and so on, and an entire set of new communication practices, discourses, genres, and language versions develops through networking. In terms of language instruction, it therefore makes sense to reflect on whether the distinctive features of digital communication, such as hypertextuality, changed participant roles, and an emphasized identity role, require different encounters with digital texts. On the other hand—just like in literature—new technologies in linguistics offer various user groups a variety of tools to facilitate their understanding, interpretation, and editing of texts.

The Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture, with a tradition going back many years, is a fitting venue for discussion of these themes. If the advantages and pitfalls of the modern media are not critically evaluated by scholarship as well as schools and the public, individuals will be left on their own to deal with various language forms and uses, assess online or direct presentations, performances, and plays, and deal with the relationship between discovering literary works in print, electronic, or merely secondary form. This will contribute to an even greater digital divide, which, in the developed world, no longer refers to unequal access to digital services, but to different levels of digital competence.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jerca Vogel,
President of the 59^th SSJLK

The seminar is organised by the Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language at the Department of Slovene Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Trubarjeva cesta 3, SI-1000 Ljubljana. The morning programme takes place entirely at the Faculty of Arts, the University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana, while the afternoon and evening programme is organised at different locations in Ljubljana.

Seminar president: Dr. Jerca Vogel
Seminar organiser and head of the language teachers: Dr. Damjan Huber
Programme committee: Dr. Lidija Arizankovska, Dr. Zvonko Kovač, Dr. Mojca Nidorfer, Dr. Urška Perenič, Dr. Jerca Vogel
Technical editor of seminar publications: Mag. Mateja Lutar
Student assistance: Neža Cerinšek, Patricija Gril, Anika Logar, Polona Majdič, Zala Mele, Monika Podlogar, Ana Rakovec, Domen Rob, Miha Sever, Tamara Šterk

The lecturers and language teachers leading the seminar are proven experts from the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Arts and outside collaborators.

Lecturers: Dr. Miran Hladnik, Dr. Maja Kerneža, Dr. Alenka Kepic Mohar, Dr. Simona Kranjc, Dr. Katja Mahnič, Dr. Peter Stanković, Dr. Špela Vintar, Dr. Jerca Vogel
Language teachers: Boštjan Božič, Dr. Ana Fras, Simona Gotal, Mag. Mateja Kosi, Tjaša Lorbek, Dr. Karin Marc, Mag. Pavel Ocepek, Ivana Petric Lasnik, Dr. Mojca Stritar Kučuk, Dr. Saša Vojtech Poklač, Martin Vrtačnik

The seminar participants are foreign Slovene Studies and Slavic Studies specialists, writers, translators, experts in comparative linguistics and literature, and others who include Slovene in any other way in their life and work: teachers, researchers and students of Slovene and Slavic Studies at universities and research institutes abroad and in ethnic Slovene areas, etc. At the seminar they deepen and enrich their knowledge, learn about the latest findings and have genuine contact with the Slovene language, literature and culture.

Accommodation is organised at the Ivan Cankar hostel, Poljanska cesta 26, building A. The hostel is situated in pleasant surroundings below Ljubljana Castle, 15 minutes’ walk from the city centre. It is a 30-minute walk from the hostel to the Faculty of Arts through the old part of the town. Accommodation is in three-bed, two-bed or single rooms, with bathrooms and kitchens (participants must provide their own dishes and cooking utensils) on every floor. All participants receive self-service breakfast, for other meals they have to make their own arrangements. The hostel also offers wireless internet access, an exercise room and social areas with televisions. Participants can leave their cars for free in the car park in front of the hostel. More information is available on the website www.dic.si. and hosteldic.com/. 

Participants have (wireless) Internet access on all the computers at the Faculty of Arts and at the Ivan Cankar hostel, where they are staying.

The Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture is the central scholarly event through which the Republic of Slovenia promotes the study of and research into Slovene language, literature and culture throughout the world, by granting financial support on the basis of international contracts and co-operation programmes for ethnic Slovene organisations and researchers who are professionally engaged in Slovene, and for students at foreign universities who study Slovene. In allocating these scholarships, priority is given to Slovene specialists, university teachers, research and teaching assistants, postgraduate students and students of higher classes.

Scholarships for the 59^th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture will be granted within the framework of: lectureships in Slovene at foreign universities; Slovene institutions in Austria, Italy and Hungary; and programmes of international cultural cooperation at the relevant institutions outside Slovenia. There are the following possibilities:

• A) full scholarship for the main and accompanying programme and accommodation in a three-bed room with breakfast in the hostel (extra charge of 273 EUR for a two-bed room with breakfast or 455 EUR for single room with breakfast; payment to be made on arrival at the hostel);
• B) partial scholarship for the main and accompanying programme and partial funding of accommodation with breakfast in the hostel (extra charge of 119 EUR for a three-bed room with breakfast or 273 EUR for a two-bed room with breakfast or 455 EUR for a single room with breakfast; payment to be made on arrival at the hostel).

Those receiving scholarships are requested to complete by 1 April 2023 the registration form on our website (59^th SSJLK, Registration Form). You are also requested to send by 1 April 2023, along with the completed registration form, the completed language test, or to send it to ssjlk@ff.uni-lj.si or to damjan.huber@ff.uni-lj.si.

The registration form for participants of the 59^th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture paying the seminar fee and accommodation costs themselves should be sent by 1 May 2023. You can apply via the Internet at the website (59^th SSJLK, Registration Form).

In May or June 2023 placement interviews with participants will take place via videoconferencing.

The registration fee includes language classes, conversation classes, phonetics classes, lectures, learning materials, the seminar proceedings, the accompanying programme, and event organisation. Participants paying for themselves can book accommodation at the Ivan Cankar hostel.

Prices for those paying for themselves:

• fee: 649 EUR
  
• accommodation in three-bed room with breakfast: 221 EUR
  
• accommodation in two-bed room with breakfast: 273 EUR
  
• accommodation in single room with breakfast: 455 EUR

After we have received your registration form, we will send you the invoice for payment of the fee by e-mail. Please send your payment receipt no later than 20 June 2023.

Upon receipt of your registration form we shall send you the language test, which will help us place you in the right group.

In May or June 2023 placement interviews with participants will take place via videoconferencing.

The date of arrival for participants at the Ivan Cankar hostel is Sunday 2 July 2023; the programme begins according to the timetable on Monday at 9 a.m., 3 July 2023 at the Faculty of Arts.

The departure date is Saturday, 15 July 2023.

Participants at the Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture achieving 80 per cent participation in the compulsory seminar programme (language exercises, conversation practice, phonetic exercises, conversation practice with students of Slovene from the Ljubljana Department of Slovene Studies and lectures) will receive a certificate of participation. The seminar will be credited under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Students who regularly attend language, conversation and phonetics classes, conversation practice with students of Slovene from the Ljubljana Department of Slovene Studies, as well as lectures, and who pass the exam at the end of the seminar, will receive 3 credit points (3 ECTS).

The library of the Departments of Slovene/Slavic Studies keeps an open door for seminar participants. Throughout the duration of the seminar they can borrow books and turn for advice to the librarians. The library also prepares an exhibition every year, presenting recent professional literature, the best works of Slovene literature, and translations into foreign languages. The participants will visit the exhibition during their practical classes.

During the seminar, the Faculty of Arts bookshop offers all participants a 25% discount on the purchase of all textbooks from the Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language as well as publications of the University of Ljubljana Press, Faculty of Arts.

All seminar participants are recommended to obtain a certificate of medical insurance in their home countries, otherwise they must pay the expenses of medical care and medication themselves.

As they will not be entering Slovenia as tourists but for purposes of study or professional training, they are advised to arrange before they come a temporary residence permit for Slovenia. This is particularly important for citizens of third countries (not the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein), who are required to obtain this document even for short visits, while citizens of member states of the European Economic Area must obtain it within 90 days of entering Slovenia, however, they must register with the police immediately after their arrival.

Center za slovenščino kot drugi in tuji jezik
Seminar slovenskega jezika, literature in kulture
Damjan Huber
Trubarjeva cesta 3
SI-1000 Ljubljana

T: 00386 1 241 86 76
E: ssjlk@ff.uni-lj.si, damjan.huber@ff.uni-lj.si

The main seminar programme includes practical language classes (18 school hours*), conversation classes (18 school hours*), phonetics classes (4 school hours*), conversation practice with students of Slovene from the Ljubljana Department of Slovene Studies (0–8 school hours* for intermediate groups, or 8 school hours* for each beginners group) and 12 lectures. Participation in this part of the programme is compulsory and is required in order to obtain the certificate of attendance. In the afternoon and evening there is a non-compulsory accompanying programme for participants.

*1 school hour = 45 minutes.

Practical language classes

Practical classes will probably be organised in 3 beginners, 4 intermediate and 3 advanced groups. According to their interests, participants of the advanced groups can choose among linguistic literary and general groups. Individual participants are assigned to an appropriate group on the basis of a language test completed before arrival at the seminar, and oral testing before the seminar starts. Practical classes are compulsory for all participants.

Conversation classes

These classes are aimed at improving communication skills, extending vocabulary, internalising communication patterns and eliminating errors. They will deal with themes taken from everyday life, with an emphasis on practical communication and on extending acquaintance with Slovenia and its culture. Conversation classes are compulsory for all participants.

Conversation practice with students of Slovene from the Ljubljana Department of Slovene Studies

In the afternoon, there is an additional 0–8 hours of conversation with Ljubljana students of Slovene Studies for members of beginners’ groups and optionally for members of intermediate groups. These conversation exercises are obligatory for beginners’ groups, while those in intermediate groups can choose between lectures (at least 4) and afternoon conversation.

Phonetics classes

Phonetics classes are compulsory and organized on two different levels: (a) classes for beginners that start with an introduction to the Slovene spoken language and specifics of its phonetics, with examples from texts. This is followed by practical exercises to improve pronunciation and listening skills necessary for more efficient learning and use of the language. The exercises are adjusted to the participants’ level of knowledge and to their mother tongue; (b) exercises for intermediate and advanced level, intended to improve speaking skills and understanding of spoken texts.

Lectures

Lectures (12 in total) on Slovene language, literature and culture are obligatory for members of advanced groups, while members of intermediate groups can choose between lectures (at least 4) and afternoon conversation with Ljubljana students of Slovene Studies in Ljubljana. Lectures are public, so others can also attend them. The 59^th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture will focus on Slovene Language, Literature, Culture and Digital World(s). As always, the lectures will appear in the seminar proceedings and on the website. Similarly, the lectures will also appear on the portal Videolectures.

The seminar also offers an afternoon-evening programme, which includes themed guided tours of Ljubljana, the showing of a Slovene film, a theatre performance, visits to museums, galleries and libraries, musical and literary evenings, etc. This additional programme includes a whole-day study excursion, which will take place this year on Saturday, 8 July 2023.