The Lithuanian language and culture summer courses organized by five Lithuanian universities attract greater numbers of foreign students each year
“Frankly speaking, this wonderful summer in Lithuania has a great influence on me. I will cherish all the good memories and believe that one day I will definitely go back to Vilnius again, just like to visit a place of my old friend…” – these are the impressions on the summer course of Lithuanian language and culture, expressed by PENG Oiaoyun, Chinese student from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
The participants‘ study and research areas also vary. Perhaps the biggest part of the approved participants consists of Baltic studies, foreign languages and international relations studies or scientific fields’ representatives. Countries from which participants come vary as well. Most of the participants come from China, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Poland (almost 67 percent of all arrivals).
Diana Makevičienė, the coordinator of the summer courses at Vilnius University is happy with the incoming participants and their willingness to learn the Lithuanian language: „The number of people interested in Lithuania is growing each year, along with their desire to learn the Lithuanian language and to get acquainted with our country’s culture. Foreign students are usually happy to share the stories and experiences on how they are doing learning Lithuanian language, how much they find out about our country not only in classrooms, but also during the different cultural trips. Some students participate in the courses more than once. It‘s good to see them fall in love with our language and culture and it is great when they promise to come back. The loveliest words I have ever heard are „O aš jau mokų kalbėti lietuviškai“ („I already speak Lithuanian“).
Jūratė Derukaitė, the manager of Language and Social Education Centre and the coordinator of summer language and culture courses at Klaipeda University expresses her satisfaction with the fact that each year more and more participants already speak Lithuanian, and that for the third of participants it is not the first time at the university. „We, the organizers, live in this „rhythm“ for the whole month. Not only we spend time with our participants during classes and events, but we also invite them over to our homes. Our family members also get involved. Once the courses end, we miss everyone for a while, then start anticipating for the next batch of foreigners“.
The summer courses of Lithuanian language and culture are taking place during these dates:
Vytautas Magnus University |
July 17 – August 13, 2016 |
Vilnius University |
July 3 – 30, 2016 |
Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences |
August 1 – 28, 2016 |
Klaipėda University |
July 22 – August 18, 2016 |
LCC International University |
July 31 – August 27, 2016 |
Well, but the most important thing is the results, right? To hear the students speak – take a look at this short video: