On 26.09.2016 in Bratislava on one of the main squares of the city was held the European Day of Languages, which is carried out for 16 years on the initiative of the Council of Europe. The main purpose of the event is to support the motivation of Europeans to learn foreign languages not only in schools and universities, but also throughout their lives.
The event was organized by the Representation of the European Commission of the European Union in Slovakia and the Association of European cultural institutes. Traditionally, the main event of the festival was "street language" event, which took place in the open air. From the early morning groups of schoolboys, high-school students, teachers, and students started to come to the festival. The event was attended by more than two thousand people.
Cultural institutions from 18 European countries prepared their stands with information materials about the language and the culture of the countries, opportunities of studying. The «street language» event was attended by cultural institutions from Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark), Romania, France and Croatia.
This year's event was very well organized. To all participants were given questionnaires in different languages, which has stimulated them to visit each stand and then to take a part in different competitions. The representative of the Russian Center has checked correct answers. At the end of the competitions winners received prizes. On the open air stage melodies and lyrics in different languages were performed.
The European Fund of Slavic Literature and Culture, Russian center of the Russian World Fund have also attended the event at the Russian stand together with the Russian center of science and culture. The Russian stand for several hours had a non-stop flow of visitors wishing to explore the possibilities of studying. Children were also attracted with Russian candies. Concurrently with souvenirs and booklets, were also distributed invitations to the Russian language courses. The winners received T-shirts and baseball caps with the emblems of the Russian World Fund.
The event was widely covered in the media, especially by the TV-Channel Markiza.
