On April 13 the Total Dictation took place in SSU. The objective of the worldwide project is to measure the literacy level. This year more than 2,000 Saratov citizens participated in it, and more than 600 of them wrote the dictation in SSU Bldg. XI and SSU Bldg. IX.

The text author became a writer, a literary studies expert, and a literary critic Pavel V. Basinskii. In his critic article Pavel Basinskii examined one of M. Gorky’s plays – the Lower Depths.

The registration started at 1 p.m. in Bldg. XI. Welcomed by fast-moving music the dictation participants could take photos in the photo zone to remember that day.

After the registration they watched the video how to fill-in the forms, and then the ‘dictators’ welcomed the audience. The event members also watched a video addressing by Pavel V. Basinskii. He marked the importance of such projects and asked its participants to follow the language norms. After that the dictation started.

In Bldg. XI the ‘dictators’ were Head of the SSU Priority projects and Programmes Elena G. Yelina, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Igor G. Malinskii, Chair of the Department of Russian and World Literatures Yurii N. Borisov, Honoured Teacher of the Russian Federation Lyudmila I. Kornilova, the leading actor of the Saratov Drama Theatre Alexander A. Kasparov, Head of the Kitchen. Saratov project Julia Tsvetkova, a Russian designer Anna Ivanova, and a top-class teacher Narine Shakhnazaryan. The ‘dictator’ in Bldg. IX became a TV-host and a radio-host Maria Karmanova.

This year school children, students, and their parents wrote the dictation together with SSU Rector Aleksei N. Chumachenko, Head of the Saratov Committee on Education Larisa A. Revutskaya, Vice-Rector for Secondary Education and Social Work Olga Ye. Nesterova, Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Organisational Work Anton V. Golovchenko, and Director of the Institute of Philology and Journalism Lyudmila S. Borisova.

‘This project is extremely important because we are getting used to violate the language rules while writing short messages. If we do not write the dictations like that, we will forget how to speak and write without mistakes. I am glad that the text author studied at our university,’ noted Aleksei Chumachenko.

After the dictation all its members and the ‘dictators’ were given certificates.

Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Igor Malinskii also shared his impressions.

‘There are a lot of people here today. As usual, many Saratov citizens write the dictation in SSU. And I am glad that people want to check their literacy level. I am a bit disappointed that I will not write it myself as I will be a ‘dictator’ because I would also like to check my own literacy level. Nevertheless, it is such an honour to be a ‘dictator’.’

The results will be announced after April 19. You can find them on the web-site using your personal information and the password. On April 27 the top dictation participants will be awarded, and all the members can join the meeting with a philologist and discuss the mistakes there. Also the project moderators will award the best works in different nominations.