Let’s Nurture the Serbian Language – a project to nurture the Serbian language, general language culture and literacy

The action “Let’s Nurture the Serbian Language”, which deals with nurturing and protecting the Serbian language, alphabet, general language culture and literacy, was started in 2015 in cooperation with the Secretariat for Culture (City of Belgrade), the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade and the Belgrade City Library. In autumn of 2016, the project came under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

The first activity within the action was a campaign aimed at raising awareness about the importance of cultivating correct writing, highlighting various language lessons, and encouraging citizens to take care of how they write and speak. As part of the campaign, educational posters with photos of famous people and appropriate language lessons were created. Public figures who supported the campaign are: Anica Dobra, Aca Seltik, Živana Šaponja Ilić, Zoran Kesić, Tihomir Stanić, Ljubica Arsić, Dragan Ilić, Goran Gocić, Nataša Marković, Marčelo, Svetislav Goncić, Vanja Milačić, Dragoljub Ljubičić Mićko, Nebojša Glogovac, Rada Đuričin, Nada Šargin, Vjera Mujović, Nebojša Romčević, Milica Mandić, Andrea Arsović, Tijana Milošević, Emir Kusturica, Sloboda Mićalović, Miki Manojlović, Andrija Živković, Bogdan Bogdanović, Dušan Kovačević, Aleksandar Saša Đorđević, Nele Karajlić, Nemanja Radulović, Predrag Rajković, Rada Đurić, Ivana Španović i Jovan Memedović. World film diva Monica Bellucci also gave her support. The author of the photos is Željko Jovanović, and Amalija Vitezović did the poster design. The linguistic confusions shown on the posters were designed by collaborators from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. Special videos were created by Cultural Institution “Vuk Karadžić”, Belgrade.

The posters were distributed and displayed in almost all Belgrade schools and libraries, and later in many libraries and educational institutions throughout Serbia. The whole of Belgrade was branded with posters that were on billboards, public transportation stops, inside trams and buses, etc.
The action was extended to the national level in October 2016, and in the period from February to May 2017, promotional activities were organized in Niš, Šabac, Kruševac, Užice, Kladovo and Kraljevo. The libraries in these cities hosted a promotion that included various cultural, artistic and educational programs inspired by the preservation of the Serbian language and script:

• Exhibition of posters and photos “Let’s nurture the Serbian language”;
  Workshops for children and youth organized by the Belgrade City Library;
• Meetings with contemporary writers (Ljubivoje Ršumović, Moša Odalović, Branko Stevanović, Vladimir Andrić, Dejan Aleksić, Vesna Ćorović Butrić) and the French humanist Arnaud Guyon;
• Performances by Cultural Institution “Vuk Stefanović Karadžić” in cooperation with local educational and cultural institutions;
• Choir performances;
• Free professional accredited seminars for Serbian language and literature teachers organized by the Society for the Serbian Language and Literature.

Residents of many cities in Serbia had the opportunity to view the exhibition of posters and photographs. In 2020, the exhibition became a permanent fixture of the Philological High School in Belgrade.

Realization period: Continuously since 2015
Donor: Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, City of Belgrade