‘Proper Grammar Is Trending’: HSE University Holds Total Dictation Event
On April 8, 2023, this year’s Total Dictation event took place all over the world. More than 900 people came to HSE University to take part in it. Since 2019, the university has been one of the partners of this annual educational campaign.
HSE University has been the official venue of the event since 2013, and this time Total Dictation was held in HSE buildings on Pokrovsky Bulvar (in two classrooms), on Shabolovka and for the first time in the HSE Cultural Centre. The latter turned out to be the most popular location, with almost 400 people deciding to test their knowledge of Russian there.
Total Dictation is a voluntary dictation project open to everyone, which takes place once a year around the world. It is a public project run by activists and volunteers and organized by The Total Dictation Foundation, located in Novosibirsk. Everyone can participate in the ‘Total Dictation’ regardless of age, gender, education, religion, profession, marital status, interests and political views. Every year a famous writer authors a unique text for the project.
The HSE campus on Staraya Basmannaya Ulitsa was home to the city headquarters of the event, while all the submissions from Moscow were checked in the building on Shabolovka during the weekend. The results will be posted on the event’s website from April 25th.
The 2023 text was dictated by the singer Anzhelika Varum, theatre and film actress Svetlana Kamynina, actor, film director and producer Alexander Strizhenov, and Executive Director of the EFKO Group, Sergey Ivanov. The text was written by Vasily Avchenko, finalist of the Big Book, National Bestseller, and NOS literary awards.
Yandex employee Daria Aliyeva has taken part in this annual event for the last 10 years. ‘I started while studying at university,’ she said. ‘After school, you tend not to continue studying Russian, but the ‘Total Dictation’ project with its interesting texts gives a good opportunity for you to develop.’ Adel Ova, system analyst at Ino.Tech, adds that proper grammar is trending. ‘That's why I participated in the dictation for the ninth consecutive year, It’s always very interesting to prepare and test my knowledge’ she concluded.
See also:
HSE University to Host Total Dictation for Tenth Time
On April 8, HSE University in Moscow will welcome participants of the 2023 Total Dictation, an open annual educational event that was first held in 2004. Since then, it has become a major event for anyone interested in writing and speaking Russian properly. This year at HSE University, it will be held at 11 Pokrovsky Bulvar, the Shabolovka building and, for the first time, the HSE Cultural Centre.
Join Russian Fridays and Compete in the Worldwide Total Dictation
On February 21, 2020, those who wish to compete in the worldwide Total Dictation can start taking prep classes offered by HSE at its complex located on Staraya Basmannaya. The classes will give students a chance to bone up on their Russian, or, as the writer Ivan Turgenev once called it, the ‘great and mighty’ Russian language.
Total Dictation 2014 at the HSE
On April 12, 2014, Total Dictation took place at the HSE – an all-Russian event to check literacy. Those interested in checking their level of Russian grammar skills participated in 350 cities spread over 45 countries. HSE campuses were among some of the venues used for this dictation.