OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier presents Serbian-Albanian/Albanian-Serbian dictionary to primary school children

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Lamberto Zannier presented the first ever children’s illustrated Serbian-Albanian/Albanian-Serbian dictionary (Mali rečnik/Fjalor i vogël) to pupils in two primary schools in Bujanovac and Preševo today.

Over the next three days, the dictionary will be distributed to 16 primary schools in which Albanian is the language of instruction in Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa. The dictionary is also available for free online and as an app for android and iOS, where it is enriched with audio recordings of pronunciation.

The initiative originated in a 2014 study on how to improve teaching and learning of Serbian as a non-mother tongue in Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa, conducted by the Serbian government’s Co-ordination Body for the Municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa, in co-ordination with the Education Ministry. The study was the first attempt to comprehensively assess the challenges and opportunities for improving the teaching and learning of the state language in Albanian-language primary schools. The research received financial support from the Co-ordination Body and the British Embassy in Serbia, and expert assistance and financial support from the HCNM.

The study found that only five per cent of pupils at Albanian-language primary schools in southern Serbia could communicate in Serbian. The main reasons were a lack of qualified teachers, an inadequate methodological approach, and a lack of contact with Serbian speakers. Poor knowledge of the state language means reduced opportunities for further education in Serbian or employment in public administration. It also weakens the integration of society.

A task force from the Education Ministry started implementing the 26 recommendations of the study in 2014 in co-operation with relevant stakeholders and academics, supported by the British Embassy, EU PROGRES, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the HCNM. This included improving inter-institutional co-operation, working with pupils, training teachers, creating education standards, revising the curriculum and monitoring.

One of the recommendations was to create a bilingual Serbian-Albanian/Albanian-Serbian dictionary for primary school children. “Mali rečnik/Fjalor i vogël” is the first bilingual dictionary suitable for use in primary schools in both Serbian and Albanian lexicography. It contains over 6,000 entries per language, selected in accordance with the “Serbian as a non-mother tongue” curriculum, and includes full-colour illustrations and basic grammar. Commonly used words are presented with examples. Although the dictionary is targeted at primary school pupils, adults can also use it.

Experts from the University of Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for the Albanian Language and Literature in Tirana and associates from Bujanovac, Prishtina/Priština and Belgrade contributed to the dictionary, with support from the Co-ordination Body for the Municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa.