HIDIS is a specialised expert research event and unique in tackling issues associated with the study and instruction of Croatian as a second and foreign language. The numerous lectures delivered at this year’s gathering will certainly provide a significant contribution to the instruction of Croatian as a second language, and thereby contribute to its continued nurturing and the preservation of the Croatian linguistic identity among Croatian communities around the world.
The 4th international Croatian as a Second & Foreign Language symposium (HIDIS IV), an event organised by the department for the culture of the Croatian language of the Croatian Philological Society with co-organisers the Croatian Heritage Foundation and the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences, was staged from 19 to 20 December of 2012.
HIDIS is involved in the teaching and study of Croatian by those who learn it as non-original speakers and pools teaching and language adoption theoreticians, lecturers and teachers of Croatian as a foreign and second language at Croatian and foreign education institutions.
The formal opening of the symposium was held at the council hall of the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, also the venue for most of the two-day programme. Some fifty gathered participants were greeted on behalf of the organisers by the president of the HIDIS programme committee Zrinka Jelaska DSc, the head of the Croatian Language Studies Department at the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb Lahorka Plejić Poje DSc, the president of the Croatian Philological Society Ivana Vidović Bolt DSc, the head of the CHF Department of Education, Science and Sports Lada Kanajet Šimić and the president of the HIDIS organising committee Lidija Cvikić DSc.
The opening addresses were followed by work in two sections on the following topics: the structure of the Croatian language: dictionary and grammar; Croatian as a second, inherited and foreign language; foreign language research of Croatian; a comparative description of Croatian and other languages; mastering Croatian abroad; teaching Croatian; instruction and textbooks for Croatian abroad; mastering Croatian and new technologies; assessing, testing and evaluating the mastery of Croatian; psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research of Croatian as a second language and individual differences between pupils and teaching strategies.
On the first day of the gathering the Croatian Heritage Foundation organised the presentation of books on Croatian as a foreign language. At the presentation was CHF director Marin Knezović who greeted the participants of the symposium and particularly underlined a high level of professionalism, dedication to work and top notch results as the constant values of all those presently involved in this important interdisciplinary area.
HIDIS is a specialised expert research event and unique in tackling issues associated with the study and instruction of Croatian as a second and foreign language. The numerous lectures delivered at this year’s gathering will certainly provide a significant contribution to the instruction of Croatian as a second language, and thereby contribute to its continued nurturing and the preservation of the Croatian linguistic identity among Croatian communities around the world.
Text by: Lada Kanajet Šimić