Armenia joins total dictation- Russian language literacy test

YEREVAN, April 17. / ARKA /. Armenia has joined this year another 50 countries to have the annual Total Dictation event, which tests Russian literacy. In Yerevan the dictation will be read by the director of the local Russian theater Fred Davtyan, who was awarded in February the Russian Pushkin medal by president Putin for his large input into the promotion of Armenian-Russian friendship.

In Armenia the literacy event will be held on April 18 at 4 pm at Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. The registration begins at 3.30 pm.

The organizers estimate that this year more than 100,000 people will test their literacy, up from 65,000 in 2014.  The aim of the event is "to give everyone the opportunity to test his or her knowledge of the Russian language and to increase their level of literacy."

"I wish to remind everyone that this is not a political project, but rather a civilian initiative, organized completely by volunteers, and everyone, in any part of the planet, can apply to participate," said project manager Olga Rebkovets.

Total Dictation was created at the beginning of the 2000s at the Humanities Faculty of Novosibirsk University and has been taking place annually in Russia since 2004. Since 2011 it has also been held abroad.

During the dictation the participants gather in schools, universities, libraries, cafes – or sometimes just outside – and write on a piece of paper by hand.

Each time the text for the dictation is written by a famous contemporary Russian writer. This year it is the author of novels Soloviev and Larionov and Lavr, Yevgeny Vodolazkin. 

Past authors have included the likes of Dmitry Bykov, Boris Strugatsky, Zakhar Prilepin, Dina Rubina and Alexei Ivanov. In 2014 the dictation was taken in all seven continents. -0-