Mongolia, Russia educational centres to have language exchanges.

ULAN-UDE, January 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Buryatia's Institute of Management and Education Personnel and the Centre of the Mongolian Language at the Mongolian College "Bridge" will engage in the dissemination of the Russian language in Mongolia and the Mongolian language in Buryatia.

The foresaid
educational centres signed the agreement to this effect in Ulan-Ude on
Wednesday. The agreement will be in effect under the treaty of
cooperation, which Mongolia and the Russian republic of Buryatia signed
three years ago.
The project aims at providing conditions for massive language
education. The Mongolian language courses for Russian citizens and the
Russian language courses for Mongolian citizens, as well as seminars, the
exchange of methodological programs and the joint compiling of textbooks
will be organized. Probation and the language practice will be provided at
the end of the language courses.
"Friendly, neighbouring countries should actively involve the peoples
in direct communication," the rector of Buryatia's Institute of Management
and Education Personnel, Igor Bulygin, believes. "This will allow for a
more fruitful economic cooperation," he noted.
In the early 90-s the number of students learning the Russian language
in Mongolia has shrunk; the school students choose to learn the English
language more frequently. However, Russian is offered as the second
foreign language, and it is in demand. For instance, a school works
successfully in Ulan-Bator with all the teaching on the Russian language.
Broader Mongolian language courses are particularly topical for Buryatia,
as the Buryat language is an Altaic one related to Mongolian and spoken in
Mongolia, Russia and China.
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