This week, Consul General of Greece in Mariupol Grigorios Tassiopoulos once again visited the Faculty of Greek Philology and Translation of Mariupol State University. This time he gave a lecture for students on the topic "Greek in modern times: social, political and cultural aspects".

During the class, the students were familiarized with the history of the Greek language, dating back more than 3,000 years, and the diversity of its dialect and stylistic varieties.

Grigorios Tassiopoulos highlighted the origins of Greek diglossy, i.e. of simultaneous existence in society of two languages or two forms of one language, one of which functions as a "high" variety, and the other – as a "low". The lecturer paid special attention to the Greek language issue, which was particularly acute during the national liberation struggle of the Greeks against Turkish enslavement and the formation of a new Greek state. He noted that the discussion on the given topic lasted about 150 years and ended with the victory of the national language -dimotica, which is the basis of the contemporary Modern Greek language. Mr Tassiopoulos also outlined the current trends in the development of the Modern Greek language in the context of a globalized world.

After the lecture, the students actively asked questions to the Consul General. They were particularly interested in the political and cultural aspects of bilingualism in Greece.