Photo credit: Official channel MAPRYAL / ROPRYAL / youtube.com
International Association of Russian Language Teachers (MAPRYAL) is celebrating its anniversary. 55 years have passed since the day when its founding conference took place in Paris. More than 40 people from 25 countries gathered in Paris on September 7, 1967.
Well-known Russian scholars stood at the origins of the association. Its aim was to unite linguists, literary critics, teachers, culturologists, translators from different countries.
The famous Soviet linguist and literary critic Viktor Vinogradov became the first president of MAPRYAL. Later, the organization was headed by Mikhail Khrapchenko, Pyotr Nikolaev, Vitaly Kostomarov and Lyudmila Verbitskaya, who also headed the board of trustees of the Russkiy Mir Foundation for many years. Now MAPRYAL is headed by Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Presidential Council for the Russian Language, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russkiy Mir Foundation Vladimir Tolstoy.
MAPRYAL is considered one of the largest world associations of language teachers, the association includes about 200 members in 70 countries.
For more than 50 years of its existence, MAPRYAL has held almost a dozen world congresses. Currently, preparations are underway for the next, 15th congress of MAPRYAL, "Russian Language and Literature in a Changing World." St. Petersburg will host the large-scale forum in a year.
Russkiy Mir
