Recently RSMU students have taken part in the international educational project “Step by step: breaking down the borders”.  The round table discussion “The Importance of Being Multilingual” was dedicated to the advantaged of speaking more than one language.  The participants were RSMU and RSU students, residents, professors, as well as representatives of universities and medical institutions from Brussels, Moscow and Astrakhan.

The reporters spoke on how the international language influenced our cultural identities and our social realities and touched upon topical issues:

• Ivan A. Yeltsov (Brussels), a surgeon of the Center for Heart Rhythm Disorders Treatment, spoke on “Personal Experience of Adoption to Multicultural and Multilingual Environment in Belgian Healthcare System”;
• Pierre de Anskutte (Belgium), the head of a volunteer organization, prepared a special report on his activities to popularize the French language around the world;
• Daria Y. Proskuryakova (Ryazan), a senior lecturer of the Department of Foreign Languages of the Institute of History, Philosophy and Political Sciences (RSU) shared her ideas concerning the topic “Foreign Languages as a Tool for Shaping a Professional Career”.

Irina V. Gareski, a senior lecturer of the Department of Foreign Languages with a Russian Language Course (RSMU) emphasized that in today’s increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, proficiency in other languages was a vital skill that gave students the opportunity to engage with the world.

Hosting an event in relaxed atmosphere is the best way to bring students together and give them the chance to practice and sharpen a number of skills, including the ability to articulate and defend positions, consider different points of view.