Online only
This year, Khabarovsk did not have an offline platform for “total dictation”. None of the local activists dared to attack the organization. Despite this, preparatory classes were held at the “Boiling Point”, where everyone could remember the rules of the Russian language. And the places closest to the regional center where they wrote the dictation were Komsomol-on-Amur State University and Birobidzhan Priamursk State University named after Sholom Aleichem. Some residents of Khabarovsk went there.
I decided to test myself online and sign up for all four parts of the dictation, not knowing what time would work best for me. I got to the third, whose announcer was the writer, author of “RG” Pavel Basinsky. However, the online broadcast began to freeze, and the hosts still didn’t cut to the chase, advertising German pens. Therefore, I decided to write under the dictation of Vladimir Pakhomov – candidate of philological sciences, chairman of the Philological Council of the “Total Dictation”. A note with him surfaced next to the window where the text was to be typed.
In the end, the choice fell on Pakhomov not in vain. He stopped perfectly and spoke his words clearly.
Wrote “Ecology according to Arseniev. Lesson three”. The test seemed monotonous and uncomplicated to me. Avchenko’s text abounded in applications, which meant commas. Difficulties only arose with punctuation marks – put a dash or a comma in a sentence, if both fit?
The dictator (this is what the speakers of “total dictation” are called) suggested how to write difficult words, for example, “passionate”. In my opinion, this is wrong – after all, we check our literacy level. About nine years ago I participated in an action within the walls of Pacific State University, and then such prompts were not given. Maybe that’s why she got a solid “four”.
My husband started checking literacy with me, but quickly fell asleep – the host read too slowly and evenly. I finished it with the cat: he kept trying to make his own edits, touching the keyboard and “laughing” with red eyes. After sending the dictation for verification, the original text appeared in the window – I did not verify it, I will wait for the results on April 22. But my mother wrote a dictation at home before me, checked everything and proudly boasted: “No errors”.
Total Antalya: remember everything
One of the six cities in Turkey where “Total Dictation 2023” was written was Mediterranean Antalya. Local Russian speakers are taking part in the action for the sixth time.
According to the organizers, during this period the maximum number of participants here reached thirty, and in neighboring Kemer it even exceeded one hundred. In 2023, 14 people sat at desks in Antalya, including myself, a former resident of the Far East.
The text does not seem too complicated to me. The dictation was measured, although the youngest participants (there were five) did not have time to write anything.
I still had to remember the school program, in particular the spelling of the particles “non” and “ni”, the introductory constructions, the direct speech, the participative and adverbial phrases. Some spelling bottlenecks were demonstrated on screen (“Ussouri Territory”), but even without them I was sure of the spelling.
Handwriting worries me the most – even in school it was average, and it hasn’t improved, as I now rarely write by hand. It turned out that I had two options for writing the letter “t”, capitalization rules were completely forgotten, and in some places parts of words did not want to be combined.
Alexandra Nikiforova, participant in the action, told me her impressions:
- I treat the “total dictation” with tender sympathy. I like the idea itself and the fact that the project was born in Novosibirsk, the city of my student years. In Antalya, I will note the excellent organization – it is immediately clear that this is not the first dictation held here: everything is clear, according to the rules and on time. The announcer is a Russian language teacher, she felt like she was at a school desk. I like to read, so if I see a mistake somewhere or if I write myself incorrectly, I feel awkward. In this text, I had to think a lot about punctuation: where is a comma, and where is another punctuation mark.
A year ago, a native of St. Petersburg, Ivan Kuznetsov, wrote “Total Dictation” in Antalya with “excellent” – for participating in the project seven times, this was his first “five”. It will be known if anyone got the highest score today April 20th.
Professionalism check
The “total dictation” took place the day I was planning a business trip. Therefore, I immediately planned that I would participate online. Very convenient – you can start at any time by simply rewinding the live stream. I had “Lesson Two”, which was read by Vasily Avchenko. The text spoke of the “ecological” vision of the famous friend of Vladimir Arseniev, the hunter Nanai Dersu Uzala.
I must say that we journalists write “total dictations” all the time, transcribing the recordings of interviews. So there is a skill in typing texts. The other side of the coin: the action seemed to drag on very slowly. Vasily Avchenko read each sentence three times: first, just so that the participants could listen to it, then to write it down and, finally, for self-examination. I did not expect a second or third reading. However, if I were to participate in person, with pen and paper, then perhaps I would also ask to speak more slowly. Vasily discussed this possibility in advance, expressing his willingness to wait if someone falls behind.
It’s good that the theme of the dictation is related to the Far East. It looks like we who live here might get some sort of advantage. But the organizers leveled it, demonstrating on the slides the spelling of some “difficult” words like “deer”.
I have no doubt that “Total Dictation” wrote well. There was no problem with the spelling of the words. I’m more concerned with punctuation. Somehow I might be confused with dashes or colons.
Besides
For the first time, “Total Dictation” was written in Cambodia this year, and Kazakhstan became the record holder for the number of cities involved abroad. There, the action took place in ten cities. At the Antarctic stations, the dictation was written for the tenth time, and in person. The works were scanned by the employees of the Russian Antarctic Expedition and submitted for verification to the experts of the Philological Council.
Direct speech
Vasily Avchenko, writer:
- “Total dictation” is an educational action, and I wanted it not to be just a literacy test, but for the text to carry an important and interesting message. If anyone wants to discover Vladimir Arseniev’s prose or re-read his books after the action, I will consider my task accomplished. I was very worried when I was writing, and when I was preparing, and when I was dictating. Because it’s a huge responsibility. But everything went well. I dictated to Nizhny Tagil. The main site was the Demidov Ironworks. Its ancient walls breathed the energy of years gone by. Therefore, the dictation connected not only space (I remind you, I am from Vladivostok), but also eras and historical eras.
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