Welcome to the Slavic Language Cafe!
Do you speak Polish, Russian, Czech, Ukrainian, Croatian or another Slavic language at B1 level or higher? Whether you're a learner or a native speaker – this space is for you!
What is the Slavic Language Cafe?
The Slavic Language Cafe is a unique online language cafe – because here, we don’t limit ourselves to just one language. Instead, we want to bring together students who speak any Slavic language for a plurilingual exchange. That means: You speak Polish, your conversation partner speaks Czech, someone else speaks Russian – and you can still understand each other!
How is that possible?
Thanks to their common origin, Slavic languages have similar vocabulary and comparable grammar structures, i.e. a high degree of mutual intelligibility – even if you’ve never studied the other language!
Improve your language skills and discover new Slavic languages
The Slavic Language Cafe helps you practice expressing yourself clearly and accessibly, even for people who don’t speak your exact language. You’ll develop cross-language communication strategies, such as:
• slowing down your speech
• repeating and paraphrasing words and phrases
• using words with shared roots across languages
• supporting your speech with gestures or visual cues
Whether you're brushing up your language skills, exploring new languages, or just curious about how far Slavic-language understanding can go — join us and be part of a plurilingual experience!
The event is organised as a collaboration between Stockholm University and University of Salzburg. It is led by Lenka Newerkla, University of Salzburg.
All students and staff at CIVIS universities are welcome to participate.
The Slavic Language Cafe takes place every Tuesday from 1:00 to 1:50 p.m. (CEST) via Zoom, starting on 29 September–1 December. Please register via the link below.
Last updated: 2026-10-15
Source: Department of Linguistics