Macedonian Language – The Meeting Point of Slavic and Balkan Languages

Professor Emeritus Dr Victor A. Friedman

Professor Emeritus Dr Victor A. Friedman is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and the Humanities Division, University of Chicago and honorary adjunct at La Trobe University. He is a foreign member of three national academies of sciences (Albania, Kosovo, RN Macedonia) as well as Matica Srpska.

He has received medals from both the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia for contributions to their respective national languages. He has received awards for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and held grants from ACLS, APS, NEH, SSRC, IREX, Fulbright-Hays, etc.

In 2007 he received the degree of Doctor honoris causa from Sts. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. In 1994, during the Yugoslav Wars of Succession, he worked for the United Nations as a Senior Policy and Political Analyst responsible for Macedonia.

Among his many publications are Macedonian Studies I, II (2011, 2015), Studies on Albanian and Other Balkan Languages (2008), and Turkish in Macedonia and Beyond (2003). His book The Balkan Languages (co-authored with Brian D. Joseph) will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2024.

Professor Dr Aneta Ducevska

Professor Dr Aneta Ducevska is a full-time professor at the Blazhe Koneski Faculty of Philology with the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. She teaches Macedonian Language Courses for graduate and postgraduate students, and has been an academic advisor for numerous graduate papers, MA and PhD dissertations.

She has also been teaching Macedonian for foreign learners at all levels for decades, providing two textbooks for the advanced level. In the course of her academic career, she has done research with projects, papers, and conference contributions in the field of syntax, text and discourse analysis, second language acquisition, and other subfields regarding the Macedonian language.

In the last seven years she has performed the service of Dean of the Faculty.

Ambassador Aleksandra Miovska

Former Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of North Macedonia to the United Kingdom, up until one year ago.

Ambassador Aleksandra Miovska is a professional diplomat working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1995. Currently, she is Director of the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister.

She has a rich and vast experience working in the UK as a diplomat (2001-2005 and 2018-2022), where she has left her mark, both culturally as well as politically.

Ambassador Miovska had an excellent and fruitful cooperation with the UK FCDO, the All Party Parliamentary Group for North Macedonia in the UK Parliament, as well as other relevant British institutions with which she cooperated as the highest diplomatic representative of her country. In addition to the political and economic dimension of her work as Ambassador, she was highly valued for her dynamic and proactive contribution to spreading the Macedonian language and culture and safeguarding the rights of citizens of North Macedonia in the UK.

During her last term in the UK, Ambassador Miovska co-founded the Macedonian language course, here at SSEES, together with the SSEES Short Courses team. The course started in 2019 and has grown significantly over the past four years. The Embassy of North Macedonia made a generous donation of books to the SSEES library on several occasions, both during the inauguration of the course and throughout its existence.

Dr Ana Ilievska Završnik

Dr Ana Ilievska Završnik has been teaching Macedonian language evening classes at SSEES UCL since 2019.

She is also a translator and chartered language consultant, with expertise in Macedonian and Slovene languages. Her consultancy services span the public and corporate sectors across the UK, Slovenia and N. Macedonia. Committed to humanitarian causes, Ana generously volunteers her translation and teaching skills in offering integration mentorship for international human rights organizations.

Ana is a founder of Language Yoga – School of Macedonian and Slovene language, as well as the organiser of Walk and Talk session for language professionals. Her commitment to advancing the field of linguistics is further demonstrated by her role as a Member of Council at the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Ana is also a member of esteemed institutions such as The Linguistic Association of Great Britain, The British Association for Applied Linguistics, the British Association for Slavonic & East European Studies and ONA VE – Slovenian Association which unites female experts from diverse fields and promotes their contributions.