Fran Turns 10 – Meet Franja, the New Multilingual Portal
Next week, the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovene Language at ZRC SAZU will mark World Dictionary Day (October 16) with a series of events.
The cherry on top will be the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Fran portal, which will take place on Wednesday, October 16 at 11:00 a.m. in the ZRC Atrium, and will be attended by Franja.
Who or what is Franja?
We’re (still) not allowed to reveal that, but we can say this much: her arrival is almost certain to permanently change the way we think about the use of foreign-language dictionaries. As your first hint, we suggest looking for the answer in the personality and work of Franja Tavčar, a Slovene politician, national figure, and cosmopolitan woman who was fluent in a whole range of languages. Her life and legacy will be briefly presented at the ceremony by Dr. Katja Mihurko.
But first, the spotlight will be on the Fran portal, which sprouted from the bold idea of Dr. Kozma Ahačič and, through the careful care of the dedicated linguists at the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovene Language, has grown into an indispensable tool for writers and anyone who works with the Slovene language. The statistics speak for themselves: over the past decade, Fran has logged more than 450 million searches for answers related to word meanings, spelling, and other language-related challenges. The portal provides access to 45 dictionaries, a language atlas, the most frequent questions from two language advisory services, and 14 collections.
A special treat at the ceremony will be the premiere of a short film directed by Manca Juvan, titled Franja and 55 Frans, created during a gathering of all individuals named Fran born after 2014.
On October 16, World Dictionary Day, a ceremonial scholarship award ceremony by the Pater Stanislav Škrabec Foundation for the 2024/25 academic year will take place at 1:30 p.m. It will be followed by a roundtable discussion on the practical use of dictionaries, titled: Dictionary – navigator, guardian, tinkerer, or... king? This year’s guests include Ivana Djilas, Anja Štefan, and Marko Pokorn, with Boštjan Narat moderating.
Researchers at the Fran Ramovš Institute also announced that visitors will have the opportunity to tour their workspaces, and ZRC Publishing will offer a selection of dictionaries and language manuals at discounted prices at their stand in front of the Azil Bookstore.
And a quick note: it all starts a bit earlier – celebrations for World Dictionary Day will begin at the start of the week. On Monday, October 14, the Lexicography Section of the Slovenian Society for General and Comparative Linguistics (ZDSDS) will host an international scientific symposium marking International Dictionary Day, titled: Dictionaries in the Digital Environment.
A detailed schedule of all events and participating guests is available at this link.
You are warmly invited!
In the photo: some of the researchers from the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovene Language, photo by Manca Juvan/ZRC SAZU