To celebrate the first-ever Macedonian Language Day, Blazhe Koneski Faculty of Philology is paying a visit to Macedonian poet and linguist Blazhe Koneski’s birthplace, Nebregovo, where scholars will speak about Koneski’s enduring legacy.

And beginning May 6, Krste Misirkov Macedonian Language Institute is hosting Blagoja Korubin Days to pay tribute to Blagoja Korubin, another linguist and Macedonian studies scholar who made a significant contribution to developing the language.

Macedonian Language Day is observed today for the first time after the Government recently set it as an annual working holiday at the initiative of the Macedonian Language Council.

The day was chosen to honor May 5, 1945, when the Macedonian alphabet was officially adopted.

Adopting the alphabet led to codifying the Macedonian language and its being designated as the official national language, according to linguist and Macedonian Language Council president Ljudmil Spasov.

“Developing the alphabet had taken a long time, and it wasn’t easy,” said Spasov, who teaches at the Faculty of Philology’s Macedonian and South Slavic Languages Department.

“Blazhe Koneski was the most persistent about this particular alphabet as he believed it best reflected the Macedonian language as it was spoken in real life,” Spasov said, pointing out that Koneski was also the engine behind the first Macedonian grammar and dictionary.