In a world where intercultural communication is becoming a bridge between countries, knowledge of the great Russian language opens up unique perspectives. A vivid confirmation of this was the success of Khusravshoeva Gulrukhsor, a student of the Faculty of Engineering, a representative of the Republic of Tajikistan studying under the academic exchange program. Russian as a Foreign Language Olympiad "We Speak Russian" was held on April 17, 2026 at Tambov State Technical University (TSTU, Russia). This prestigious competition annually gathers dozens of talented students from near and far abroad who want to test their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, phonetics and, of course, the culture of the country of the great Pushkin. Gulrukhsor, who is currently mastering the subtleties of the specialty "Linguistic support for intercultural communications", decided to test herself in one of the most difficult and interesting stages of the Olympiad — the "Quiz on Regional Studies" competition. This task requires not only perfect command of language norms, but also a deep understanding of the history, geography, traditions and customs of Russia. Under the strict guidance of her mentor, senior lecturer at the Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication, L.N. Selyuzhitskaya, Gulrukhsor did a lot of preparatory work. The result was not long in coming: brilliant erudition and high linguistic culture brought the student an honorable 2nd place.
The organizers of the Olympiad noted not only the excellent result of the participant, but also her sincere interest in the culture of the country of the language being studied. Great gratitude was expressed for the will to win and deep knowledge. A particularly important event was that Gulrukhsor's participation will go down in the history of the Olympiad: the organizers emphasized the unique fact that for the first time a student from the Republic of Belarus took part in such a competition (a quiz on regional studies), which indicates the wide geography of participants in the exchange program and the strengthening of friendly ties between universities of the former Soviet Union.
