Reflections on Participation in the Bovec Summer School 2026
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences once again had its representatives at the Summer School in Bovec, Slovenia – teaching assistant Nikolina Begović from the Department of Information Sciences and students Monika Delić and Martina Pliestić. The impressions of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek students who participated in the Summer School can be read here.
Croatian Dialects in the Mirror of AI: Lost in Translation or Digitally Preserved?
This year, I represented the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Bovec Summer School as a member of the teaching staff.
The main theme of this year’s Summer School, Bridging Worlds with AI: Multilingual Communication, Culture and Digital Transformation, brought together a number of interested participants from Croatia, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Within the framework of the main theme, I held a workshop entitled Croatian Dialects in the Mirror of AI: Lost in Translation or Digitally Preserved?
Six students from Croatia, Italy and Slovenia participated in the workshop, which lasted three hours, from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Two professors also attended the workshop.
During the workshop, students were very active and engaged. They enthusiastically completed the tasks I prepared for them. The tasks were primarily focused on improving students’ skills in using AI tools. In addition, through various activities, we explored together the extent to which AI tools can (or cannot) assist in working with Croatian dialects. Our discussions led us in various directions, including reflecting on the limitations of AI tools, considering ways in which dialects could be preserved from extinction, and developing a plan for how AI could help us in this process.
In conclusion, the students expressed their satisfaction after participating in the workshop. They became aware of new ways of using AI tools and gained ideas for their own future projects.
The Bovec Summer School is an exceptional opportunity for students from Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Austria to spend two weeks intensively learning a foreign language from leading experts and to deepen their knowledge through practical exercises and workshops. Lectures and workshops were held at Hotel Alp, where all participants were accommodated. Upon arrival, I was welcomed by the organizers, Ms Tatjana Vučajnk and Fiorenza Ninin, as well as the professors who conducted the classes.
Nikolina Begović, Teaching Assistant
