A reprint of Trubar ’ s Catechism from 1935 . Technical Museum of Slovenia . Photo : Nebojša Tejić , STA .
BELOVED SLOVENIANS ...
In 1550 , Trubar wrote and published the first printed book in the Slovenian language , the Catechism . It could be said that without his work all the great Slovenian scientists in this exhibition may not have the same cultural identity they brought to the USA , and Peterlin would never have argued the finer points of Slovenian grammar at his home in Washington .
Trubar was guided by the fundamental value of Protestantism : to make the word of God accessible to the common people in the vernacular . With Catechism , he built the foundations of a literary language designed to be understood by the speakers of all Slovenian dialects . In his time , Slovenian only existed in the form of geographically and socially dispersed dialects . By creating a single language , he unified the Slovenian nation and highlighted its uniqueness to the outside world . To this day , his actions remain a pillar of the Slovenian national identity and statehood .
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