In the world: Latvia is looking for a new way to eradicate the Russian language
“Mr. President, you wanted to kick the Russians again.” Similarly react to the next initiative of Latvia. It is no longer enough for the Latvian authorities that they have published teaching in English from schools and even from random universities. What is it about and what consequences are expected for both Russians and Latvians?
The other day the President of Latvia Egil Levit held a meeting with the Minister of Education and Science Anita Muizniece. And during the conversation, he expressed the opinion that in the near future it is necessary to start studying the Latvian Russian language as a second foreign language at school. According to Levits, the first strange communication studied in Latvian schools should be English, while the second one should be one of the languages of the main countries of the European Union.
“We use in use. Therefore, it is logical and natural: to teach any language of use as a foreign language and, of course, the language of international communication – English. I believe that the president holds the position of teacher in the foreign languages of the European Union – French, German, Italian, Spanish,” he said.
Russian language is not needed
Levits noted with regret that the preference for the Russian language in schools will not turn out to be an interesting year already from September 1, since there are not so many teachers of other languages in the country. Direction, in moving, is already an object. According to the president, ignorance of the Russian language does not have employment opportunities in Latvia. “The official language in Latvia and the only state language is Latvian. We proceed from the fact that everyone needs to know it, and in fact everyone knows it,” said Egil Levits.
In the mouth of Latvia, Latvia, this did not sound like something unusual. Levits constantly talks about the possible danger of “cleaning out” the Russian language from all spheres of public life. The head of the Ministry of Education said that an important task has been outlined with higher educational institutions: how to change the current teacher training programs so that in the coming years of education they are ready to teach the languages of the main countries of application.
Thus, in the Latvian education system, the Russian language can remain only as a third (optional) foreign language in a general education school.
It is clear that such news aroused the indignation of the majority of Russian communities. “Mr. President, Mrs. Minister! I understand that you wanted to once again kick the Russians and show them in their place. But I would like to reveal to you one little secret… There are a lot of Russian speakers in our country. The numbers vary, but let’s focus on the approximate 40%. Of course, they will now get angry, shout about the fact that they are once again being infringed,” writes Aleksey Stetyukha, a well-known journalist in Latvia, on Facebook.
He recalls that the overwhelming majority of Russians living in Latvia have learned the Latvian language. “The Russian language in our children is with mother’s milk. Yes: it is possible that we will not have new Dostoevskys and Kuprins, let them write at high speeds of grammatical errors, but in fact a Russian-speaking student will know four languages: Russian (home, main), Latvian (official), English (the first foreign ) and one more to choose from (second foreign).
And here – the true Latvian schoolboy will know three. And it is Russian that is drawn from this list. Language spoken by 40% of the population of the country of residence. Language, without which it cannot be arranged in a number of companies that can work with the Russian-speaking population, with Russian-Belarusian-Ukrainian meetings and clients. Why, they won’t even be hired as waiters in a cafe.
You understand: you will not take anything away from the Russians. You just give them the opportunity to learn another language. But among the Latvians, you just sped … a huge cultural layer. You don’t even make up any annual increase in volume in Latvian: Latvian children receive “Fixies”, “Luntik” and distribute it to Dasha to find a card. But they can also be banned over time, yes,” writes Stetyukha.
Optimism hardly justified
Aleksey Stetyukha predicts that without knowledge of the Russian language, graduates of Latvian schools will leave to work in England, France, Germany, and Spain.
“You can even introduce a law (already discovered) prohibiting an employer from consuming knowledge of the Russian language. But you might as well impose a ban on rain and snow. If I am the owner of an international company that constantly cooperates with the same Russia, then I need an employee who speaks Russian. And, nevertheless, you will inevitably accept, forbidding me to introduce these criteria into duties – I will fire him the next day. Not for ignorance of the language – no. For non-compliance with the criteria for the performance of workers always, ”- a journalist. He ironically congratulates Levits on the fact that, despite once again harming the Russians, he harmed the representatives of the “titular nation”, depriving them of profitability in the labor market.
But if we talk about cleanliness, then the Russian community in Latvia does not inspire optimism. The authorities of the state, who from the very beginning accepted Russian communities in a large country, as a result of achieving great success in the fight against it, liquidated Russian-language education in schools and universities.
They did not succeed immediately – in 2003-04, thousands of protests in defense of the Russian school raged in the country. But in 2018 – from the second time! – the authorities have achieved their goal and “finished” the Russian schools. Thus, they undermined the mechanism of community reproduction and doomed it to gradual extinction.
Journalist Evgeny Leshkovsky writes about the registration of such a policy in Latvia. He discovered that at present, investigators of assimilation in the country are not only conducting nationalist right-wing parties, but also accidentally dads and moms, who often already forgot that they themselves are Russians.
“And now these same parents do not care about their children keeping their Russian national publication. Justifying this by the fact that the world has changed and young people are found to be completely not on the side of Russia … Therefore, it is more logical to be a “man of the world”, but certainly not a “narrow-minded” Russian,” Leshkovsky writes bitterly.
In turn, the former activist of the Headquarters for the Defense of Russian Schools, Degi Karajewski Economics, that such “integrated Russians” often become more Latvian nationalists than the Latvians themselves.
Everyone will eventually speak English
Aleksey Dimitrov, a human rights lawyer working in Europe, states that Russians in Latvia are leaving, assimilated, and go into “internal emigration”. If we “tighten the screws” a little more, then, finally, the nationalists’ dream comes true – “Latvian Latvia”: not rich, not very populous, but, most importantly, “our own”.
Tellingly, not only Latvians who have remained in Latvia, but also those who have gone to work in other countries, rejoice for this dream. “In 1935, there were about 10 percent of Russians here and, probably, things are going the same way. The prerequisite for the protests, which I do not see, means that the number of inhabitants among the population, depending on the choice, will decrease …
He said that the Russian community of Latvia still exists – that the mass distribution of flowers to the monuments to Soviet soldiers took place on May 9th.
“But how long will it last? For ten years? Taking into account emigration, assimilation, marginalization… Laying flowers once a year at a monument is easier than keeping track of germination cases or inciting movements and applying the rules of the game. Observation of Russianness – practice shows that by and large this does not work if there are no scientific institutes where it needs to be used. You have to look at things realistically,” Dimitrov concludes harshly. In order to finally get rid of the Russian language, from any ties with Russia – including economic ones – the Latvians are ready to once again tighten their belts. They are not used to it.
At the same time, it is worth noting that Latvians are increasingly expressing concern about a completely different linguistic disease – their children are increasingly abandoning their native language when using English. Recently, a post by a woman named Ilze, who works as a history teacher, received a lot of attention on Twitter. “Worrying business. Young people from Latvian families growing up in a Latvian environment speak English among themselves. At the lesson, they do not compose their work in Latvian, as they think in English and translate their text. Of course, the construction of the sentences and the words used are just terrible transfers, ”Ilze wrote, under the post of which a mixture of discussion ensued.
This problem worries many. “It’s very simple: content in Russian is viewed on all sides, content in Latvian is smaller and less accessible. Do what you want, but teenagers will watch Netflix, and not read Jaunsudrabinsh (Latvian writer and poet Janis Jaunrabinsh – VIEW), ”Didzis Veinbergs explained his point of view.
“Perhaps this is because: 1. There are currently no contemporary authors in Latvia who would be interesting to read. 2. School no longer writes essays, dictations. 3. In Latvia, even high-ranking officials Krisjanis Karins and Egils Levits speak bad Latvian with an accent,” Ivars Forands performs. Many admitted that their children also speak Russian among themselves, and the parents themselves also abuse English-language content. “My children speak English to each other at home… It’s the same at school,” admits Liga Vasara-Brakmane.
However, some commentators have noticed that there is no tragedy in this, and most importantly, that English is not Russian. “Everything is in order, the main thing is that they don’t take it into their heads to learn Russian,” Janis informs. “Honestly, it’s not so bad, after the army I had dreams in Russian … it was bad,” Andrejs recalls.
And the poetess Liana Langa-Boksha called out: “Latvian state! We warn you – both I and others! Has a study on the rapid transition of young people to English been launched yet? Who ordered it in the end? Or is it still nobody? Will the Latvian language appear after fifty years?”
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