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Latvian stands firm against Russian. | ||
Tags: Latvian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6110 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 1 of 91 19 February 2012 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Latvian government has long made learning Latvian a prerequisite for citizenship. With barely 2 million native speakers and a high number of resident Russians, this seems perfectly understandable to me. But Russians have complained of discrimination and initiated a referendum to make Russian the second official language. This has just been strongly rejected - read more here (BBC website).
Given the small size of Latvia, the number of Latvian speakers and it's history of Soviet rule I'm glad that it's standing firm. But it highlights the difficulties that arise from taking such a stance, and how strong national identity is linked to language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7161 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 2 of 91 19 February 2012 at 3:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have mixed feelings about this.
8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5183 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi | Message 3 of 91 19 February 2012 at 4:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's a very sad news :(
Kyrgyz and Kazakh people have been traated much worse than Latvian, but they don't discriminate ethnic minorities, Russian is co-official there. I think Estonia should also put Russian as co-official. Same about Finland, and Swedish, Kosovo and Serbian. There arn't many Swedes in Finland or Serbs in Kosovo, but these languages are considered official there. Edited by clumsy on 19 February 2012 at 4:17pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 4 of 91 19 February 2012 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
Is it fair that the language of the third of the population is considered foreign? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ellsworth Senior Member United States Joined 4962 days ago 345 posts - 528 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish | Message 5 of 91 19 February 2012 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I really support things like this. Languages like Latvian need government support and the
action of their speakers or they really have no chance against languages like Russian. I only wish that more governments had done this years ago. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 6 of 91 19 February 2012 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | ||
No one argues that it should support Latvian. But why does it have to oppress Russian? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 7 of 91 19 February 2012 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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"But many ethnic Latvians believe the referendum was an attempt to encroach on the
country's independence." From the article. That's nonsense. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ellsworth Senior Member United States Joined 4962 days ago 345 posts - 528 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish | Message 8 of 91 19 February 2012 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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What is stopping the Russian speakers from learning Latvian? There is a significant
amount of Spanish speakers in the United States, but we don't offer schools completely in Spanish like Latvia does for Russians. If the Latvians are oppressing the Russian speakers, America is even more. All that they are asking is that everyone who wants to be full citizens take the time to learn the one language that a majority of the populous speaks. That seems far from oppression. 10 persons have voted this message useful |
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