Re: languages in Russia

From: kirill (kirill_at_university.ca)
Date: 08/31/04 

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:17:10 -0400

Jaakko Raipala wrote:
>
> Xenia <tyusha@freemail.ru> wrote:
>
> > Keith GOERINGER <verbivore@comcast.net> wrote
> >> "Comprehended" maybe, but definitely not equally well everywhere, as
> >> your comment on Dagestan points out. It seems that in many parts of
> >> Russia where Russian is not the native tongue of the main populace,
> >> speaking bad Russian is something of a sign of defiance/disdain/national
> >> pride (as it was in many if not most non-Slavic SSRs in Soviet days).
> >
> > Just like foreigners speaking bad English deliberately demonstrate
> > their defiance/disdain/national pride?... Hey, are you serious?
>
> Perhaps it is, in regions where English has been forced on the people.
> In Finnish schools Swedish is obligatory, even though practically
> everyone in Finland speaks Finnish. Most young people consider the
> teaching of Swedish a "remnant of the Swedish rule" (it isn't, but
> that's the way it's percieved) and they make it an important point of
> national pride to learn Swedish as badly as possible (while still
> passing). The sentiment fades away when people grow older, since
> Swedish is only "forced" on kids, but that's hardly the case in most
> "non-Russian" parts of Russia, where even the adults are forced to use
> Russian in everyday life.

You are full of it and show that you know zero about Russia. The
numerous ethnic groups in Russia lead their lives using their language.
That there is Russian on TV and radio doesn't constitute "forcing" of
any sort. Knowing more than one language is a sign of education.

You are a language nazi like the zealots in Quebec who wallow
in xenophobic paranoia that if they do not maintain a bubble of total
French in every aspect of people's lives (including signs in private
shops) that they will "lose their culture and identity". This is the
strife-generating mess you want for Russia hoping that isolationism
by each ethnic group will eventually break the country apart.

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