Article Title: After Decades of Russian Dominance, Belarus Begins to Reclaim its Language
Author: Katerina Barushka
Date Published: January 28th, 2015
Article Link: www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/-sp-russian-belarus-reclaims-language-belarusian
Author: Katerina Barushka
Date Published: January 28th, 2015
Article Link: www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/-sp-russian-belarus-reclaims-language-belarusian
Article Summary
Belarusian is one of the two national languages spoken in the country of Belarus. Despite originating in the country, Belarusian is a minority language with only 23% of the population speaking it while 70.2% speaks Russian. This is due to Russia's influence on the country. Belarus borders Russia, and both countries were part of the Soviet Union. Today, that influence can be seen with a majority of the population speaking Russian. Russia is also Belarus's biggest trade partner which also influences the speaking of Russian. Even the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, believed Belarusian was not a significant language. It wasn't until July of 2015, that the leader gave an entire speech in Belarusian. Recently, several campaigns have formed to to create billboards and signs in Belarusian along with Russian. Many Belarusian people are also taking classes to learn the language. However, there is no university where Belarusian is used and classes are declining. Also, 85% of books published in Belarus are still only published in Russian.
Belarusian is one of the two national languages spoken in the country of Belarus. Despite originating in the country, Belarusian is a minority language with only 23% of the population speaking it while 70.2% speaks Russian. This is due to Russia's influence on the country. Belarus borders Russia, and both countries were part of the Soviet Union. Today, that influence can be seen with a majority of the population speaking Russian. Russia is also Belarus's biggest trade partner which also influences the speaking of Russian. Even the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, believed Belarusian was not a significant language. It wasn't until July of 2015, that the leader gave an entire speech in Belarusian. Recently, several campaigns have formed to to create billboards and signs in Belarusian along with Russian. Many Belarusian people are also taking classes to learn the language. However, there is no university where Belarusian is used and classes are declining. Also, 85% of books published in Belarus are still only published in Russian.
Thoughts on Article
The article surprised me a lot. It is very rare to see a language created in a country to not be the language that is primarily spoken in that country. I am surprised at how it took so long before campaigns were finally launched to save the Belarusian language. The statistics used in the article were very surprising especially the one about how a majority of the books published in Belarus are still only published in Russian. It also seems that not everyone in Belarus wants Belarusian to be the primary language including the president himself. My hope is that Belarusian will become the dominant language of Belarus because it makes me extremely sad to see an aspect of a culture such as language die out like this.
The article surprised me a lot. It is very rare to see a language created in a country to not be the language that is primarily spoken in that country. I am surprised at how it took so long before campaigns were finally launched to save the Belarusian language. The statistics used in the article were very surprising especially the one about how a majority of the books published in Belarus are still only published in Russian. It also seems that not everyone in Belarus wants Belarusian to be the primary language including the president himself. My hope is that Belarusian will become the dominant language of Belarus because it makes me extremely sad to see an aspect of a culture such as language die out like this.
Why Language is Important
Belarus' language is important because it shows a unique identity for the country. Russian is unique to Russia and gives that country character. By having Belarusian, as a dominant language, Belarus would have it own unique language spoken among its people. Right now, Belarusian is an endangered language. If it is not encouraged to be taught in schools, it could become extinct. It is important to preserve the language of a group of people to make them stand out and be seen as different from someone who is Russian. A language promotes nationalism for a country which would have beneficial effects toward the country. It is important to preserve language or else uniqueness and diversity is lost in places like Belarus.
Belarus' language is important because it shows a unique identity for the country. Russian is unique to Russia and gives that country character. By having Belarusian, as a dominant language, Belarus would have it own unique language spoken among its people. Right now, Belarusian is an endangered language. If it is not encouraged to be taught in schools, it could become extinct. It is important to preserve the language of a group of people to make them stand out and be seen as different from someone who is Russian. A language promotes nationalism for a country which would have beneficial effects toward the country. It is important to preserve language or else uniqueness and diversity is lost in places like Belarus.