The Republic of Belarus is an independent state with population of 9.5 million people, 53.2% of whom admit the Belarusian language as their mother tongue. However, 70.2% of the population use Russian in everyday communication and cannot speak Belarusian fluently (National Statistical Committee, n.d.). The phenomenon is caused by the formal existence of two state languages, Belarusian and Russian, whereas in reality the Russian language dominates in all spheres of life in the country. For instance, higher education programs and official documentation are available only in Russian. Because having two state languages led to the loss of common goals for the nation [1], risk of losing sovereignty [2] and lack of respect from international community [3], there should be only one state language in Belarus, Belarusian.
If the Belarusian language is the only state language of the republic, people within Belarusian society will be more united in their aims to benefit the motherland. Now, when the language of higher education is Russian and, as a result, from earliest childhood Belarusians pay more attention to studying Russian to succeed in the future, the Belarusian language is disrespected. The language, which has been the vernacular on this territory for many centuries, nowadays isn’t even learnt properly and isn’t spoken by the majority of the population. Therefore, people stop reading Belarusian classics and lose interest in the history of the country. Because of that they don’t feel attached to the culture created in their language and don’t feel proud of their historical heritage. Thus, people are not united by the feeling of national honour and understanding of common background.
Lack of unity has a bad influence on social and econ...
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... changes are implemented, other countries will respect and support Belarus for being able to get rid of Russia’s powerful influence.
As giving back the lost power to the Belarusian language will make relationships with other countries better, support an independent status of the state and strengthen Belarusians’ attachment to the country and the nation, the Belarusian language should become the only state language of the Republic of Belarus in the closest future. The first possible step is to translate the school program into Belarusian because if young generations of Belarusians are raised in their mother tongue, they will use it in their everyday life when they grow up.
References
National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus. (n.d.). Population Census 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/2009/itogi1.php
Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...
Language can bring people together but can also isolate. The United States is known as a melting pot, not only does that refer to culture but also the many different languages. We know of language barriers, but very seldom do we think of the language barriers within our borders. Even with the language barriers it solidifies the need for a national language, the United States of America should allow the freedom to express one’s culture while maintaining English as our national language, therefore offering common ground to its citizens.
The current events showed that there are far more potential shatterbelts in the World that it may seem at first. The Ukrainian shatterbelt although is still potential, it created a deterioration in international relations that they have not seen since the Cold War. Russia’s economy cannot potentially last another Cold War. The current events will most likely lead to Russia’s relative isolation from the international community and lead its economy to stagnation, because there is no sight that Russia will give up Crimea. The “sanction war” between Russia and The West will continue on until a consensus is reached.
My project is dedicated to description of the history of Siberia as a place to where send prisoners--from the days of Ivan the Terrible until today. I will tell about the reasons for choosing Siberia as place of exile, the system of prisons and conditions in Siberian prisons.
...h development of Russia, and the West’s involvement in that task. Russia must feel as though it is being treated as if it is a major player on the world scale, which it is. If it feels that it is being regarded lightly, it will shut itself off from the rest of the world and positive change will not occur. This means that using Russia to augment the United States’ security needs at no benefit to Russia needs to end. The West must recognize the differences in Russia and work around those differences in order to find a system that works for them. A realist approach is clearly not the answer as it only fuels negativity, and does nothing to encourage Russia to fix their internal problems which are hindering the country. If the West can engage productively with Russia, an era of cooperation will ensue which will be essential in solving the globes security problems.
...eved this state of mind through the geography, history and traditions of the nation. Russia, although having geography, history and traditional values standing against it, has made a significant effort to preserve strong features of democracy through recent decades. Bibliography Grudzinska-Gross, Irena. The Scar of Revolution: Custine, Tocqueville, and the Romantic Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Gustafson, Thane, and Daniel Yergin. Russia 2010. New York: Random, 1993. Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideas and Concepts. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. McDaniel, Tim. The Agony of the Russian Idea. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. Melvin, Neil. Russians Beyond Russians. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995. Rzhevsky, Nicholas. Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Russia, the world’s largest nation, borders European and Asian countries as well as the Pacific Asian countries as well as the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Russia’s population density is 8.4 people per square kilometer, making it one of the most limited populated countries in the world. Nevertheless, Russia is one of the minority countries where a lot people are moving from cities to rural area, because of traditions and charms of living in nature. People in Russia are moving to villages trying to escape from the changeable and chaotic urban life. In addition, Russia is a highly urbanized country, which 74% of the population is urban.
“Russia Demographics Profile 2013.” Index Mundi. CIA World Factbook, 21 Feb 2013. Web. 06 May 2014.
The article aims to reach out to the educated American adults since Mujica calls for the support of the citizens on the matter. The author uses examples from other nations such as France and how they have embraced having one official language. Mujica addresses the fact that people find it resist when they are expected to speak in English to point out that his target audience is the citizens. The author uses simple language that any person can understand to reach out to his readers
In the United States of America we have become a large melting pot of ethnic and cultural peoples. Along with these peoples have come many different languages and alphabets. However the US has been seen as a mostly English speaking country. Yet many of this country's newcomers do not speak English. Adults and children alike come into the US speaking and writing only their native tongue. This poses a huge gap in communication. If the adults are unable to teach their children English, then it becomes the school districts' responsibility. However to make learning easier on the child, many school districts choose to teach the child in their native language, while they receive English lessons on the side.
Originally born in Moscow, Russia, I came to the United States fourteen years ago with my parents along with my unrelated brother as their newly adopted children. Transitioning to a new country can be hard, but not knowing the language is even harder. For the first few years of my life, I struggled to speak, write and read any English. Since then, I have become acclimated to the American culture and state of mind and learned English proficiently, but, lost touch with my mother tongue because I spoke minimal Russian. I have always been proud to acknowledge and tell others that I am adopted from Mother Russia. However, over the past several years my curiosity and desire to learn about my native homeland have increased significantly. My interest in the Russian language reignited last year when I overheard a Russian and Kazakh having a conversation in Russian. I soon found myself listening to anyone anywhere, who spoke Russian.
If a country doesn’t have an official language is usually due to distinct historical or cultural reasons. As I began reading articles on this topic, I was amazed that the great country I live in doesn’t have an official language. I begin to wonder why this is the case. Many countries have an official language in which all the official business, daily activities and other formal activities are conducted. There are even thirty (30) states that have succeeded through their own statutes to declare English as an official language of their particular state (www.us-english.org).
Franklin, Simon and Emma Widdis, eds. National Identity in Russian Culture: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004.
Austria,Belgium,Canada, and France (to name a few) All have something in common. Can you guess what it is? An official language! Any common ground can help, especially when this problem doesn’t exist for 90% of all nations.
Even though there are advantages as well as disadvantages, the need for international language for communication, politics, economics and security is necessary and English is the best “language candidate” for that function. English is a language spread all over the world and it is used by millions and millions of speakers. According to my opinion, people should use English as a tool to communicate with all cultures but every country must keep their culture and language is a great part of it. In conclusion, language defines identity of a country and everyone should keep their language and explore others.