According to UNESCO, the Belarusian language is on the verge of extinction, although half a century ago it was actively used by millions of people.

“Potentially endangered” is the diagnosis that the language of the indigenous population of Belarus received from UNESCO, which was even indicated on a symbolic map called “World languages ​​in danger.”

Why is he disappearing? The answer is simple: it is almost never used in everyday communication. A small proportion of the intelligentsia, part of the conscious youth and the elderly are the main speakers of the language, which was used by millions of people 50 years ago.

“Nasha Niva” counted 50 main reasons why today’s youth do not want to speak Belarusian. For this purpose, about 300 students from leading universities in the country were interviewed (some were interviewed in person, others responded on Twitter and other social networks).

The editors have selected the 50 most interesting and most common answers: some of them are quite reasonable, others are primitive but sincere, some are obscure and even offensive. But it is precisely these answers that best reflect the “achievements” of the authorities in the development of linguistic culture and national consciousness.

We offer 50 possible answers to the question “Why don’t you speak Belarusian?”:

1). I don't know the language at all.

2). They didn’t teach me from childhood.

3). Nobody speaks Belarusian to me, so I do the same.

4). I don’t know it well enough to be able to express myself easily in it.

5). I don't have time to study it.

6). I spend a lot of time outside Belarus. Language is simply not needed.

7). If I start talking, they won’t understand me at work.

8). School, university, family - everything is in Russian.

9). Despite the fact that the language is beautiful, there is an opinion that only collective farmers speak it. It's hard to be the same in the eyes of society.

10). I don’t fully feel like a Belarusian as a representative of the nation.

eleven). My parents never insisted that I take language seriously.

12). Do not know much. I'm a perfectionist. Either I do it perfectly or I don’t do it at all.

13). I have basic knowledge, I can even carry on a conversation. But somehow it’s easier for me to communicate in English.

14). This is neither necessary nor meaningful.

15). This language is more suitable for grandparents, but not for young people.

16). No patriotism.

17). A system of communication in Russian or English has long been established, no matter whether it is a store or an office.

18). I like the language, but it is not leading (acting or living) for me.

19). I like Russian better.

20). He was allowed to skip school.

21). I'm afraid they'll put me in prison.

22). I don't like the sounds "g" and "ch".

23). I entered medical school and stopped.

24). I'm waiting for Apple to release iOS in Belarusian.

25). I'm embarrassed.

26). I talked for about 2 months. Tired of it. Hard.

27). My parents won’t understand me if I suddenly start speaking Belarusian. They have raised me in Russian all my life, but here I am “in Russian.”

28). As soon as we join the EU, it will happen immediately.

29). Today this is the language of the opposition. If you speak Belarusian, it means you are going against the system.

thirty). It’s enough for me even on the subway.

31). There is little modern literature; there is nowhere to get knowledge from.

32). Don't know! I envy Ukrainians a little. Austria-Hungary helped them, that’s what they still say in the West. And everything has been erased from us long ago.

33). Politically unsafe language.

34). What will change if I start talking?

35). He's a little funny.

36). Today it has become artificial.

37). The language has not taken root in modern society; I personally speak the language of the majority.

38). I don’t recognize Trasyanka as a language, but I don’t know any other way.

39). “Belarusian Language” is a Polish anti-Russian project. He has little more than nothing to do with the Belarusian people.

40). It’s difficult to speak Belarusian when everything around you is in Russian.

41). Because there is simply no one to go with.

42). I often use obscene language, but it doesn’t exist in Belarusian. Seriously, I just don't know.

43).It is difficult to speak your native language as its usage is minimal and some people look at you as if you are an alien.

44). To my shame, I can’t do it normally. I think in Russian.

45). I don’t know it well, and speaking half-Russian and half-Belarusian is not entirely decent.

46). It’s difficult to stand out and there’s little practice.

47). Understand correctly, but somehow from birth I feel more Russian, although I myself am a Belarusian with a Polish surname. Somehow I like that direction closer.

48). We have been virtually part of the Russian Empire for 300 years. How can one speak Belarusian in such a situation?

49). It's more comfortable for me.

50). Does anyone need this?

As they say, draw your own conclusions.

It is just as difficult to imagine a nation without its own unified language as to imagine it without its people. However, I am not talking about language as a universal sign of the uniqueness of a nation. After all, several peoples can speak the same language, but also in the same country there can be several variations of the same language - dialects. There are examples of countries in which a significant part of the population does not speak the national language. For example, Pakistan, where the national language is Urdu, which is spoken by only 7% of the population. The Swiss speak four languages ​​at once: German, French, Italian and Romansh.

As for the Republic of Belarus, in accordance with the Constitution The official languages ​​are Belarusian and Russian, and the national language for Belarusians still traditionally remains Belarusian, and only a quarter of all Belarusians speak it well...

WITH the problem of bilingualism All residents of the Republic of Belarus are struggling, only some with the fact that they are forced to learn it, others - that its value as the national language of Belarus is decreasing. Now our native language “lives” in school classrooms of the Belarusian language, in the classrooms of philological departments, sometimes on the theater stage... On the street, only occasionally you can hear “bulba” instead of potatoes, “dzyakuy” instead of thank you, “dobra zen” instead of the Russian greeting. I respect people who openly speak the Belarusian language, without being embarrassed by it, without thinking about what others will think. Unfortunately, I know very few of them, but they are truly bright personalities, and this is not only due to the language they speak.

Language is only a means of expressing their character and behavior; only such people dare to call the White Russian language their native and national language. The national language must be heard from all sides, and when people hear it, they should not turn around in surprise, and often the reaction is not the most positive.

But in vain... I would compare a person who speaks Belarusian with a foreigner who does not know Russian and came to Belarus or Russia. When we see a foreigner, we will never be surprised that he speaks English, for example. Why then is it a wonder for us to see a Belarusian speaking the Belarusian language? There is some sense of nonsense. The Pole speaks Polish, the German speaks German, the Russian speaks Russian, and the Belarusian, as usual, distinguished himself! “Speak Belarusian? What for?.."

To date The state encourages the preservation of Russian as the main language. On the one hand, this allows you to establish relations with neighboring countries, because Russian is one of the interethnic languages; strengthen relations with Russia. But on the other hand, by helping to develop the Russian language, we are further aggravating the ethnic position of Belarusians among other peoples. We are “killing” our culture in order to join the traditions of other countries, no matter how terrible it may sound. In the history of Belarus there was a period of both Polonization and Russification - Belarusians were not allowed to freely use the Belarusian language when they themselves wanted to. Now, when we have freedom of speech and language, we do not speak the language for which our ancestors fought for centuries - we recognize ourselves as a Russian-speaking nation, not noticing the beauty of the Belarusian language. And it’s not about beauty... The bulk of our people are those born in the USSR. They are adherents of the Russian language. But it seems that young people, who have not had time to experience either Brezhnev or Gorbachev, are already capable of choosing their own language, there are conditions for this, but the majority, trying to join the “gray mass,” remain Russian-speaking Belarusians. Psychologists call this a herd feeling, although I would rephrase it as an incurable “herd syndrome”: following others in language, people will become like others in other things. And even the minority that chooses the Belarusian language for everyday communication does not come from patriotic feelings. Here there is more of a desire to “show off”, to show off in contrast to the main Russian-speaking “herd”. Yes, yeah aren't there patriots?? This question is extremely controversial. The only thing that is clear is that it’s not for me to give the answer, and it’s not for me to judge the others either. But I think, I’m even sure, that such people exist. There are only a few of them, but they are amazing. Most of those I know are people of mature age, but with modern views. These are not the young people who are trying to find a way to stand out (there are, of course, also exceptions), this highly educated people with their own position in life. They immediately inspire respect and trust, and most of all, admiration. All Belarusians should look up to such people.
Yes, we are Belarusians, yes, we have territory, culture, traditions and the same language, but we don’t use it. Language is the most important thing that should unite Belarusians. How do we recognize a Pole? He speaks Polish. What about the Belarusian? Let's just take his word for it. Language is the main condition of national identity. It turns out that this concept is not typical for Belarusians. No matter what loud words the speakers throw out, no matter how much they praise our culture, the national language is the beginning of the formation of a nation. It is as important as a source for a river or the front door for a house. Of course, you can try to climb through the window, but will it really be a house?

The Constitution of the Republic proclaims Belarusian and Russian as the state languages ​​of Belarus. They have absolutely equal rights and opportunities to walk and exist. The de facto situation looks somewhat different, and Belarusians often criticize the government for insufficient efforts to develop Belarusian as the language of the titular nation.
The fact is that the Russian language significantly predominates in most spheres of public life in the country. Most official documents are published in it, it is accepted as the main one in the media and is even more often heard in the everyday life of the inhabitants of Belarus.

Some statistics and facts

• In its pure form, Belarusian is used only by rural residents in the provinces and the intelligentsia and patriots of the country in the cities.
• In regional centers and large villages, Belarusians prefer the so-called trasyanka in everyday speech. Even officials use a mixture of Russian and Belarusian in reports and speeches.
• In addition to Russian and Belarusian, minority languages ​​are accepted in the country - Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Polish.
• Russian received the status of the state language of Belarus in a referendum in 1995, when more than 83% of the population voted for it as the official language.
• Despite the fact that only 15% of the country’s residents consider themselves ethnic Russians, the Russian language is used in absolutely all spheres of life by more than 80% of the republic’s population.
• In secondary specialized and higher educational institutions of Belarus, up to 90% of teaching is conducted in Russian.
• The most popular newspapers and magazines are published in Russian, and of the 1,100 registered printed publications, the absolute majority are published in two languages ​​or only in Russian.

Eight universities in the republic are training specialists in the specialty “Russian Philology”. 14 out of 18 Belarusian theaters offer their performances in Russian.

History and modernity

The Belarusian language has its roots in the Proto-Slavic and Old Russian languages, which were used by the inhabitants of the region in the 6th-14th centuries. Its formation was influenced by Church Slavonic and Polish, the dialects of the ancient Radmichi, Dregovichi and Krivichi.
Both official languages ​​of Belarus are quite similar to each other and, despite a number of phonetic differences, can be understood by speakers of either of them. A special feature of Belarusian is the large number of surviving archaic Old Slavic words.

The other day there was news on the bynet that a certain initiative group was collecting signatures in order to oblige all manufacturers of goods to design packaging in two state languages ​​simultaneously. This is motivated by the fact that, allegedly, the absence of the Belarusian language on the packaging violates the rights of Belarusian-speaking citizens. This interpretation surprised me a little, I have been living in Balarus for 20 years and during this time I have heard Belarusian speech literally 1-2 times in everyday communication, so I decided to do a little research and find out how popular the Belarusian language is in Belarus.

Conducting surveys on this topic is a thankless task - people are very disingenuous and disingenuous during surveys; according to the results of the last census, 53% of the population said Belarusian was their native language. It is obvious to any resident of the Republic of Belarus that this is not true; Belarusian speech cannot be heard either on the street, or in clubs, or in restaurants, or in public transport, or in production, or in other crowded places. People speak Russian, there is no talk of any half of the Belarusian-speaking population.

The best way to find out everything about a person is to look at his page on a social network. Here are all his communications, all his correspondence and interests, here he can allow himself to be himself and here, consciously or unconsciously, he puts out almost all the information about himself.

Almost the entire socially active population of Belarus is registered in Contact - 5 million 239 thousand people:

The total population of the country is 9.5 million, we cut off babies, children and decrepit old people - everything fits together. Contact has all the possibilities for communicating in Belarusian - there is a Belarusian interface, you can specify Belarusian as the language of communication. Let's see how many people indicated the Belarusian language on their contact page:

In addition to classic Belarusian, you can choose tarashkevitsa:

In total, out of 5 million 200 thousand people, 290,156 people indicated Belarusian on their page - a little more than 5%, this is very little; Belarusians indicate English in their profiles even more often:

And even this figure does not reflect the real number of Belarusian-speaking citizens of the country; the screenshots clearly show that the questionnaires in which Belarusian is indicated as the language used are drawn up in Russian. This is an extremely important indicator, a person for whom Belarusian is a native language, and who has the opportunity to use a resource in Belarusian, will switch the interface to the Belarusian mode, indicate his name in the Belarusian language, keep albums with photographs and notes on the wall in Belarusian, as this person, for example:

Let's see how many Belarusians are in contact who actually use the Belarusian language in everyday communication, as Ales does. I enter the most common names into the search, first in Belarusian, then in Russian. First name Ivan:

There are only 8 people in the entire country of Belarusian Ivans. Let's see how many Ivanovs are Russian-speaking:

55 thousand 547 people - a difference of 7 thousand times. Perhaps Ivan is not the most popular name in the Republic of Belarus, let's try something else:

There are 82 people in Mikalaya in all of Belarus, and Nikolaev:

Forty-eight thousand, already better, the difference is 585 times. I'll try a few more popular names:

There are 332 people in all of Belarus: Aleksandrov, and 226 thousand:

Ratio Uladzimir\Vladimir - 1 to 410:

I think these examples are enough, you can substitute any name, the ratio will be similar. We are not talking about a third of the population, not about a percentage of the population, we are talking about per mille. Almost no one speaks Belarusian in everyday life - several thousand people out of 9.5 million.

Conclusion

De facto, the population has no demand for the Belarusian language; the language is practically dead, so the requirement to label products in both languages ​​is stupid and counterproductive. There are more visually impaired people in the country than Belarusian-speaking citizens; it would be more logical to oblige manufacturers to label packaging in Braille; there would be more benefits from such an initiative. I really hope that the collection of signatures will continue with the same success as now, then practically zero, then there will be one less obligation in an already overly obligatory country.

Exactly 2 months have passed, the petition, which was written about by all major Belarusian media, has collected 4423 signatures. Actually, what needed to be proven

A little more education:

According to UNESCO, the Belarusian language is in a catastrophic state. “Potentially endangered,” was the diagnosis given to the language of the country’s indigenous population, which was even indicated on a symbolic map called “World languages ​​in danger.” Why is he disappearing? The answer is simple: it is almost never used in everyday communication. A small proportion of the intelligentsia, part of the conscious youth and the elderly are the main speakers of the language, which was used by millions 50 years ago.

“Nasha Niva” counted five dozen reasons why today’s youth do not want to speak Belarusian. To do this, we surveyed about 300 students from the country’s main universities ( Some were talked to in person, others responded on Twitter and other social networks).

We have selected the 50 most interesting answers: some of them are quite reasonable, others are primitive but sincere, some are obscure and even offensive. But it is precisely these answers that best reflect the “achievements” of the authorities in the development of linguistic culture and national consciousness.

In this material you will not find explanations - only 50 answers to the question “Why don’t you speak Belarusian?” Draw your own conclusions.

1). I don’t know Belarusian at all.

2). They haven't taught me this since childhood.

3). Nobody speaks Belarusian to me, so I do the same.

4). I don’t know enough to be able to express myself easily in it.

5). There is not enough time to study it.

6). I spend a lot of time outside Belarus. The Belarusian language is simply not needed.

7). If I start talking, they won’t understand me at work.

8). School, university, family - everything is in Russian.

9). Despite the fact that the language is beautiful, there is an opinion that only collective farmers speak it. It is unenviable to appear the same in the eyes of society.

10). I don’t fully feel like a Belarusian as a representative of the nation.

eleven). My parents never insisted that I take the Belarusian language seriously.

12). Do not know much. I'm a perfectionist. Either I do it perfectly or I don’t do it at all.

13). I have basic knowledge, I can even carry on a conversation. But somehow it’s easier for me to communicate in English.

14). This is neither necessary nor meaningful.

15). This language is more suitable for grandparents, but not for young people.

16). No patriotism.

17). A system of communication in Russian or English has long been established, no matter whether it is a store or an office.

18). I like the Belarusian language, but it is not the leading language for me (active or living).

19). I like Russian better.

20). He was allowed to skip school.

21). I'm afraid they'll put me in prison.

22). I don't like the sounds "g" and "ch".

23). I entered medical school and stopped.

24). I'm waiting for Apple to release iOS in Belarusian.

25). I'm embarrassed.

26). I talked for about 2 months. Tired of it. Hard.

27). My parents won’t understand me if I suddenly start speaking Belarusian. They have raised me in Russian all my life, but here I am “in Russian.”

28). As soon as we join the EU, it will happen immediately.

29). Today this is the language of the opposition. If you speak Belarusian, it means you are going against the system.

thirty). It’s enough for me even on the subway.

31). There is little modern literature; there is nowhere to get knowledge from.

32). Don't know! I envy Ukrainians a little. Austria-Hungary helped them, that’s what they still say in the West. And everything has been erased from us long ago.

33). Politically unsafe language.

34). What will change if I start talking?

35). He's a little funny.

36). Today it has become artificial.

37). The language has not taken root in modern society; I personally speak the language of the majority.

38). I don’t recognize Trasyanka as a language, but I don’t know any other way.

39). “Belarusian Language” is a Polish anti-Russian project. He has little more than nothing to do with the Belarusian people.

40). It’s difficult to speak Belarusian when everything around you is in Russian.

41). Because it’s not easy with anyone.

42). I often use obscene language, but it doesn’t exist in Belarusian. Seriously, I just don't know.

43).It is difficult to speak your native language, since its use is minimal, and some people look at you as if you were an alien.

44). To my shame, I can’t do it normally. I think in Russian.

45). I don’t know it well, and speaking half-Russian and half-Belarusian is not entirely decent.

46). I don’t want to stand out, and I don’t have enough practice.

47). Understand correctly, but somehow from birth I feel more Russian, although I myself am a Belarusian with a Polish surname. Somehow I like that direction closer.

48). We have been virtually part of the Russian Empire for 300 years. How can one speak Belarusian in such a situation?

49). It's more comfortable for me.

50). Does anyone need this?

Leave your comment. Let's formulate 50 ways to bring life back to the Belarusian language!