Tolstoy and Mayakovsky are translated into MOV, despite the fact that Belarusians can easily read them in the original. Pushkin was translated into Belarusian by Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas, and our contemporaries continue to translate. What is it: Russophobia or the norm of literary life?
If the level of language proficiency allows you to read Hemingway, Baudelaire and Goethe in the original, then the translator is definitely the third extra. You won't come to the Louvre and look at postcards with Mona Lisa instead of enjoying the original by Leonardo? But with the Russian language, the situation is different: although we all understand it and read it (for example, this article), translations of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol into MOV - the sea.
Maybe translators should not waste time on what is understandable even without them? Perhaps, in conditions when the Russian-speaking component of the life of a Belarusian at times outweighs the Belarusian-speaking, Russian classics are also in Belarusian - is this, in principle, superfluous?
“Right now, maybe there is no need [to translate Russian literature into Belarusian]: almost everyone can read Russian classics in the original language. And this money can be directed to translations from other languages, - says the candidate of philological sciences, associate professor Dmitry Gomon. “But in the future, when Belarusian will be the only language of the state and education, then, of course, it will be necessary to translate: this is a classic, so it will still need to be read.”
About nonsense and mutual enrichment
On this topic: How to legally read Kafka in BelarusianThe arguments in favor of translating school textbooks or technical literature into Belarusian are quite transparent. Nose works of art, where not only the content is important, but also the author's style, everything is more complicated. And yet, only Pushkin was translated into Belarusian by Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Maksim Bogdanovich, Pyatro Glebka, Ales Dudar, Ryhor Sinitsa, Arkadz Kulyashov... citizens who look with love towards the eastern border of the Republic of Belarus.
“I once attended an evening where the author read his translations into Belarusian of A. Pushkin's poems. Everyone clapped for him, they said panegyrics. I stood up and said that the translations are not bad and I can appreciate it, because, probably, unlike most of those present, I speak Russian and can read A. Pushkin in the original, - Andrey Gerashchenko, a journalist for the information portal Rus Young." - It was taken almost as an insult to the translator. But why - the translation was originally intended so that some work could be read by people who do not know the original language. Why translate works of world literature into Belarusian, if there are Russian translations, because all Belarusians speak Russian, and far fewer of our fellow citizens speak Belarusian?! Moreover, why translate Russian texts into Belarusian?”
What some (like Mr. Gerashchenko) attribute to Russophobia, others consider to be perfectly normal. Doctor of Philology, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Association of Belarusians Nikolai Nikolaev is sure that it is possible and necessary to translate Russian writers into Belarusian. “Belarusian culture has its own values, although there are also gaps, including in translations of Russian literature. It is necessary that all Russian classics be presented in the Belarusian language, and Belarusian authors - in Russian. This work should be systematic, then Russian and Belarusian literature will be mutually enriched.”
On this topic: A dozen Belarusian pearls with history Mutual enrichment is a good word, but here it sounds a little hypocritical. This remark is perhaps the only call we found to translate Belarusian authors into Russian for Lately. And the progress of the Russian reader's acquaintance with Belarusian literature is no more noticeable than the horseshoe on the paw of a flea from Leskov's "Lefty". Yes, yes, Russian classics.
"Heta іn" ektsyya va ўlasnuyu culture i mov"
Prykhilnіkaў dumki, that the translations from the Russian language to the Belarusian patrimony, we have more, chym tykh, who lychyts geta bezgluzdziy. Andrey Khadanovich - paet, translator and translator of foreign literature ў BDU - lychyts, that translation is a varta, because such translations are better for language, and for translators, it’s good school:
“The translation of Russian literature is as dear to us as the translation of leather and foreign literature. Bo, firstly, this is a sign of our self-sufficiency: we interpret the Russian language and Russian culture as close, but also the same as the most foreign, like and іnshya - this time. Pa-other, you see, and pa-halo, geta neyki belongings, yakіm you can skarystastsa. This is what for the translator himself is a literary learning, and for the language itself and culture - this is a kind of krynitsa ўzbagachennya. For such people, we polish the style and build some new ones, addatkovy magchymasts. Mova, culture - yam tym richest, chym is greater in pryntsip rozny such translations.
Geta patrebna not Rasi and geta not given pavagi and chagosci іnshaga. Geta іn "ektsyya wa ўlasnuyu culture i movu. On shchastse, vyrasla pakalenne aўtaraў-perakladchykaў, yakіya valodayuts peўnymі movamі, pachynayuchy hell ekzatychnaga sanskrytu, i moguts perakladats of arygіnalu. We getym Sensei, I zdaetstsa, ruskіh perakladaў adnosna іnshyh musіla b zrabіts meney , but the most important, the most significant was translated from Russian, the most significant. Shtosts, which is typical for our culture, and not idyalagichnaya smetsce. Translation of a varta, like a mustache vartae! "
“We will understand ourselves better if we read this translation”
Olga Zueva, candidate of philological sciences and chairman of the council of young scientists of the philological faculty of Belarusian State University, finds several answers to the question “why” at once:
On this topic: "Huevo" in the salad and "hule" on the table. Language surprises for tourists in Spain, Czech Republic and Greece “In a global sense, the question, it seems to me, is speculative, since the answer is obvious: “Yes.” The translator's charter, adopted in 1963, begins with the following words: "Whereas translation in modern world established itself as a permanent, ubiquitous and necessary form of activity; that, by making possible spiritual and material exchange between peoples, it enriches the life of peoples and contributes to a better understanding between people…”. Thus, translation from one closely related language to another, even in the conditions of huge sociocultural inequality of these languages (one is world, the second is regional, and under a drip) is necessary, as it “enriches the life of peoples and contributes to a better understanding between people.”
A Russian who speaks the Belarusian language may better understand a Belarusian if he reads a translation of Russian classics into Belarusian. We will understand ourselves better if we read this translation. It's very idealistic and romantic, but at the end of the day, the world is largely driven by idealists and romantics.
It was global. Now local. What is the target audience of the "consumers" of the translation? I'll throw in a few offhand:
1. Belarusian patriot - perhaps even an extreme nationalist who tries to read non-Belarusian texts in Belarusian. Especially Russian speakers! Translation is required.
2. Researcher of the poetics of artistic speech - a specialist in the theory of literature. Translation is required.
On this topic: Mova ў roce. Kur "yozy zhyvannya 3. Linguist-researcher (including the translator himself). Him / her just give more texts. By the way, translation can open gaps in both languages, unexpected expressive abilities of the Belarusian language, the potential of resources, for example, dialect speech. That is, translation enriches the language. Translation is required.
4. The translator himself, of course. Literary translation is a creative act, with all these torments of creativity, insights, self-realization, etc. Translation is required.
In addition, translation contributes to the preservation of information. It is more reliable if the text is translated into many, many languages - it is like many, many copies of it. But these are already the interests of the language from which they are being translated.
Translation is not needed for those who see behind it only a linguistic exercise. From the series: to translate Dostoevsky into the languages of the small peoples of Siberia, the last speakers of which are 80 years old. Everyone looks differently at the viability and prospects of the Belarusian language and Belarusian society, hence the spats.
For skeptics, I turn to the enthusiasm of the Translator’s Charter.”
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Anton Somin is a well-known person: he has been organizing the Festival of Languages in Minsk for many years, on April 1 it will be held for the sixth time. He now lives in Moscow, where he teaches the Belarusian language.
“START SPEAKING BELARUSIAN IS MORE DIFFICULT THAN ENGLISH”
Right now it's more correct to say "taught". It was a project "School of Neighbor Languages", within the framework of which free courses languages of the CIS. Now the project is temporarily suspended - funding has ended. The courses lasted six months. There was a competition for each language: in particular, for Belarusian - 2.5 people per place (for Armenian, for comparison, 16 people per place).
- Who came to Moscow to learn the Belarusian language?
Motivated people. Most of the grandparents are from Belarus. One girl is a folklorist who deals with the Russian-Belarusian borderlands, she needs him for work. And there was also a senior accountant, a woman of about 60, who came because she heard from a Belarusian friend what a deplorable situation we have with the language. It's a shame, the language is beautiful - she decided to do her bit. It was amazing, I took it right away. But in general, there is a demand for language language besides courses: students come up to me from time to time and ask where in Moscow they can learn Belarusian.
- How did Belarusian seem to them? Simple, complex, funny?
During the classes, I myself looked at the language from a different angle. I saw how people perceive words familiar to us from childhood, and it turned out that there are things that we simply do not notice. For example, on the Internet, you may come across a button “zahavats” (“save”), but it would never occur to us that we can shift the stress and read it as “capture”. And the Russians are terribly having fun! For them, unexpected words that are completely familiar to us sound funny - “vadaskhovishcha”, “muzhchinski”, “zhanochy”.
There were difficult moments, as in any language. The consonant in front of E causes difficulties: for some reason, everyone thinks that it is solid, as in Ukrainian: “Ploshcha NEzalEzhnastsi”, “peRamoga”. It takes quite a long time to relearn. The second moment is a hard H, they strive to say softly. And there are no problems with the fricative G, although initially it seems to everyone that they will.
They begin to understand Belarusian well after two months of classes, but for a long time they do not begin to speak - they are afraid of trasyanka. It turned out that this is a more difficult language barrier than in the case of English or French. There you wait for the moment when you will have enough vocabulary, but here you can almost immediately start making Belarusian sounds - and everyone will understand you. There is no need to overcome misunderstanding, there is a need to make Belarusian more pure, reducing the share of Russian.
“IF THEY SUDDENLY SPEAK BELARUSIAN IN BELARUS, IT WILL BE EXACTLY TRASYANKA”
- Trasyanka - evil or not?
Last year, I translated an article by a German linguist who has been studying Trasyanka for many years. He wrote that trasyanka is a step towards universal Belarusianization: if the political situation in Belarus suddenly changes so much that Belarusians start speaking Belarusian, then the output will not be such a pure language, but a mixed one, more like trasyanka. Literary Belarusian will remain as the target language, but it will be the intermediate one. Therefore, to spread rot on those who speak it is wrong. Let it sound unprestigious to our ears, but this is our “adjective lynx”, and it is worth treating it favorably.
Did they show them the famous poem "Vetraz" by Sergei Grakhovsky, in which there is not a single word understandable to Russians?
An ordinary literary text with artistic descriptions works even better, when a huge number of mismatched words appear among the understandable ones. In the case of Vetrazem, you might think: “Hey, he deliberately sat down, picked up such words, you can do this in any language.”
And when you give an arbitrary text, which for the most part can be understood, but every third word is incomprehensible, it becomes clear that Belarusian is still not at all the same as Russian. By the way, once I had to translate the word "pamyarkoўnasts", I broke my head! As a result, he explained it with a mixture of "humble, accommodating and pliable." A very specific word.
“THE TEXTBOOK ON BELARUSIAN SAIL ON A SHIP FROM INDIA”
Anton is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Polish. A little worse - Arabic, Bulgarian, Maltese, once learned Swedish:
If you know three or four Slavic languages, then you more or less understand the rest, at least in writing. I'm ashamed to admit it, but when I was in school, I didn't like Belarusian. It was difficult to learn it, he spoke much worse than in Russian, he did not like to read it. Interest arose after a trip to the International Summer School of the Russian Language, when I saw how foreign students - French, Italians, Koreans, Macedonians - speak Russian. For the first time this feeling appeared: we have our own language, a separate one! Plus, the move influenced - here you acutely feel that you are different, that your language is different. I began to read in Belarusian, develop - and brought the language to the level that I could teach and even write a tutorial.
- Self-taught?
It was ordered by the Living Language publishing house, which produces a whole series. I almost refused, but then I thought that they could offer someone who was really bad with this, and agreed - they would write some nonsense! I'm better. I have always wanted to correct errors in existing textbooks and manuals, but at the same time it seemed that this should be done by authors for whom the language is native, who have been speaking it all their lives.
The work took a little more than six months (taking into account breaks for five years). The book has 224 pages. There are several pictures that I drew myself (it turned out so bad that they decided to keep it). Everything in Belarusian is written in red, and everything in Russian is written in black.
I immediately decided that he would describe not how it should be, but how it really is. For example, in the dictionary it is written that the driver is "vadzitsel", and almost everyone says "kiroўtsa". This is the only tutorial that tells that in addition to the official form of the language, there is an unofficial one, that the same words in them can be translated in different ways (for example, “shpatsyr” and “pragulka”).
Interesting fact: the book traveled more than I did! The publisher prints them in India - it's cheaper that way. Then they are loaded onto the ship (together with the Belarusian, self-instruction books of the Kazakh, Ukrainian, Kyrgyz languages sailed) and sent to Hamburg. Then they are reloaded and sent around Scandinavia to Murmansk. And from there by train to Moscow.
- And how did you get to Moscow?
Through the university. In the 11th grade, I suffered for a long time: I wanted to work with languages (and preferably with programming). Dad discovered a suitable specialty in Russian universities - “Theoretical and Applied Linguistics”. I graduated from the Russian State Humanitarian University, now I live in Moscow and teach at two universities - the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State Humanitarian University and the School of Philology high school economy. I am also a researcher there.
Books of various genres. At school, we read books about the hard lot of the people, about the war, about the villagers. And in the seventh grade, dad slipped me a book by Ales Yakimovich "Eldarada ask for help." I thought: amazing, fantasy in Belarusian? That's lovely!
Then he began to read books describing modern reality. I came across Alena Brava's book "Camendants' Hour for Lastaviks": about a woman who married a Cuban and left for Cuba. Thanks to her, the attitude “Belarusian literature is about the Belarusian peasantry, and everything else is in Russian” was broken.
Modern literature, in which Belarusian is spoken by your contemporaries, is a greater step towards the language than admiration for the unattainable level of the language of classical writers. And when it is completed, then you can enjoy the beauties of the language: for example, I love Bykov very much. Recently I have been reading Belarusian translations - "Oliver Twist", two volumes of "Sherlock Holmes", "Call of Cthulhu".
Anton's next step is to release an audio supplement to the tutorial.
It is difficult to learn Belarusian phonetics without samples, so last summer my friends and I voiced all the dialogues from the tutorial. Now we need to find time to bring them together and lay them out.
Who learns the Belarusian language in Moscow, said Anton Somin, a teacher of Belarusian language courses in the Russian capital.
On February 1, free classes for those wishing to learn one of the ten languages of the CIS countries started in Moscow. The project is called "School of languages of neighbors". As part of it, Muscovites will learn Azerbaijani, Armenian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Moldovan, Uzbek, Tajik, Turkmen and Ukrainian languages.
“The first lessons went even better than I expected. We read simple Belarusian words and learned how to say hello. It is very pleasant that people living in Moscow want to learn the Belarusian language, come to the courses, listen, write down, try to adopt the Belarusian pronunciation. I must say, it's impressive,” Anton Somin, a teacher of Belarusian language courses within the framework of the Moscow project “School of Neighbors' Language,” shared with Radio Liberty.
“For the most part, people came who had never used the Belarusian language - in fact, from zero level. But in the majority - Belarusian roots. Which, however, was the reason for the desire to learn the Belarusian language. Someone has been to Belarus as a child, once visited their grandfathers. One student mentioned that he was very fond of the Hedgehog magazine, which was published in the Belarusian language. As an exception, I can mention two students who are linguists, study Slavic languages and, accordingly, know something in Belarusian,” explains Anton Somin, who himself is a sociolinguist by education and profession.
Anton Somin expands the Belarusian language through singing. For example, he sang the Russian song "Old Maple" in Belarusian at the Festival of Languages in Moscow.
The students who came to learn the Belarusian language were mostly not guided by practical goals:
“Someone wants to learn about the culture of Belarus through the Belarusian language. Some want to get closer to their roots. Someone wants to learn a language they once liked. For example, among my students, there is a chief accountant - a woman of about 50 years old, who has no connection with Belarus, but wants the Belarusian language not to disappear and contributes to this matter. At the same time, there is a young man who is going to translate poems from Belarusian into Russian, and there are also several linguists.”
Anton Somin notes that his listeners do not have a negative attitude towards the nuances of the Belarusian pronunciation - zekannya and tsekannya, which often reveal a Belarusian, even if he speaks Russian. Moreover, students are not afraid to “get infected” with such a pronunciation:
“Even if they wished to adopt the Belarusian pronunciation, they would not succeed. At least right away. The phonetics of a foreign language is very difficult to learn. But I noted that for the students of the courses, the sound of the Belarusian language is something very pleasant, for someone connected with childhood. During the break, the students said among themselves that the Belarusian language sounds very soft, very beautiful, and it is a pity that it is not possible to pronounce it the way it should be. I cannot speak for all Russians, but for my students the Belarusian language has only positive emotions.”
It is believed that it is more difficult for a Russian to understand the Belarusian language than for a Belarusian to understand Ukrainian. A Belarusian will speak Czech or Polish faster than a Russian, because from birth we have experience in using at least two Slavic languages. But despite this, the teacher spoke only Belarusian at the first lessons. He was pleased with the result, he says.
“During the first day of classes, I immediately switched to the Belarusian language and explained everything in Belarusian. And it seems that there were no problems with understanding, or almost none. Of course, there were unfamiliar words. And they were asked again. Therefore, it is possible to understand, but a little difficult.
Soon, the Moscow publishing house "Live Language" will publish a textbook written by Anton Somin for self-study of the Belarusian language - "Belarusian language. Self-instruction manual for Russian speakers.
“This is not the first textbook for Russian speakers. But they are few. My manual differs in that it contains not only the official standard of the language, but also the classical version - "tarashkevitsa".
Anton Somino is convinced that the demand for the allowance will be both in Russia and in Belarus:
“My friends asked me to send them the manuscripts of the book so that they could start learning Belarusian. After that, we receive feedback from people who did not make it to the courses. My feeling is that there will be demand. At least there are those who want to teach. And this number is not limited to the students of my courses.”
The courses will last four months. After their completion, Anton Somin intends to tell students about the Mova tsi Kava courses, which are held weekly in Moscow coffee houses in the form of discussions and discussions - for those who can already speak the Belarusian language.
We are clearly at fault here. Because we never express ourselves properly, you know? The problem is with us ... For what we lose everywhere we are to blame .. You know what the problem is - illiteracy, ignorance (savadsızlıq, avamlıq). That's why everywhere we lose everything that we have ...
Let me explain this to you - We swear at the term "Azerbaijani" for the fact that during the Soviet Union they called us - "Azeris, Azeris" and even "Tatars" .. And even now they call us that. You can even hear "Azəri" in the Azerbaijani language and in Turkish "Azeri"... A scandal starts because of this... And it was Stalin himself who came up with it, do you know why? Religion .. There were people who underestimated us, humiliated us .. For the fact that we were just Muslims .. Ask from our old people who fought for the USSR .. You can find out many details that you yourself don’t even know ... This is an important thing .. Probably Stalin was a strong leader (I can’t say anything about this), but his attitude towards the Azerbaijani people was unambiguously hypocritical, I know this very well .... And there was no separation from the Turks, I just don’t understand who to say .. You just know we love them so much, you can’t even imagine .. In short, “Azeri” and “Azer (in Russian)” are not the correct usage .. It should be “Azerbaycanlı - Azerbaycanlılar”, “Azərbaycanlı - Azərbaycanlılar”, “Azerbaijani / Azerbaijani - Azerbaijanis "... Why? In fact, real Azerbaijanis have Turkic roots, so there was more Turkification. But we have people who are not Azerbaijani Turks and have other roots .. We have more peoples who have long lived and merged with the surrounding people into real Azerbaijani territory. Look, can you ask who you really are? I will say Azerbaijani (Azərbaycanlı), but more precisely, who are you? - I am an Azerbaijani Turk (Azərbaycan türkü). But there are people, for example, Talysh (Talışlar) - here they have not Turkic, but Persian roots .. A huge number of Azerbaijani Turks live in Iran. We call them - Cənubi Azərbaycanlılar or İran Azərbaycanlıları (Southern Azerbaijanis or Iranian Azerbaijanis) In short, we have a very complex ethnogenesis. And can you ask before you what was your name? Just Turk? Is that how it is? And what is an Azerbaijani or just a Turk? How to understand this Yes, this is also our main problem .. For some reason, we didn’t come up with an exact name for ourselves, we always remained as Turks and then took the words Azerbaijani (Azərbaycanlı) as the name of the nation .. And you can even call the Azerbaijani Turk (Azərbaycan türkü). .. I repeat once again: illiteracy, ignorance (savadsızlıq, avamlıq) Maybe because of this all scandals begin ... People do not study or study incorrectly ... I think we must change ourselves first of all .. To understand and evaluate everything correctly and how to eat .. But where? when? It will be unknown... In short, only an Azerbaijani will call us correctly here .. This is most suitable.
For concept:
Türk - Türk - having origin (bir köken). For example, Slavs .. In English it is called - Turkic
Turk - Türk is the name of the nation of Turkey. In English it is called - Turk .. In short, the topic is about the Turks. Here they are called Turks and we are Azerbaijanis .. We are one people, yes .. And not only "we". There are also Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tatars, Kyrgyz, etc.. We are all one people, but we are not one nation ... Whoever says this is just nonsense ..
Ok, I agree with you about the use of the Belarusian language ...
Officials in Minsk talk about the need to know the Belarusian language, but learning it in the country's schools is not easy.
In Minsk, you can spend the whole day and hear the Belarusian language only in transport when stops are announced. The correspondent looked into whether young Belarusians have a chance to learn the Belarusian language and is the school course enough for this?
Schools - Russian and Belarusian
According to the standards of the Ministry of Education, Belarusian-speaking schools are those that have at least one class with teaching in the Belarusian language. As the press secretary of the Ministry of Education Yulia Vysotskaya explained to DW, almost half of such schools in Belarus (1419) of the total number of secondary schools educational institutions(3063) - schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.
The data as of the beginning of the current academic year will be summarized by officials of the department in mid-September. And last year, according to official statistics, 128,566 people studied in Belarusian-speaking schools, and about a million in Russian-speaking ones. Such a difference in the number of students is explained by the fact that there are more schools with teaching in the Belarusian language in rural areas, and there are few students in them.
In everyday life, citizens of the country call Belarusian only those schools where all subjects are taught in Belarusian from the first to the final grade, and where all school staff communicate with children and parents in Belarusian. And only in such schools can one fully master the literary language, linguist Vintsuk Vecherko believes, pointing out that the vast majority of children study in Russian schools.
In addition to statistics for the country as a whole, this is also confirmed by the situation in the capital of two million people: in Minsk there are 5 gymnasiums with the Belarusian language of instruction, in 5 more schools there are separate Belarusian classes in which all subjects are taught in Belarusian. In total, there are 138 such classes in the city. Belarusian classes, Vysotskaya explained, are opened at the request of parents: for this, at least 20 people who want to study in the Belarusian language are required.
Locales and Proportions
The program and methods of teaching the Belarusian language today are virtually the same in all types of schools, but students of Russian schools are not given the skills of a living language, pronunciation, thematic vocabulary, says linguist Vecherko. As a result, in his words, those who nevertheless take possession of the living spoken language, do it thanks not to the school, but to an alternative cultural space - primarily the Internet, rock music and enthusiasts who organize courses, festivals and everything that creates an environment for communication in the Belarusian language.
Today in Belarus there is a single state standard for textbooks and the number of teaching hours in the subjects studied. So, in the first grade of Russian schools, there are six hours of Russian language and literature a week, and one of Belarusian. In Belarusian - on the contrary. Then the number of hours equalizes. But it doesn't matter, Vecherko believes, because in Russian schools all subjects, except for the Belarusian language and literature, are taught in Russian, Belarusian is just one of the subjects that can really be mastered at the level of a foreign language.
With the difference, director of the Belarusian Humanitarian Lyceum Vladimir Kolas adds, that learning English or Chinese is promising, because it can be useful in life. And learning Belarusian is unprofitable, unpromising, and sometimes dangerous because of associations with opposition activities. Besides, in Belarusian schools ah, continues Vecherko, teachers of physics, mathematics or foreign languages often refuse to teach in Belarusian because they were not taught it at the university. Teachers of physical education and labor training, teaching lessons in Belarusian, can be counted on the fingers.
The queue to the Belarusian school was occupied from night
The proportion of students in Russian and Belarusian, according to Vysotskaya, corresponds to the real language situation in the country: although in surveys most of its citizens indicate Belarusian as their native language, in everyday life they speak Russian. This alignment, Kolas notes, is the result of the authorities' support for the historical situation: "It seems that the language policy continues Russian Empire, in colonial dependence on which Belarus has been for several centuries".
Meanwhile, the competition for a few Minsk gymnasiums teaching in the Belarusian language is growing year by year, the parents state. In order to enroll children in the 1st grade of the 23rd Minsk gymnasium, parents have been queuing since the night, and last year not everyone could get in, Kristina Vitushko, chairman of the board of trustees and mother of a 13-year-old student of this gymnasium, tells DW.
She explains that, first of all, the gymnasium is obliged to admit children according to universal education, a system that has been preserved since Soviet times, when a certain area of the city was assigned to each school. The building of the gymnasium is old, small, there are only two first grades, and those who simply turned out to be higher on the wish list have an advantage in enrolling in a school.
Why do parents not seek the opening of Belarusian classes?
Igor Palynsky, leader of the rock band Sumarok, chairman of the Polotsk city branch of the Francysk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society, is sure that there is a demand for teaching in the Belarusian language. “This is confirmed by resonant stories when parents sought to open Belarusian-language classes for almost one child. But the problem is that even among those who want their children to study in Belarusian, there are few initiative people,” complains Palynsky.
Kristina Vitushko looks at the situation differently: the opening of Belarusian classes is not a solution to the problem. She explains the advantage of Belarusian schools over Belarusian-speaking classes in Russian schools in this way: mother tongue they will answer in the dining room so that there are no stress barriers during extracurricular activities - in a word, so that there is a comfortable language environment. It doesn't exist in Russian schools."
