“Mova = mother”: White Rus' is being weaned off the Russian language
Only people who are completely apolitical and far from public life do not speak about “soft Belarusization” in Belarus. Social advertising with inscriptions like “Mova = mom” at every step, the gradual displacement of Russian-language inscriptions from urban space, annoying ubiquitous ornaments and embroidered shirts - this is only what is noticeable and catches the eye.
Not so visible, but no less important are such phenomena as aggressive “activists” who seek to forcibly Belarusize everything they can get their hands on. And the authorities are increasingly flirting with them.
Absent from legislation and, in fact, illegal, but increasingly found in official documents, the term “national language” is used to cover up the fact that one of the state languages, for which the people voted for equal rights in 1995, is increasingly becoming “more equal” "
People have different attitudes towards “soft Belarusization”. Some, like nationalist Elena Anisim from the Belarusian parliament, want stricter Belarusization, with language inspections and commissioners, restrictions and many fines. Others are outraged that the language of the majority is neatly pushed into the background. The majority are simply silent.
“Soft Belarusization” has been going on for five years now. Of course, this is not enough for a people of ten million to en masse speak a language that very few have so far spoken in real life. But this period is quite enough for the results to be noticeable both in everyday life and at the statistical level.
I have already written about Belarusianization in everyday life - signs, advertising, ornaments, hard-to-read Latin... Although, if we talk about subjective feelings, there is no more Belarusian speech around.
Let's talk, however, about objective data, and those that are difficult to influence administratively. And one of the most objective indicators, in my opinion, is the entrance campaign to educational institutions. Agree, it is difficult by decree to force applicants to choose a path in life based only on someone’s linguistic and ideological predilections. And, given the opportunity to choose, the applicant takes the exams that are more convenient for him.
As you know, youth are the very environment that is most sensitive to various social innovations and trends. And, in theory, if Belarusization “went to the masses,” it should have reached young people first. But she didn’t get there. If the five-year plan of “soft Belarusization” somehow influenced the choice of applicants, it was only in the direction opposite to that which its authors sought.
In Belarus there is such a thing as CT - centralized testing. Almost a complete analogue of the Russian Unified State Exam. So, in 2019, 22 thousand graduates took the CT in the Belarusian language. This is the lowest figure for the entire time during which such statistics have been kept.
For comparison, 62900 graduates took the Russian language test. And this is the most sought after item.
Nationalists, of course, will say that this state of affairs is caused by the Russification of education. However, the ratio of Russian and Belarusian classes has remained virtually unchanged for the last twenty years, and the hours for teaching both languages are approximately equal. And Belarusian is much easier to learn. But even CT tests in English are being passed more actively.
The results of admission to universities in specialties related to the language look even sadder for Belarusians. In all universities, such specialties are among the outsiders in popularity, the passing grade for them is such that even a completely star-struck A student can become a student (in Belarus the grading system is ten-point, so this does not correspond to the “strongest” Russian C student ).
As for the competition, in some places there is no competition at all, and universities have announced additional enrollment in order to fill the classrooms with at least someone. This situation has developed, for example, at Gomel State University, where there were fewer people wishing to study in the specialty “Belarusian Philology” than provided for in the admission plan.
The same thing happens at the philological department of the country’s main university. There is an additional enrollment for the specialty “Belarusian and Slavic Philology” at BSU. At the same time, there is no shortage of applicants for “Russian and Slavic Philology”, and the passing score is 291 – a good indicator for a philology department.
In general, despite 5 years of “soft Belarusization,” the popularity of the language has only fallen. Or maybe it fell precisely because of this Belarusization. After all, it is known that you will not be nice by force. And, if a person is forced, even gently, day after day, to use a language that he does not speak, the result will be rejection.
The same rejection that threw the Belarusianizers of the 90s to the periphery of politics and became the key to the victory of Lukashenko, who went to the polls under the slogan of bilingualism.
Now Belarusization is softer, and its rejection also takes softer forms. The voices of those who want to change the situation are becoming louder. But Belarusians have already experienced what happens to those who try to break society.
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