Why do people speak in their country a language that is not theirs?

[lingwista]

(From Wikipedia): "The Belarusian language (Беларуская мова, BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova, łac.: biełaruskaja mova) is the language of the Belarusian people. It is the official language of Belarus, along with Russian, and is spoken abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Prior to Belarus gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1992, the language was known in English as Byelorussian or Belorussian, transliterating the Russian name, Белорусский язык, or alternatively as White Russian or White Ruthenian. Following independence, it was also called Belarusan.
Belarusian is one of the East Slavic languages, and shares many grammatical and lexical features with other members of the group. Its predecessor stage is known as Old Belarusian (14th to 17th centuries), in turn descended from Old East Slavic (10th to 13th centuries).
According to the 1999 Belarus Census, the Belarusian language is declared as a “language spoken at home” by about 3,686,000 Belarusian citizens (36.7% of the population) as of 1999. About 6,984,000 (85.6%) of Belarusians declared it their “mother tongue”. Other sources put the “population of the language” as 6,715,000 in Belarus and 9,081,102 in all countries. According to a study done by the Belarusian government in 2009, 72% of Belarusians speak Russian at home, while Belarusian is used by only 11.9% of Belarusians. 29.4% of Belarusians can write, speak and read Belarusian, while only 52.5% can read and speak it. According to the research, one out of ten Belarusians does not understand Belarusian."


When I went to Minsk for the first time, in – think so – 2002 and tried to speak my strange and vernacular Belarussian coming directly from villages close to the Polish border, I met an aggressive attitude among (almost all) my interlocutors. They did not want to use Belarussian and explained me it was better to communicate in Russian. It was more serious to speak Russian in the Belarussian capital as people, at a certain level, were ashamed of their vernacular origins.
I have been, from that moment, interested in observing the behaviour of people in such countries, because I would like to understand reasons why they reject their identity. Why does a nation reject its distinguishing mark, its language and shift to a stronger neighbour?

[pjt33]

...Why does a nation reject its distinguishing mark, its language...
It seems to me that the first question to ask is whether the assumption you're making here is valid. I'm not convinced that it is: it seems to me that the true distinguishing mark of a nation is its political independence.

As to speaking a "foreign" language as a mark of sophistication, that goes back millennia. Educated Romans favoured Greek over Latin.

[lingwista]

Claro, perdona mi Castellano un poquito estrano, pues la independencia politica de Bielorusia se hace, por lo que se yo, tambien con la lucha linguistica contro el Ruso. El idioma quiere tambien decir una tradicion y como reconoscer una tal sin un idioma natal?
Pues hay que decirlo claramente que la independencia politica de Bielorusia es una ficcion y no se quanto tiempo aun durara.

[poli]

I think the reason many people in Minsk prefer Russian is that Russian is
a more powerful language. By this I mean Russian is spoke form Novosibersk to the border with Poland not to mention New York and Los Angeles. Speaking Russian makes you a citizen of the world.
My barber is from Uzbekistan but speaks Russian amongst his collegues.His boss is Ukranian. They speak Russian together.

[sosia]

A fluent speaker will have no problems, but if the person you talk to has only general knowledge, he will prefer to change...
For example Irish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language) has not many fluent speakers, I think if you go to Ireland and try to speak Irish, people will ask you to switch to english (unless you met casually with a fluent irish speaker...)


best regards :D

[irmamar]

In some bilingual or multilingual communities, there can be a language considered socially dominant. Surely in your community, Russian has a social status that Belarusian doesn't have, although the last one is a mother tongue. Usually, language is associated to a culture and maybe people from there prefer be associated to a Russian culture than a Belarusian one, and the consequence is that instead of having the richness of a bicultural society, Belarusian are prone to monoculturalism.

Do you know which language is used in school or in official places? If Russian is used, that's the reason why Russian is the dominant language and it has the social status. The way of changing this depends on the linguistic policies that the Government is ready to do. The first change must be in the school, and a bilingual teaching in both languages would be the best way to give the social status both languages need.

[Perikles]

language is associated to:bad: a culture ...associated with ...:)

[irmamar]

...associated with ...:)

Thank you, sir. :)

[JPablo]

An additional aspect is the fact that the language has a rich literature and creations.

In the example of Catalonian, you have really good authors who kept the language alive when the Franco dictatorship repressed and forbade the use of Catalonian... People who went to Mexico (exiled) like Josep Carner... I don't know if Belarussian was 'attacked' or not, but the important factor is if the language is being used as a means of "communication" rather than a means of "signification". I.e., if one talks Catalonian in Barcelona could mean that he is "nationalist" (I don't think so, nowadays, but it is an example) wanting the independence of Catalunya from Spain.

The other aspect, besides the School as Irmamar mentions, is the TV, Radio and other "mass media" communications. If these are not in Belorusian... the language will be less 'promoted'.

By the way, Linwista, welcome to the forums! (Your Spanish seems decent enough and/or getting there!) I hope you enjoy yourself around here! :)

[CrOtALiTo]

In my case I speak English because that language resulted for me a hobby and I like so much the language, thereby I can use in my professional career.


For that reason, I practice my English everyday.

[irmamar]

Yes, mass media are good to spread the language knowledge, but written language is which gives to a language the prestige it needs. If you want to give prestige to a language, let it come into schools and to be official in institutions. You know the example of Catalonian. Now Spanish is a low-prestige language in Catalonia, since it has gone out from schools and institutions as the main language (well, in Barcelona things may be a bit different, but this is like this in the other provinces). ;)

[JPablo]

Mare de Deu de Montserrat! :rolleyes:

[irmamar]

Mare de Deu de Montserrat! :rolleyes:
:confused: :confused: :thinking: :D

[JPablo]

Well, I was just being sarcastic, as in... before 1975 in Spain/Cataluña, Spanish Castilian was the "prestige" language and also "enforced" language. Now the pendulum swinging in the other direction, institutions in Cataluña pushing the Catalan tooth and nail...
So, I'd say "ni tanto ni tan calvo"... (there is no need to go that far...)

In the case of the Belorussian, I'd think it is a matter of the people who speaks the language should promote it and CREATE with it... otherwise, like other languages not anymore used... will disappear in the stream of history...

[irmamar]

Yes, but I think that balanced bilingualism is possible. ;)

[JPablo]

Oh, yes, I agree with that... absolutely! :D

[poli]

It works in the Netherlands. At least in Amsterdam, apparently everyone speaks English as well as Dutch. I think that when politics is not involved, bilingualism can be a confortable part of peoples lives.

[JPablo]

And Frisian... Same in Belgium, with people talking Flemish and French too...

[poli]

And Frisian... Same in Belgium, with people talking Flemish and French too...
Yes, but the French and Dutch are politically divided in Belgium.The way I see it. English spoken in Holland doesn't seem to divide anyone, so it is a happier mix. I think it's just a general acknowledgement of internationalism while maintaining their individual character as well. It seems to work there. THis may be similar to the role of English in India and Spanish in Brazil.

[JPablo]

Oh, I see. I had not clue that Spanish is used in Brazil... (for what purpose? Commercial/trade?)