Language and politics. Russian language space is shrinking from year to year.
Over one hundred representatives of the domestic and foreign cultural communities took part in the round table. It is important that on this day in the Duma gathered like-minded people, people for whom the fate of our national heritage, our "great and mighty" language is not indifferent. Of course, different voices sounded - both minor and major, but they all merged, figuratively speaking, into a single symphony: it is necessary to preserve and preserve the Russian language, today it is our main national task.
Welcoming the audience, Professor V.A. Nikonov noted that the Day of the Russian language is not accidentally celebrated on the birthday of A.S. Pushkin. It was Pushkin who created the literary language we speak. “The genius of Pushkin and now inspires us to preserve the Russian language in our country and abroad. Today we see: a huge number of people are interested in ensuring legislative development of the Russian language, including in the modern information space, ”said V.A. Nikonov.
Co-chairman of the meeting, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots V.S. Nikitin, in turn, recalled that the Russian language is one of the six official languages of the UN and ranks fourth in the world in prevalence. At the same time, the existing trends indicate a reduction in the space of the Russian language, which cannot but cause concern, since we may well slip into ninth place in the world.
In the CIS, the status of "state" Russian language is given only in Belarus, the status of "official" - only in Kyrgyzstan. In state institutions and local governments of Kazakhstan, along with the Kazakh state language, Russian is officially used.
That's all we have for today. And in Russia itself, the position of the Russian language is defined only in three laws.
Last year, the State Duma adopted two resolutions: the first, concerning the Day of the Russian Language, prepared by the Education Committee, and the second “On measures to expand Russia's humanitarian influence in anticipation of the creation of the Eurasian Union”, prepared by the CIS Affairs Committee. In 2013, unfortunately, the Day of the Russian language was not included in many calendars, therefore members of the Communist Party faction and the Committee on CIS Affairs proposed to include this memorable day in the Federal Law "On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia."
Vs Nikitin informed the audience that, on his initiative, the movement "Russian mode" was created, the main task of which was to awaken the national identity, and therefore the protection of the Russian language. 6 June in the theater of the Russian army was the celebration of the Day of the Russian language, organized by the forces of public associations. In turn, the Russian World Foundation in the days of Pushkin spent 50 order of various cultural events in different parts of the world.
Without in any way detracting from the cultural aspect, it should be noted that the narrowing of the Russian language space at the present time represents, above all, a political problem. The destruction of the USSR caused a serious blow to the positions of the Russian language, the number of its speakers over the past 20 years has decreased, and the influence of the Russian Federation on the world stage has weakened. And only the return of the whole authority of Russia in world politics can restore respect and arouse interest in the study of the Russian language and Russian culture.
Today, probably, they intensively study the Russian language only in China, there are also days of the Russian language; Many Chinese students come to study and internships at Moscow University and other universities of our country.
In 2006, the Russian Language Week in Italy was very successful with the active participation of teachers from Moscow and St. Petersburg universities. All this is good, but I would like such holidays to be held primarily in the fraternal Slavic countries. It is gratifying that literally the other day the Serbian authorities declared their readiness to expand the study of the Russian language. Russian-Serbian ties are lost in the depths of the centuries. Academic study of the Russian language in this country began exactly 135 years ago (1878), when Professor P.A. Kulakovsky (whose 100 anniversary of his death falls on 2013) took the chair of the Russian language and literature at the Great School of Belgrade. But even then politics intervened: the Berlin Congress dealt a severe blow to the Russian influence in Serbia and affected the teaching of Slavic studies. At present, it seems, the trade, economic and cultural ties of the Russian Federation and Serbia are being revived. Our countries are preparing quite a lot of joint educational and cultural projects. K.I. Kosachev, the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, together with the chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Social Policy, V. Ryazantsev, was on a visit to Belgrade these days. He said that the Serbian government is ready to contribute to the spread of the Russian language in the country and open specialized schools for this. I would like the authorities of Poland and the Czech Republic to join such initiatives.
On the other hand, in Russia itself, at present, despite the wide celebration of the last 20th anniversary of the Day of Slavic writing and culture, there has been a decline in interest in the study of Slavic languages, Slavic studies seem to be "out of fashion." And here we should already show the oncoming movement - to intensify the study of Slavic languages and cultures in our secondary and higher schools. Today at Moscow University, perhaps, only a philological and historical faculties preserve Slavic departments; in other faculties of Moscow State University, the study of Slavic languages proceeds with a creak, even if students show a desire to know those. For example, now at the Faculty of World Politics there is a small group of the Serbian language, which was formed solely on the initiative of students, but its fate is still vague - the faculty leadership does not show enthusiasm for the study of Slavic languages. There is a clear contradiction: on the one hand, the Russian authorities are establishing relations with the Slavic countries, and on the other, we are unable to provide this cooperation with relevant specialists. But still in the XIX century. outstanding Russian scientist academician V.I. Lamansky, in particular, wrote: “In general, the study of the Slavic world and the awakening of Slavic self-consciousness in Russian society will strengthen and collect the scattered Russian thought and flabby will, focus our scattered public consciousness, teach us to cure not overseas to expect our ulcers and shortcomings, to expect "salvation is not alien, to seek and find it not outside of us, but in ourselves, in our own improvement, in the comprehensive development of our internal forces, in the upliftment of the national spirit, in the freedom and revitalization of national labor."
And it seems that we should return to the fruitful thoughts of Russian and Slavic scholars of the past, to the proposal on the adoption of Russian as the language of inter-Slavic cultural, diplomatic communication, and not the language of English, as we see it today.
Of course, this initiative will significantly strengthen and expand the position of the Russian language in Europe.
The deputy director of the International Department of the Ministry of Education and Science in the dissemination of the study of the Russian language abroad told about the activities Director of the Department B.V. Glands. He recalled that at present there are only four Russian Slavic universities in the CIS countries - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Belarus, and there is a Russian school in Turkmenistan. Olympiads, contests, festivals are held, summer camps of the Russian language for foreign schoolchildren are organized. The Ministry makes, of course, efforts to spread knowledge about Russian culture in the world, however, the measures taken, of course, are not enough to increase the coverage of Russian language learning and teaching in Russian in the CIS countries and other countries.
The head of the Russian language support department at Rossotrudnichestvo, E.M., also spoke about the expansion of the scale of studying Russian in the world. Sheikhs. He, in particular, reported that Rossotrudnichestvo in 2012 was organized and conducted in 61 country, including all CIS countries, 48 complex diverse events, also aimed at popularizing the Russian language in the world, the support of foreign teachers, teachers of Russian language and literature. We carried out the supply of educational, scientific, reference materials to 71 country. But the main problem, in his opinion, is still insufficient funding for the organization.
Professor Nikonov, who moderated the meeting, commented on the speech of Sheikhov: “Of course, the efforts of Rossotrudnichestvo are very significant. At the same time ... if the Russian language is not in the national education system, then no efforts of any organizations with any funding will save. This is indeed a largely political issue. And if in a particular country the Russian language is part of the education system, then in this case it really lives and develops. If not, then the chances of preserving it are, of course, very, very small. ” It is difficult to disagree with this remark.
Many participants have not bypassed the problems of teaching Russian in school. Director of the Institute of Linguistics of the RSUH, M.A. Krongauz spoke, in particular, about the inadmissibility of merging the Russian language and literature into a single course (as is now done in schools), since these are absolutely independent and self-sufficient disciplines. In addition, he expressed the idea of creating new Russian textbooks.
The emotional interest of the audience was caused by the emotional performance of the President of the Faculty of Regional Studies and Foreign Languages of Moscow State University, Professor S.G. Ter-Minasova, which touched the social role of the Russian language in modern Russia. In her opinion, the market economy and, accordingly, the market lifestyle has changed the social role of language. That is, the role of language as an instrument of knowledge, thinking has gone to the background. And on the front - this is the market task. Blurred and loosened norms at all levels of the language. And, as you know, it is precisely the shaking of the norm that has the most powerful stylistic effect. Together with the norms of language, the norms of culture and behavior in society are shaken.
But the worst thing is that a weakening language forms a weakening nation accordingly ...
Many speakers spoke about the moral side of the language problem, noting that the purity of the language does not always depend on legislative initiatives. About this, in particular, spoke deacon Roman Bogdasarov, deputy. Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society. The tendency to swearing, for example, can be eradicated only when a person himself realizes that he is causing damage not only to others, but, above all, to his soul and the Russian language he needs not to bargain in the market, but to to be a complete person ...
It was said at the “round table” about the use of new modern technologies for the spread of the Russian language in the world. LL told the audience about distance learning of a language widely included in world practice. Levin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications. Thanks to the Internet, foreigners can now be taught not only in Russia, it has become possible to make it out of Russia. And we have such distance learning centers for the Russian language, including at Moscow State University.
V.A. Nikonov noted that the Russian language this year made a rapid breakthrough and was the second in the Internet space. But is this the language that we would like to see there?
In connection with this, the question was immediately raised about the need for censorship in our Internet space, namely language censorship: it’s time to stop with the so-called Olban language, it is possible that the use of this Volapük is precisely a serious cause of the illiteracy of our youth ...
The rector of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, V.I. Nifadyev. At one time (1993), it was he who put a lot of effort into the creation of this university. Teaching at the university is exclusively in Russian. Just his teachers made a lot of efforts to make the Russian language official in Kyrgyzstan. The experience of using textbooks of the Russian Federation in Kyrgyzstan is also curious. The textbooks of the Russian Federation are being taken (with the permission of the publishing house “Enlightenment”), the university staff contribute to them the national component, and already in this form they are issued for Kyrgyz schools. "September 20 2012 V.V. Putin and our president said in a joint statement that this is the best university in Central Asia, ”said the rector, not without pride. The university has been publishing the Russian Word magazine, for the last two years independently, but the start of the project was given by the Russian World Foundation.
It is well known that culture can be promoted in various ways. This was once again reminded by the executive secretary of the Pushkin Section of the Writers' Union of Russia I.P. Novoselov, who reported that in recent years, 17 monuments to Pushkin and one Chekhov, including 15, were installed abroad. This is very important, since on such memorable days there are always literary readings near these monuments. And for example, in Belgrade, in Serbia, when the monument to Pushkin was erected, there was a press conference, and the Serbs all repeated as one: the fact that you brought us Pushkin as a gift - this indicates that Russia has finally turned its face to Serbia.
The Russian World Foundation provides invaluable assistance in spreading Russian culture in the world: it already has 82 Russian centers in universities, libraries of the world and more 130 classrooms. True, the president of the Foundation, Professor Nikonov, noted that this is only a drop in the ocean, however, we note that the drop is very weighty. Incidentally, the leaders of the Russian centers from Bulgaria, Poland and Armenia took part in the meeting of the round table.
G.N. Chamonin, head of the Russian Center of the Varna Free University. Chernorizets Khrabra reported that the center was opened in 2009 and since then has been building up, and very successfully, its strength. She stressed that the Russian World Foundation is very helpful in strengthening cultural ties between Russia and Bulgaria. Russianists abroad have long expected systemic support at the state level and received it in the person of the Russian World Foundation, because Russian cultural information centers do exist, but they were created in the capitals of states. However, in other cities there are also large universities that study the Russian language.
She cited curious figures: if in 2009 Russian, from 12 foreign languages that are offered to students at the University of Varna, I chose only 21 people, then in 2013 only in the first year the number of learners of Russian was 178 students.
In the whole university, more than 500 students study Russian, moreover, this is not a philological university. The social outcome of the Russian Center is over 21 thousands of visitors. The center has an international qualification school for young Russianists. The Russian center in Varna has big plans for the future, including, of course, the creation of new textbooks, and the development of distance learning of the Russian language ... "I really believe," Professor Chamonin concluded in conclusion that our graduates will have that golden the key, which is said by the poet’s words: “I have a key to all sciences, / I am familiar with the whole universe - / This is because I speak Russian / all-encompassing language” (Semen Danilov, national poet of Yakutia).
The Russian Center of the Krakow Pedagogical University at the meeting was represented by the teacher Mazhen Ples. She said that the center was opened in 2009 and during 45 months of its existence 212 events were held: “Our center has become like a kind of magnet that attracts not only student Krakow, but also Poles of different ages and professions who sincerely They are interested in the Russian language and want to discover Russian culture. ” The center cooperates with St. Petersburg University. Polish students also travel to Bulgaria and take part in language courses in Moscow. The Russkiy Mir Foundation provided the Russian Center in Krakow with excellent equipment and books. Among the numerous activities of the center, the speaker particularly singled out the first international festival “Friends, our union is wonderful.” “It was a real holiday of the youth of the world, a holiday of the Russian language. More than 300 teachers and students from around the world, from twenty countries, came to us, ”said M. Ples.
The first Russian center of the Russian World Foundation was opened in February 2009 in Armenia, at Yerevan State University. A.S. told about his work. Nersesyan, head of the center. Speaking about the situation of Russian studies in Armenia, she noted with regret that the situation had deteriorated significantly compared with the Soviet period. Young people already have a poor command of the Russian language, at schools 2 is given only an hour a week, which is certainly not enough, and at the university Russian is taught only in the first year. And yet, over the past 4 of the year, thousands of people have visited the Russian Center 72, and these are not only students, but also schoolchildren, and children of preschool age, and Russian-language teachers. Armenian scientists, school principals, and students themselves are interested in expanding cultural cooperation with Russia.
Speech by the writer V.N. Krupina, alas, was filled with bitterness: “... the state indulges the lower feelings: bread and circuses ... And we have no higher feelings in honor. These are feelings of awe, sacrifice, these feelings are not brought up ... Therefore, of course, literature does not work either. ”
The writer noted that we neglect our national wealth, while “the whole world comes to us to study our legends, legends, epic stories, fairy tales, the greatest amount of gold we walk on, and we do not use it ...”.
Of course, the problems associated with the use of profanity in the media and the notorious USE were not overlooked. O. Smolin, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education, also raised these questions in his speech. By the way, he made a rather, perhaps, productive proposal on the voluntary refusal of journalists from profanity and abundance of foreign words, since, in his words, “voluntary commitment is always better than coercion.”
It was also said about the proposal of Professor Nikonov to return the essay to the Russian school. The question really has matured, and these are not empty words. Now we see that schoolchildren have almost stopped reading (psychology is simple: there is no examination in literature, which means that it is not necessary to read). After all, they do not understand that by leaving Russian classical literature behind them, they simply rob themselves. One involuntarily recalls the covenant to the young generation N.V. Gogol: “Take with you on the road, going out from the soft youthful years to severe hardening courage, take all human movements with you, do not leave them on the road, do not lift them later”. And Russian literature teaches this very “human movement”.
The fact that our education system deliberately, purposefully kills the Russian language, generally Russian literature, Russian literature and all culture, was anxiously spoken by the priest of the church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki Alexander Shumsky.
He noted that such an exam is “a criminal, anti-national some thing.”
Professor V.Yu. Troitsky, Chief Researcher IMLI them. Gorky, Russian Academy of Sciences, among the reasons for the difficult situation of the Russian language, besides a lack of understanding by senior officials of all ranks and an extraordinary orientation to Western experience, also called “insufficient sense of duty and conscience”. He noted that there is an information and psychological war, in connection with which he proposed to introduce legislative means to protect the information environment.
“We must remember,” V.Yu. Troitsky, - the culture of speech is the first condition for the protection of human freedom of speech ... So, the task of the destroyers is to reject the established norms by nature. This is the most damage to literary speech, which slows down and distorts correct thinking, the ability of clear understanding, leads to false perception and understanding of the world, and hinders the mental and spiritual development of the personality. This all problem is not private, but quite strategic, and connected with our task to contribute to all that, on the one hand, noted in the recommendations, and, on the other hand, was told by my colleagues. ”
The draft document “Recommendations of the participants of the round table on the topic“ Legislative support for the development of the Russian language in the modern information space ”” states the following: “Presumably, by 2025, the number of people who know Russian in various countries of the world will be reduced to approximately 152 millions of people ... including the number of people who speak Russian in the Russian Federation can amount to no more than 110 million people ...
Significant changes in the geopolitical situation in the last two decades ... have affected the language situation in many countries and the status of the Russian language outside the Russian Federation. Currently, there is a decrease in the level of proficiency in Russian as the state language of the Russian Federation, especially among the younger generation, a narrowing of its functioning as a means of interethnic communication, distortion of the norms of the Russian literary language in the speeches of politicians, civil servants and cultural workers, radio, television Excessive fascination with foreign phraseologisms, vulgarisms not only litters his native language, but also shatters the foundations of language culture. Unfortunately, the mass media play a negative role in these issues ... There is a great lack of educational and scientific programs in literature, culture and language ... The Russian Federation is still not doing enough work to restore the centers for learning the Russian language; the system of distance learning in the Russian language has not received proper development, modern information technologies are not used in real terms ... ”.
Alas, but these are all sad realities of our time. The reduction in the number of people who speak Russian outside of Russia was significantly promoted by the closure of Russian schools in the CIS countries.
And if you do not restore, at least partially, the system of learning the Russian language, the destruction of the CIS can occur fairly quickly.
As for the reduction in the number of speakers in Russian within the Russian Federation, there seems to be another serious problem that is being put forward - the demographic one; the number of Russian population is steadily declining. The introduction of a unified state examination in the Russian language, the abolition of the examination paper, both in schools and in universities, undoubtedly contribute to a decrease in the level of proficiency in Russian among the younger generation. This is a very serious question that cannot be simply blistered, but those in power must show a statist will and restore normal exams in middle and high schools.
In general, the draft document is serious, businesslike, constructive. Among the recommendations I would like to note the following: To the President of the Russian Federation, in view of the fact that 2014 is declared the Year of Culture, to declare 2015 the Year of Reading. The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - to improve federal legislation regarding the protection of the Russian language, including establishing strict penalties and penalties for using obscene language in public places ... The Government of the Russian Federation - to assess cultural and linguistic activities in various areas of communication, create Under the Government of the Russian Federation permanently operating Expert Council on the Russian language ... to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation recreate the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian language, which would deal specifically problems related to the study and development of the Russian language in education; revise in a fundamental way the current system of teaching Russian in primary and basic schools with the return of the best traditions of the Soviet school; introduce in schools a mandatory final creative exam in Russian literature (essay) ... We add that such an exam should be introduced upon admission to all universities in the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is to develop a network of Russian centers of science and culture abroad. To the mass media - to organize on all television channels regular programs on the theme “The Culture of Russian Speech” ...
Of course, this is only a small fragment of the document. And if at least half of the recommendations of the round table participants are implemented, especially in education and the media, we will soon get good results in preserving the national cultural heritage, and this is the key to preserving the security and self-sufficiency of our state.
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