To start out here’s the article that inspired this base thought:
Now I think most of us agree with Steve’s sentiment that one should learn the culture’s language, the country’s native language. I know that we’ll be able to equate the Canadian English - French question to the Latvian - Russian question but I’d prefer to keep it in Eastern/Baltic Europe rather than return to Quebec. They have their own concern’s and history.
After you read the article what do you think? Of course the Soviet intervention is wrong in past, but like many foreign policy questions the question boils down to: What to do about it now?
Russian even though it’s a minority language at the moment in Latvia, can easily be overtaken andLatvian can be in danger of being lost if Russian is given national status. Many monolingual Russian speakers in the country wouldn’t ever bother to learn Latvian if they can function on an countrywide and international level with Russian. Perhaps monolingual Latvian speakers will be inclined to learn and develop only Russian because of this… ? What would be the reason to learn Latvian aside from ethnicity?
Is it worth is to lose Latvian? Does it matter?
I’d like to make a personal request to Vera to respond to this… she normally avoids the political discussions but I’d like to know her opinion too. The rest of you are welcome to answer too of course…
I’ll show my thoughts if the thread catches any traction…