Thread: Regarding Russian in the Baltic States

Я не против русский язык.
I do not like chauvinists who apparently don't know what country they are living in.
Most of the people who went to this referendum and voted against - know Russian - but they don't want to be required to know it, because we are not a part of Russia.

I do not want to get fined, because I might not know Russian well enough - and if this referendum succeeded - "language police" would be required to test proficiency of both Russian AND Latvian (And they usually do it only when someone complains).

If there was a referendum to make English a second state language - I would go and vote against too.

It is not like - well, most of people here know Russian so they should use this language instead.

Originally Posted by nulle

I do not want to get fined, because I might not know Russian well enough - and if this referendum succeeded - "language police" would be required to test proficiency of both Russian AND Latvian (And they usually do it only when someone complains).

It is not like - well, most of people here know Russian so they should use this language instead.

You are pathetic. You do know that it is nothing but letting Russians speak Russian and eliminating any "language police" on the spot. But you are scared to death that any progress in treating Russians as people but not as a second class (like NONcitizens) will take place. This will force you automatically admit your Nazi's presumptions in such a treatment. And in the nightmare dreams you see how it can be with you treated the same way you treated others.

Originally Posted by nulle

Я не против русского языка.

I do not want to get fined, because I might not know Russian well enough - and if this referendum succeeded - "language police" would be required to test proficiency of both Russian AND Latvian (And they usually do it only when someone complains).

Do Finns in Finland get fined for insufficient use of the other national language - Swedish? Do Swedes in Finland get fined for insufficient use of Finnish? Is there language police at all? Also, do Finns in Finland call Swedes invaders because Sweden owned Finland for about half the millennia?
AFAIK, the answer is no.
I think that Finland is happy with two national languages. So my call to Latvia is this: follow Finland's example! But apparently Latvian society is not ready to show magnanimity now. Maybe in the future...