The problem of the preservation of the Russian language in the former Soviet republics is still one of the most important problems of preservation Russian culture abroad. Participants of the video bridge Moscow-Tbilisi “The Russian language abroad: yesterday, today, tomorrow” discuss reasons for reduction of number of Russian-speaking people in Georgia.
Yuri Prokhorov, Director, Pushkin Institute of the Russian language
There is nothing dearer to us than our native language, no matter what the name of it is. This is what makes us human, what allows us to live in a certain society. But now our society is becoming a little too small and therefore interest in foreign languages is very high. I think that now the most important question is: why am I learning a language? When I was learning foreign languages at school, there was a great joke “I studied German in Leningrad school No 45 and I can speak German to everyone who graduated from this school”. It was different with the Russian language. I remember that in the countries of the so-called Socialist bloc everybody learned Russian. When I worked there I distinguished between good and bad situations. When you meet 10 people, all of whom studied Russian for at least 6 years, and a good situation is when 4 cannot and 6 do not want to and a bad situation is when 6 cannot and 4 do not want to. We need to understand that any language now is learned with a particular aim. I will not spend time and money to learn a language if I cannot benefit from it. I am absolutely not sad that the number of people learning Russian has decreased, because you cannot measure by this. You need to measure the people who start communicating in Russian in order to achieve a certain goal. Another thing is that native Russian speakers should support these attempts, but it should be reasonable and adequate to demands.
Nikolai Sventitksy, President of the international cultural union “Russian Club”
At the moment the majority of the young population of Georgia see no point in learning Russian. It is difficult to disagree with them, because due to the visa regime between Russian and Georgia they cannot go to Russia. Last year we organized an event connected to 160 years since Tolstoy’s visit to Georgia and young Georgian artists, students of the Art Academy, 85 people were creating artworks based on the novels of Tolstoy – paintings, drawings, sculptures, costumes, etc. The winners get a prize to go to Russia, but the Russian embassy took the money for it. Could the British Council or the Goethe Institute allow something like this? No they couldn't. But great Russia can. There is no state system for promoting the Russian language, at least in the post-Soviet countries. The favorite occupation of the funds is to organize conferences – they do not bring any results. Is the great country of Russia interested in there being a Russian press in Georgia ? – no, it is not interested. It is not interested in there being a Russian school. We can blame the Georgian authorities, of course they make a lot of mistakes, we have our problems, but the Russian answer is that they do not need it. And who needs it? Russia does not need demand for the Russian language in nearby Georgia, while the desire of the population is big.
Sergey Chuprinin, Editor of journal “Znamya,” head of the Committee of “Russian Award”
We talk about the Russian language in post-Soviet space, but it can be treated from two different angles. One is about teaching Russian to non-Russians and non Russian-speakers, in our case for the young generation of ethnic Georgians that decide whether they need to learn the Russian language or not. Some days ago on the Russian independent TV channel “Rain” there was the first interview in a long time with president Saakashvili. And he mentioned the question of whether today's Georgians need the Russian language. He said that there is no need. It is difficult to get to Russia. It is easier for a young Georgian willing to get education abroad to get it in the US, the UK, Germany or France than in Russia. The economic connections are very weak. There is no motivation, no pragmatic goal that can be achieved. It is a serious problem and I think it is the Russian state that is responsible for it, because it can open itself to the young people of Georgia.
The second part of the problem is the life of the Russian-speakers, those for whom Russian is a mother tongue. In 1990 there were 380,000 of those who called themselves Russian in Georgia, while in 2004 there were only 50,000. According to the Russian scale this is a tiny number. I was in Tbilisi and Batumi last year, and I could hear the Russian language on the streets. Russians who were born in Georgia or married there, what should they do? I must say that I really admire the Russian population of Georgia, including Jews and Armenians who speak Russian. The quantity of the cultural events, organized among others by “Russian Club”, is impressive. The journal “Russian Club” has already been published for 8 years. There is an almanac “On Georgian Hills”. There was a competition for young writers of Georgia writing in Russian. People who work in the cultural and education center Russian club need only for their efforts to be seen not only in Georgia but also in Russia, because the support of compatriots keeping attachment to Russia is a task of the Russian state.
Mikhail Golubkov, Professor, Department of Modern Russian Literature, MSU
The countries that have been a part of the zone where Russian language was spread have a big interest in it. I would like to remind you of the idea voiced 20 years ago by Nazarbayev, the idea of a Eurasian space. I remember very well how I treated it 20 years go - I thought that even if it were possible it would only be in 100 years. Now it is an absolute reality. Let’s ask ourselves – what brings us together within the framework of this space? Open borders, we can easily go back and forth without visas. No custom barriers. Maybe it is very important for people dealing with business. But not for me. What is important for me is the feeling of some common cultural community that is defined not only by Eurasians, by the territory but also by the language. And this language is Russian. There is simply no other language that can be a language of international communication in the Eurasian space.
