It should be clear from the start: Moldova needs several official languages whose studying and use should be in the care of the state. The larger the number of official languages, the better. The fact that the Moldovans in the Soviet period learned and know well Russian, besides the mother tongue, brings benefits. Many of them became bilingual, even if they often were forced to learn and speak Russian. But they were limited in the possibility of knowing other widely used languages. In the present conditions, the massive and qualified studying and wide use of several languages are needed in order to improve the quality of the labor force. For its part, the labor force is the only real resource for socially and economically developing Moldova and ensuring decent living conditions. Russian is among the languages that claim the status of “language protected by the state” for a number of reasons, alongside Romanian, English, French, German, Ukrainian, Gagauzian, Bulgarian and others. A small and poor country should have many languages if the people want to live better.
[Pronounced electoral motivation]
But... the recent initiative to hold a referendum on giving the status of the second official language to Russian is evidently electoral in character. Moreover, the promoters of this initiative are interested not in the result of a possible referendum, but in shaking the political boat in Moldova. How else can the appearance of such an initiative shortly after a failed referendum on a much more important subject be explained? A Russian language portal in Moldova said: “The important problem of the Russian language cannot become hostage of election campaigns.” A number of politicians, including the leaders of the ruling alliance, shared this view. “The linguistic problems appear regularly in the election campaigns,” they said. Heavyweights of the main Opposition party, which is Russophile – the Communists Party – was against the referendum.
[Right to know first official language]
It seems that this time again, the initiators of the referendum want to make Russian the second official language in Moldova in order not be obliged to know and use the first official language – Romanian. They generally plead for monolingualism in relation to certain groups of people and this implies dangers that are more serious than 10 or 20 years ago. These dangers develop and become similar to a bomb with cumulative effect that gathers more and more negative energy. Let’s see why? The public figures that raised the topic of Russian language again put Russian in opposition to Romanian, not alongside. None of them speaks the first official language publicly and few of them are able to freely speak Romanian. In general, only Valentin Krylov, the executive secretary of the Socialist Party “Patria-Rodina”, gives public speeches in the official language among the Russian-speaking personalities.
[Right to know mother tongue]
Furthermore, it seems that the legalization of Russian as second official language is perceived as a right not to know and use officially Gagauzian, which is one of the official languages of the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, because the initiative to hold the referendum originated mainly in Comrat town, while the situation of Gagauzian is rather bad even after 16 years of autonomy during which it has had the status of official language at local level.
[Resource of bilingualism is used up]
The conclusion about the dangers deriving from the delay in solving the linguistic problems stems from the gradual diminution of the main resource that fuels the Romanian-Russian and Russian-Romanian bilingualism in Moldova. This resource is based on the capacity (and will!) of the Romanian-speaking population to communicate in the mother tongue and in Russian. This capacity ensures harmony in communication, prevents conflicts in the interethnic and social relations in general and a favorable atmosphere in the country. But the given capacity decreases steadily and will continue to decrease with the political and geopolitical developments in the last few decades. The generations of Moldovans who know Russian disappear gradually. At the same time, the new generations either do not have the previous possibilities of learning Russian, especially in rural areas, or took the opportunities to learn, at home or abroad, other widely used languages, becoming thus polilingual.
Simultaneously, the old generations of Russian speakers as well as the younger ones have not made much progress in learning and using the official language during about two decades of independence. The effects of such a state of affairs are important. It is rather probable that these two trends will provoke a practical, real deficit of communication, while the lack of intelligent communication will cause social troubles that will be much more serious than the present ones related to common poverty.
Thus, the formal decreeing of two or more official languages will not solve the problem. It may even make the interethnic situation and living atmosphere tenser.
[Two linguistic scenarios]
Two scenarios were mainly used to solve the linguistic problems after the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, where Russian was a dominant language. The Baltic people imposed tough conditions on the other-language speakers who can now consider themselves adapted to the new living conditions. They live in European countries, have European salaries and pensions. The Moldovans preferred to avoid the subject in the hope that the situation will improve by itself. But it became worse, also due to the steps taken or not taken by the politicians, the authorities. During eight years of Communist government, President Vladimir Voronin did not attend the festivities held to celebrate the Our Language Day. He even left the country in that period so as not be obliged to take part in them. During 19 years of independence, the politicians could not reach a compromise with the language specialists, with the intellectual elite in general, as to the scientific name of Moldova’s language. Therefore, the problem of other official languages must be examined in concert with the problem of the Romanian language so that they together ensure the continuity of real communication between the people in Moldova. The public figures and high-ranking officials should know all the official languages so that they can talk to those whom they can influence and whom they govern.
[About political stimuli]
A Moldovan politician with seniority in the political sphere who does not speak the official language intentionally explains his behavior by lack of stimuli. “Provide me with stimulus and I will show I can learn to speak the official language in half a year.” He certainly referred to political stimuli. “Tell me how many representatives of ethnic minorities work in the state administration?” he asked, implying that it is natural for politicians in Moldova to be named to high-ranking posts first so that they want to learn the official language afterward. It is interesting if the given politician knows a relevant example at global level. But the politician pointed exactly to the origin of the linguistic problem in Moldova. With two, three or four official languages, the linguistic problem will not be solved until it remains in the political sphere.
[From political to economic sphere]
In a market economy, the linguistic problem should be treated from economic angles as well. In the U.S. for example, the state gives the newcomers money and time to learn the official language. But afterward, if you do not learn the language, you cannot complain of discrimination and cannot apply for important posts or positions involving contact with the people. In Moldova, those who want to study the official languages could be exempted from paying certain taxes, could be awarded scholarships, an average monthly salary, allowances, etc. The same mechanism might be used to enforce one, two or three official languages. The costs cannot be very large, given the structure of the population by ethnicity, age, areas of interest, etc. Even if large, such costs are necessary now as we might pay more in the future. Giving a certain language the status of official will not be a panacea. It is more important to ensure its functionality.
[Related joke:] {The man who knows several languages is a polyglot. The man who knows three languages is a Zionist. The man who knows two languages is a nationalist. The man who knows one language is an internationalist.}
[Valeriu Vasilica, Info-Prim Neo]
