The “foreigners” in the Republic of Moldova, regardless of their country of origin, social status and spoken mother tongue, want and study the Romanian language. To be easier assimilated, the teachers of Romanian often use different “secrets”. Professor Alexei Axan told IPN about the interest of other language speakers in studying Romanian.

For nine years, Alexei Axan has taught Romanian language courses at the Moldovan-German School that is annually held between August 23 and September 12. This year, there were selected 13 students from different universities of Germany. A part of them know Romanian to a particular extent.

“I can tell you that they every time surprise us by putting us, the teachers, questions from which we deduce their motivation to efficiently use the time allotted for the courses. At the very first lesson they ask what books they could read additionally to see if their knowledge corresponds to the testing result,” stated Alexei Axan.

According to him, the Europeans, in general, and the Germans, in particular, have a special practice of studying the language of the countries they visit. Those who come from the West are clearly different from those who come from the East. As those who do not know the Romanian language come to their courses, there is no need to motivate them to study. It is important for the teachers to meet their expectations.

Among the ‘students’ of teacher Alexei Axan, there are names known in the national and international politics. “I remember with pleasure the lessons I had with Mister Vladislav Kulminski, adviser in the Government of the Republic of Moldova. Having Russian as the mother tongue and knowing English at an enviable level, he tended to discover the secrets of the Romanian language, thing for which I admired and admire him,” stated the teacher.

Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Pirkka Tapiola, who recently completed his duties in Chisinau, was another “explorer of the Romanian language”. “He studied Romanian by asking me to avoid the “boring” grammar aspects, which are typical of any language. I’m glad that the project was successful “without much grammar”,” stated Alexei Axan.

He noted that the former EU Special Representative to Moldova Kalman Mizsei, who was his “student” and friend, was a separate case. At many lessons, when current students put him questions, these wonder if he wasn’t “related” to the ambassador.

Alexei Axan remembered all his students with warmth, including Cesare de Montis, Floriana Morelli, Dirk Shuebel, Oxana Iashvili, Anatol Vainshtein, Elcin Bairamov, Sergei Cartashov, and Nicolae Cozin, thanking them for the admirable effort they made to study the Romanian language.

The teacher confessed that he uses “special” methods in teaching Romanian to facilitate the process. He considers the Romanian language functions in Moldovan society within the limits set by us, the native speakers, by particular politicians and other people for whom the name of the language is more important than the extension of the utilization area in society. “I don’t think there will be serious fluctuations because the guardians of the Romanian language have the holy obligation to respect the testament of academician Nicolae Corlateanu, of Grigore Vieru, and the attitude to the Romanian language of Silviu Berejan, Ion Melniciuc and others who departed this life, but are anyway with us,” he stated.

The Romanian language was decreed the official language written with Latin script in 1989, after the Great National Assembly of August 27.