The situation concerning knowledge of the official language has improved in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia and in Taraclia district, where there is a concentrated community of ethnic Bulgarians. The number of respondents who can read in the official language and speak it fluently rose from 16.8% in 2015 to 23.4%. Also, 47.9% of those polled understand the official language, but cannot speak it, up from 43.4% in 2015. Some 28.6% of those surveyed do not understand the official language at all, down from 39.2% in 2015, shows a poll carried out by the Institute for Public Policy (IPP) in partnership with CBS Research.
In a news conference at IPN, IPP executive director Arcadie Barbăroșie said the respondents were asked if they consider the citizens of the Republic of Moldova should know the official language. 49.2% answered affirmatively. In Gagauzia, such an opinion is shared by 47% of those surveyed, while in Taraclia – by 54.7%.
The name of the official language of the Republic of Moldova is a matter of principle for 73.4% of the respondents, who said that the official language should be named “Moldovan”, down from 78% in 2015. 15% said they do not care about the name as it is the same language, while 0.25% said the official language should be called “Romanian”.
The Russian language remains the main language spoken at home by the respondents from the two regions. Even if 73.8% of the respondents from Gagauzia agreed that the region’s inhabitants should know the Gagauz language, only 46% of those polled said they speak primarily in the Gagauz language. Of the respondents who live in Taraclia district, only 42.1% use Bulgarian most often.
The number of those who feel a great or greater need to know the official language for using it in the daily activities rose from 30.3% in 2015 to 49.9% in 2021. 47.4% of the respondents rather do not have such a necessity, down from 68.3% in 2015.
Some 66.1% of those questioned would choose Russian as the language for the education of children and grandchildren, down from 83.3% in 2015. English is preferred by 12%, while the official language by 10.6%.
There were signaled cases when respondents experienced problems or were discriminated because they didn’t know the official language. Nearly 6.5% of those polled, who answered “yes” for several times, weren’t admitted to the education institution to which they applied, 4.5% had to give up a job, while 4% weren’t employed because of this. The poll of 2015 sowed similar figures.
According to sociologist Vasile Cantarji, of SBS Research, there are three circulation languages in Gagauzia officially, but their promotion is not equally supported. Gagauzia continues to be an area where many know and speak Russian, where Gagauz is known moderately and where the official language is practically not used.
Asked what things concern them the most, over 39.3% of the respondents from Taraclia said they are bothered by prices. In Gagauzia, the prices are a concern for 54.2% of those interviewed. Among the main causes of poverty in the Republic of Moldova, the respondents mentioned the inappropriate management of the state (40.8%), corruption (23%), embezzlement of public money, migration of specialists, etc.
The poll covered a sample of 620 persons older than 18 from ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia and was carried out by face-to-face interviews, through the agency of the computer, during September 16 – October 2. The margin of sampling error is ± 3.9%.
