Five years ago, the director of the public association “Promo-LEX” Ion Manole told IPN before the Our Language Day that knowledge of the Romanian language on the left side of the Nistru was increasingly problematic and Romanian was poorly promoted and cultivated in the Transnistrian region. The Romanian language with Latin script was practically banned there, while that with Cyrillic script was almost unused in the local urban areas, the press and universities. Now the situation is almost the same, said Ion Manole.

Though it is one of the three “official” languages on the left side of the Nistru, the Romanian language is practically not spoken in the public sphere there. There is no censorship in this regard, but Romanian is simply ignored and those who speak this language have to speak it in narrow circles (in the family or in several villages). In the few schools of the region where Romanian is kept, the Romanian teaching and knowledge levels have decreased. In the universities in Transnistria, there are no faculties teaching in Romanian.

“In libraries or bookshops, you will not find a diversity of literature or publications needed to maintain and develop the language,” stated Ion Manole, noting that Chisinau has never been preoccupied with the maintaining and promotion of the Romanian language in the region.