IPN analysis: Which is yet the official language – Moldovan or Romanian? This symptomatic question for our society becomes more ‘acute’ before the Our Language holiday. In some corners of our country, where the language of the Moldovan nation is the least spread, the day of August 31 has become an occasion for asking another, more important question: has the official language a future?

Region with largest number of Russian speakers

The Gagauz autonomous unit is known as the region with the largest number of Russian speakers in Moldova, where the majority of the population does not know the official language (in order not to distract attention and not to develop the subject of the correct name, I consciously chose to use the name of ‘official language’ in this article, allowing everyone to interpret this phrase). The given assertion is correct only partially. In reality, judging by the opinion polls, most of the residents of the region consider that Gagauz is their mother tongue. As regards the official language, it is indeed hard to find a person with a good command of it in this region.

According to statistics, there are about 7,500 Moldovans in Gagauzia. This is less than 5% of the region’s population of about 160,000. The official language is studied in all the education institutions of the region. However, the subjects are taught in the official language only at two private Moldovan-Turkish high schools and at two state high schools. It is thus not surprising that the people here know the official language the least compared with the people in other regions of Moldova.

Obligation to know and obligation to help

The ‘linguistic problem’ exists here and the authorities of the region do not hide this. The General Education Division of the Executive Committee of Gagauzia provides two explanations for the insufficient spread of the official language – inexistence of linguistic environment and the inappropriate preparedness of teachers, for many of whom the official language is not the mother tongue. Certain progress has been made over the last few years as regards the qualification of teachers, but no linguistic environment has been yet created.

The senior authorities of Gagauzia admit that knowledge of the official language is an obligation for every citizen. But they remind about the obligations of the state. According to the Governor of Gagauzia Mihail Formuzal, who stated his opinion in an interview for IPN earlier, the country’s authorities, before imposing such conditions on the people, are obligated to help all those who want to study the official language to do this.

“We prepare by ourselves all the official language studying programs. The official Chisinau provides practically no support in this respect. There are no state programs for teaching the elderly people. No financial assistance is offered for attracting young teachers of Moldovan nationality to Gagauzia,” he stated.

But the administration of the autonomous region is rather optimistic in this sense. As Formuzal stated, the situation in the region can change, but not in the immediate future.

“We realize that knowledge of the official language is first of all a matter concerning the competitiveness of our youth. Without this knowledge, our children will encounter difficulties in making a career. That’s why we count on our youth and make effort to create the necessary conditions,” the Gagauz leader said in the interview for IPN.

A new strategy is needed

Knowledge of the official language by the population represents one of the important factors of the unity and integrity of our country. From this viewpoint, it’s hard not to agree with the assertion that the official language should be first all supported and spread by the Government of Moldova.   

The realities in Gagauzia and other regions of the country point to the necessity of reviewing the policy regarding the promotion of the official language among the national minorities. What is more efficient in this matter: the constraining atmosphere and the patriotic-caricaturist appeals or the economic motivation? I think the formula for a successful strategy is on the surface. The most important thing is for the authorities to want to work the strategy out and to implement it.

For the time being, we have what we have. According to the Constitution, Moldovan is the official language of Moldova. It is one of the three official languages on the territory of Gagauzia, which is an inalienable part of Moldova. However, the given language is in fact a foreign language for the absolute majority of the residents of the Gagauz autonomous unit.

Veaceslav Craciun, for IPN