We must make effort for the interest in studying Romanian among other language speakers in Moldova to be related not only to the job, Iulia Semionov, who heads the Association of Russian Language Speaking Journalists of Moldova, stated in a public debate held at IPN.

She noted that the interest in studying the Romanian language is now fueled by the realization of the fact that the language becomes necessary. “A Russian speaking seller will surely have a dialogue with a Romanian buyer in Romanian. She will pick from one thousand and one variants, but will try to speak Romanian as she has to sell. Another example is my friend who learned Romanian because she needed to pass the exam. She sat down and learned. It wasn’t easy, but she passed the exam,” stated Iulia Semionova.

“The first minister of defense Pavel Creangă, who is a Moldovan by ethnicity, but who didn’t live in Moldova and before returning to the homeland, headed a Regional Military District in Belarus, learned the language when he came to Moldova and invited professors to teach Romanian to officers of the Ministry of Defense. Romanian ultimately became their working language.”

However, Iulia Semionova is sure that such decisions are insufficient. “The interest in studying the Romanian language should not be related strictly to necessities or the job. This is not enough. We need different approaches and these should be designed by the state.”

The public debate “Language as an integral value in European development of society” was held in the framework of the project “Overcoming stereotypes of European integration through communication” that is implemented with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.