"In time, the quality of language surely evolved. First of all, the language is a living thing and has the property of linguistic assimilation. In parts to the better, while in other parts weirdly," said the head of the General Association of Teachers of Romania, the branch in Moldova, university lecturer Mariana Marin. She told IPN that the current generation of children speaks more culturally than their parents or grandparents.
"We now have a generation of "minimax" type, which is educated more by the babysitter from the TV set. These children use an impressive vocabulary with different interjections and expressions that are different from the tradition of expression in Moldova. For example: I have an idea! O, this cannot be! There is no other chance! Surely yes? I don't have even a slight idea!," stated Mariana Marin, noting that this experience reveals the important role of education or educator, in this case the TV channel Minimax, or, the importance of the model that educates.
The Association's head said there is also a Romanian-English type phenomenon. "It seems that we are no longer so scared by the infleunce of the Russian language because it slowly disappears from the active vocabulary. For the contemporary children, it is no longer fashionable to borrow Russian words to assert oneself. They assert themselves by using English words and phrases. The similiarity of the decline in the prestige of the language represents the same danger about which we spoke a decade ago," said the lecturer.
Contemporary students are much better prepared
Mariana Marin said that compared with 20 years ago, the contemporary students are much more prepared, the linguistic environment being better than when the authentic Romanian language started to be promoted. First of all, the language culture improved at TV channels, even if we ascertain serious shortcomings in these contexts too. The model of literary speaker from the TV set has always been a linguistic educator. Afterward, the learning resources became more varied. There are no problems in informing oneself from dictionaries, magazines and encyclopedias, including the online ones.
The information is accessible to everyone. According to the Association's head, there is yet the necessity of permanently motivating the students. The fact that every time a teacher has to convince a student that the Romanian language is so beautiful that it must be respected and protected is weird.
The problem is actually not learning an additional language, but knowing to advance one's own language
Mariana Marin noted that the important factors that characterize the development of the language is the educative environment and the mass media. The educative environment can be characterized by the school, yard and family. "Regretfully, we can say that the family is no longer a model of linguistic culture. The parents or grandparents do not pay enough attention to this phenomenon. The generations of adults speak as they spoke or their preoccupation is more existential than spiritual. Sometimes, there is no use drawing attention. The speech of some elderly persons looks more like a museum exhibit that contain Russian words and all kinds of weird expressions," she stated.
The lecturer said that in urban areas the children and young people follow this example, borrowing distorted phrases whose meaning they do not know. The yard, as an element of self-education, also cannot be a context for language improvement. "Once, our younger son, when he was playing in the yard with other children, was insulted and told to speak normally, not Romanian. Regretfully, this phenomenon had a great emotional impact on him as he no longer goes out to play," stated Mariana Marin.
She related that she had a similar experience in her childhood. "I was five and the children in our yard mistreated me because I didn't know Russian. It was strange as there was only one Russian child there and we were all to speak Russian with him. I had to learn Russian and when I was six I spoke it better than my mother. What should we do nowadays? Firts of all the children must be supervised by the parents, at least until the age of 14. In Italy, if there is a child in the yard without a parent, the police are immediately informed and the parents are fined. This would protect the children from unpleasant experiences, including those related to the language," said Marana Marin.
According to her, the problem is actually not learning an additional language, but knowing to advance one's own language. The Moldovans/Romanians in Moldova encounter serious problems in this regard. The mass media have a much better performance than 20 years ago, but there are yet weird expressions. The care for the written form of the language should also preoccupy us. The clothes of the Romanian language that we put on here, in Moldova, are rather poor. There are no diamonds on them. The clothes are repaired and torn up in parts. The poor clothing of the Romanian language becomes evident when one goes to the area of the authentic Romanian language - Romania.
The language of one people cannot be swallowed by the language of another people, which is not indigenous
The Association's head said the current generations still have that feeling of 'second place' in dignity and there is yet a shame to say that you are a Romanian or a Moldovan. Our dignity ends when we give a Russian speaker the privilege and start to speak in Russian. The Russian language found a place in our soul as it is nice and melodious.
"It's a pleasure for me to speak Russian, but each of us should overcome this barrier of answering in Russian. I have many Russian friends who told me that they do not speak Romanian because they have no need in this regard. They are understood by everyone and most of the people start to speak in Russian with them when these are addressed in Russian. This aspect of our hospitality should be diminished," said Mariana Marin.
The lecturer said there is also the stereotype of superiority of the nation. The interculturality does not envision comparisons and assimilations. The language of one people cannot be swallowed by the language of another people, which is not indigenous. We should learn more languages in sign of respect for other peoples, but when we choose what language to speak, we must choose the Romanian language.
They read a lot today, but from facebook
The lecturer said the model of the school teacher, not necessarily of the Romanian language teacher, must be the visiting card of the Romanian language. Mariana Marin said the struggle with the indifference of some always corrects the mates-teachers who do not express themselves correctly.
"We witness a weird thing when we see different people expressing temselves on social networking sites. Some make so many orthographic mistakes that you can have headaches. If you know that this person is a teacher or professor, you feel the need to disconnect the Internet because of being ashamed," stated Mariana Marin.
According to her, reading is another possible solution for educating the Romanian language speaker. They read a lot today, but from facebook. The interest in artistic literature disappears together with the teacher. Fewer teachers read now as they have to undertake to teach more lessons and to carry out all kinds of additional activities for a higher salary.
As the author of the curriculum for the Romanian language and literature subject in the first-fourth grades, Marian Marin said she introduced the content sequence "Secrets of the book", the teacher being obliged to give a private reading lesson once a week. According to her, there is no continuity at the secondary school. There are teachers who are fond of reading at the secondary school and promote the book among the students and inspire these, but such teachers are few in number.
The lecturer also said that at the level of society, there are solutions and these should be diplomatic and in parts mandatory. In many countries, the language of a people is protected by the law. It can be protected in our country too by making the studying of Romanian obligatory, especially for persons from the secnior administration. Each os us should be an emissary of the language and should everywhere promote a cultural language and struggle against those who speak it incorrectly and servce as models ourselves.
The Association's head stated that heavy fines should be imposed on the organizations that do not consult linguistic centers and do not have linguistic authorizations for placing ads. Also, there should be more Romanian language courses and these should be accessible and available. "We should post slogans not only on the Language Day. Our existence should be a permanent struggle to promote the Romanian language. Zero tolerance of those who distort the language. We should not be ashamed to warn them," stated Mariana Marin.
