Belarusian is dying out or popularizing?

Dryankola   Sun May 20, 2007 7:21 am GMT
What do you think? Is Russian replacing Belarusian in Belarus? Or Belarusian is being popular? Which language is used more commonly?
q   Sun May 20, 2007 4:59 pm GMT
The nationalistic youth is using Belarussian, while the older people still use Russian.
Linguist   Mon May 21, 2007 8:03 am GMT
Russian is widely used, even president Lukashenko speaks ONLY Russian. Nationalists are in minority.

P.S. Dryankola - do you know that in Russian дрянь кола means "shitty coke"? ;-)
Dryankola   Mon May 21, 2007 9:30 am GMT
Oh really, I just fabricated that word in my mind just because it sounded good.I didn't know it meant that really.But it is really interesting that I fabricated a little meaningful thing ;)
Franco   Tue May 22, 2007 4:03 am GMT
It was fate, that you chose that name, cos it describes you good!
Yellow Cola   Thu May 31, 2007 10:02 am GMT
I am so much enjoying belarussian...she is a little too tall for me though...are we talking about s...o..o..o...oh sorry. Right...belarussian...hmmmmmm...I think is almost the same as russian, isn't it?
Adam   Thu May 31, 2007 7:13 pm GMT
In Belarus, the Belarusian language is declared as a "language spoken at home" by ~3.686 mln. (36.7%) of inhabitants (1999). By the less strict criteria, ~6.984 mln. (85.6%) of Belarusians declare it their "mother tongue". Other sources put down the "population of the language" as 6.715 mln in Belarus and 9,081,102 in all countries.

Interest in the Belarusian language was revived at the end of 1980s during perestroika. In 1990, Belarusian became the only official language of Belarusian SSR, and a second campaign of Belarusianization followed. The "Law on languages" (Закон аб мовах), ratified on 26 January 1990, envisioned a complete switch of all administrative and official documentation of the country into Belarusian by 2000. However, the Belarusization was halted following the election of Alexander Lukashenko as the President of Belarus in 1994. Also in 1995 there was a referendum which, among other things, gave Russian language an equal status with Belarusian. Currently, russification is taking place in Belarus on an ever-growing scale, and the government does not provide any support for the Belarusian language. The population of Belarus itself tends to identify as a close associate of Russia (if not considering themselves Russian outright). In this respect, a fact of note is that the official website of the Belarusian President is in two languages: Russian and English (as of May 2007)

During Soviet times, the Belarusian language was viewed by many native speakers as a rural and peasant language as opposed to Russian's image as a modern and urban language. That image in the eyes of the public has changed somewhat in the years of Belarus independence: some perceive it as a language of the young emerging urban elite. Yakub Kolas National State Humanities Lyceum, closed down by the authorities, continues to work underground, visiting Lithuania and Poland. Nevertheless, current Russification policies are seen by some as a serious threat that may lead to the eventual extinction of the Belarusian language in Belarus.

The largest centre of Belarusian cultural activity, in the Belarusian language, outside Belarus is in the Polish province of Białystok (Беласток in Belarusian), which is home to a long-established Belarusian minority. Primary and secondary schools with additional teaching of the Belorussian language are available in Hajnówka. The Belarusian Association of Students periodically organizes the Belarusian rock festival Basovišča, and Radio Ratsya broadcasts in Belarusian. Weekly Niva is edited in Białystok.

wikipedia.org
Alba   Thu May 31, 2007 8:15 pm GMT
arent they the same??? Why all these divisions with Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Belarussians, Ukranians, etc arent all u people the same??? Dont u speak the same language??? Why do u need all these different countries/languages/divisions when youre the SAME!!! Like the Yugoslavians, this makes no sense!!! Like the South and North here in America dividing becose of different "accents".
vlade   Thu May 31, 2007 10:10 pm GMT
Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian are not even slavic languages. People of Ex Yugoslavia are different natons wich did not share even a same religion - Croatia - Roman Catholic, Serbia - Eastern Orthodox, Bosnia - Muslim and this realey make sense
Alba   Thu May 31, 2007 10:37 pm GMT
o ok I didnt know they werent Slavic...some Lithuanians speak Russian so I just thought they were lol. the ex-yugos are the SAME people we have all those religions in Albania too lol so no it doesnt make any sense whatsoever to have a nationality based on religion.
Genti   Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:58 am GMT
Franco, others,

I am Albanian. Alba is not stupid, just too young to be in any forum and with a lot of time in his/her hands. Don't pay too much attention to what he/she says or writes.

Alba, please find another hoby, or even better study your textbooks! Don't waste your precious time here.
Alba   Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:02 pm GMT
Genti, mind your own business.
Kess   Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:24 am GMT
''why do u need all these different countries/languages/divisions when youre the SAME!!! Like the Yugoslavians, this makes no sense!!! Like the South and North here in America dividing becose of different "accents".''

not true. Canada, US, Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica are different nations although they all have English as their spoken/official language.

Belorussians are not Russians...Great Britain people are not from Britain (French province known as Brittany). New Zealand people are not from Zealand (Netherlands). British Columbia has nothing in common with Columbia.
Kick the Shiptar ass   Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:27 am GMT
''the ex-yugos are the SAME people we have all those religions in Albania''

Albania is known as the most backward country in Europe.
The most successful achievement Albanians can do is to swim over the Sea to Italy and become a hooker.
Vytenis   Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:58 am GMT
Lithuanians are NOT Russians and they speak Lithuanian, NOT Russian. I am in principle not against living together friendly without any nationalistic divisions, but try to tell that to the bloody Russian nationalists who want to dictate their will to all their neighbours and create a powerful Russian empire in order to dominate and control as many land and as many nations as they can... This is not a flame, this is how we feel here, especially nowadas with Russia becoming so bloody agressive...