In Belarus, the native language is vanishing as Russian takes prominence

8 comments

1. **This shit** is what Putin wanted to do in Ukraine. But Ukraine resisted and that’s the reason for the war.

2. Anecdotally when I visited a few years ago Russian was easily the default (I don’t speak Belarusian though, just Russian). Statistically the majority of Belarusians don’t even speak Belarusian anymore, and based on a quick search only 10% use it primarily, presumably mostly the older generation. The guy in this article seems to be an outlier.

3. Well done, Lukewarmstinko

4. Fuck em

5. I believe there was a time when Lukashenko made some modest effort to bring it back when he’d be angry with Putin. That didn’t last long though. Speaking the native language is risky in the city. It draws the attention of police and undercover snitches.

6. It’s called genocide.

7. Those are some news, lol. Russian had been the dominant language there for a long time.

8. It’s been like this (or something like it) for a long time. 

   I was in Minsk about 20 years ago. I was told (by people who hate Luka) that the Byelorusian language was taught somewhat in schools, but because it was mostly embraced by byelorusian nationalists (ie people who wanted an independent, democratic Belarus), the police and government targeted anyone who spoke it publicly for harassment and intimidation. 

   No idea if/how it has changed since then, but it sounds like it’s more of the same.