Survey finds Latvian language alive and kicking

The Latvian Language Prog-ram Unit recently published its annual report on the state of the Latvian language and according to the organization's director, Aija Priedite, it proves that Latvian is alive and well.

"The survey tells me that contrary to what some people believe, the attitude of non-Latvians is not negative about learning Latvian," said Priedite.

The survey, which was conducted by the polling firm Baltic Data House, suggests that although more people are learning Latvian, the only place where there has been an increase in the use of the language among non-native speakers is in the workplace.

There has been a reduction in the amount of Latvian spoken by non-native speakers in other areas, such as when they are with their friends. But Priedite finds encouragement in the fact that only 12 percent of non-Latvians do not speak any Latvian at all, and more than 85 percent of these expressed a desire to learn the language.

Although the Latvian Lang-uage Program Unit had many critics when it first opened in 1996, it has since won wide support from Latvians and Russian speakers alike through its work in helping to educate non-Latvian speakers.

"Our policy has always been to enroll and not to exclude," said Priedite. "You have to think about the whole state of Latvia. I want my country to be democratic within the European community."

Boris Cilevic, a Russian-speaking MP with the For Human Rights in a United Latvia coalition, thinks Priedite is doing a great job.

"Nowadays it is already impossible to graduate from primary school without speaking Latvian to some extent, and it is impossible to get a good job without speaking some Latvian," said Cilevic. "It's a total disadvantage not to know the language, but I think it is enough for students to study Latvian as a second language and to be taught in their mother tongue."

One of Cilevic's reservations about the program is that it trains Russian-speaking teachers to teach Russian-speaking students in Latvian. The Latvian government plans to phase out bilingual education by 2004, a goal that is widely viewed as unattainable.

"I think the program would be better if the training were available to everyone who wanted it, but instead they work only with target groups like police officers and school teachers," said Cilevic. "Still I think that Aija Priedite is the perfect person to run the program because she is sensitive to many different perspectives."

Until 2001, the organization was funded by the European Union, the United Nations Development Fund and an assortment of Western nations. Last year, though, the Latvian government provided 428,000 lats ($690,300) to the organization, which constitutes about one-third of its total budget.

"That's a very positive step for the government to take," said Nils Muiznieks, the director of the Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies. "It is one of two progressive bureaucratic institutions in Latvia."

The Latvian Language Prog-ram Unit is scheduled to operate through 2006.

"We're going to reach the point pretty soon where all the people who are going to learn Latvian have already done so," said Muiz-nieks. "I'm hoping that some sort of language training facility will remain intact."

Both Muiznieks and Cilevic agree that the demand for free language training is high.

"I personally think that it should be geared toward people who want to be naturalized," said Muiznieks. "Latvia is going from a country of emigrants to (a country of) immigrants. There are only eight political asylum seekers now, but when and if the country is given EU membership status, that number will go up. You have to have some sort of institutionalized Latvian language training available for these people."