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U.S. English Foundation Research ESTONIA
Language Research5. Costs: What does it cost in terms of money, time and government resources to police the country's language restrictions? Before the independence movement, Estonians were forced to speak Russian with doctors, police officers, service personnel, etc. The process of "Russification" was strong. The situation changed after the "singing revolution" in the summer of 1988 when Estonians became the main power in society. New laws were adopted (on Citizenship, on Language, on Cultural Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities) and cultural societies were created. Since 1990 these have received the sum of 1.2 million EEK as financial support from the Government. Estonian Radio and Television broadcast various Russian-language programs. Estonian Radio also broadcasts in Armenian, Yiddish, Finnish, Ukrainian, Belarusian and other languages. The Estonian government provided 10 hours of state-paid "language consultations" to assist citizens preparing to take the language test. This was far from enough to ensure a reasonable chance at a passing grade in the language part of the naturalization test. In 1997 the government allocated 6 million Estonian kroon to the Integration Foundation for the program's implementation. Since 1993 consultations for citizenship applicants in matters concerning the Estonian language have been financed from the state budget. In 1993 the President of the Republic formed an advisory body, the President's Round Table, for the representation of ethnic minorities and persons without citizenship. In 1996 the Estonian Language Strategy Center was formed both for the development of the language training strategy and for the co-ordination of different language projects. In February 1997 a working group composed of experts was formed for the development of a language strategy. On July 16, 1997, the Government formed a 17-member Expert Committee for the Examination of Demography and the Integration of Ethnic Minorities into Estonian society. The main task of the committee became the development of the foundations of the state integration policy. On April 21, 1998 the Government approved the Language training strategy for the non-Estonian-speaking population, which determined the main directions and objectives in the teaching of the Estonian language to non-Estonians during the coming decade. On August 27, 1998 representatives of the Government of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the United Nations Development Program signed an agreement for the launching of the project "Support for the state project for the integration of non-Estonians into Estonian society". The total volume of the project was 1.34 million US dollars and its duration 2.5 years. The Government allocated 5.7 million EEK from the 1999 state budget for activities promoting integration. Updated (May 2002) Population Minister Eldar Efendiyev stated on May 6, 2002 that the total cost of a three-year foreign aid program to promote multiculturalism in Estonia is 33.4 million kroons ($4 million). The Estonian state budget will allocate 16.2 million kroons for the program, which is directed at young people and supports learning of Estonian through language immersion at pre-school and elementary school levels. Source: RFE/RL, Baltic States Report, http://www.rferl.org/balticreport/2002/05/16-160502.html Updated (July 2002) INTEGRATION "Integration" is the guiding principle ruling Estonian state policy towards minorities. On March 14, 2000, the government adopted a program entitled "Integration to Estonian Society 2000/2007." The Integration Program regards the teaching of Estonian, both in schools and to adults, as a priority. To date two of four sub-programs (planning and financing) dealing with the Estonian language teaching have received considerably more attention. EEK 49.1 million from Phare program designed to support the Integration Program likewise focused specifically on Estonian language education. Other sub-programs, devoted to social competence and the education and culture of ethnic minorities, have received less attention. THE MINISTER OF POPULATION AFFAIRS On 6 April 1999, the then government coalition established the position of the Minister of Population Affairs (officially the "Minister without portfolio"). The Minister reports directly to the Prime Minister and coordinates government population policy; implementation of integration policies; naturalization and citizenship issues; issues related to the national census (in collaboration with the population census and statistics committees); and the refugee affairs. Ethnic and minority issues constitute the principal sphere of activity for the Minister's Office. A local branch office was also established in the Northeast Estonia. THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE There has been no special department for minority issues within the Ministry of Culture since the abolition of the "special Adviser on Minorities" in 1997. More recently, the Ministry established a "working group on the problems of integration," collecting and compiling data regarding implementation of the sub-programs of the Integration Program. The working group includes two Heads of departments and four advisers of the Ministry, but no minority members. In the period from 1996/2000, the Estonian Ministry of Culture allocated approximately EEK 7,650,000 to support the cultural activities of minority organizations. However, this support does not reflect the respective percentages of minority populations. In 2000, Russian organizations' projects received 46 percent of the total distributed funds, although they represented a full 80 percent of Estonia's minorities. Source: Minority Protection in Estonia, Open Society Institute 2001, http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10/233/minority_estonia.pdf, EUMAP (The EU Accession Monitoring Program Report on Minority Protection), http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10 Updated (November 2002) The majority of cultural organizations of ethnic minorities are based in the capital, representing more than 100 ethnic groups. The mayor of Tallinn, Edgar Savisaar underlined that this year, Tallinn's city administration supported 33 Russian-language cultural projects investing in total 2,266,000 Estonian Kroons (145,000 Euro). Forty other national minorities' projects were supported with the sum 1,254,000 Kroons (80,145 Euro). One of the initiatives financed by the city is the Russian Cultural Center. There are also many other non-Russian cultural organizations situated in the Center, so there is a promise to open a new municipal cultural center in the near future. Source: Eurolang News; Tallinn, November 15, 2002, by Alexander Shegedin, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=3952 Updated (October 2003) A CAMPAIGN USING THE STORIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNERS In May 2003, the Estonian Integration Foundation launched a campaign to support Estonian language learning among non-Estonian speakers and their integration into the Estonian society. The campaign entitled "Stories of the Estonian Language" acknowledges an effort of people to study the Estonian language and it presents benefits as well as downsides of a language-learning process. Another objective is to create a positive attitude of Estonians towards the Estonian learners and to encourage their mutual cooperation. The campaign was funded by the European Union PHARE program1 and supported by national and regional media channels. The aim of the campaign was to collect opinions from people, who, for some reason or the other, needed to learn Estonian. They were invited to write short stories about their experiences with Estonian, how difficult it was for them to learn it, which were the biggest difficulties, what was funny or strange about it, etc. The authors were mostly Russians, coming from Ida-Virumaa (eastern Estonia), but also people from Poland, Finland, Germany and Denmark. The youngest writer was a 13-year-old Russian girl. According to Hill & Knowlton, the campaign organizer, Estonians should read this edition in order to understand the effort of foreigners to learn Estonian. It is also directed at foreigners who hesitate whether they should start learning Estonian. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, October 7, 2003, by Toivo Tänavsuu, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4416 Updated (December 2003) RUSSIANS IN ESTONIA HAVE A GREAT MISSION Many Russian politicians strongly accuse Estonia of language discrimination against local Russians. Ene Ergma, the first woman-speaker of Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu), disagrees with these accusations. She is sceptical about a new Estonian governmental program, which provides 100 percent funding for Estonian language courses for Russians. According to her, 30 percent should be compensated at first, and the other 70 percent only after the state exam has been passed. There are 12 percent of Estonian residents without citizenship. To obtain an Estonian passport every candidate has to pass the Estonian language exam, which, as in any other state, is directly connected with knowledge of the state language. In Soviet times, Ms Ergma lived for many years in Russia so naturally she had to know Russian. Then she lived for nine months in Poland so she learned Polish. Ene Ergma believes that Russians in Estonia have a great mission to introduce Russian culture to Estonians, but they cannot do that if they do not speak Estonian. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, November 26, 2003, by Alexander Shegedin, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4517 Updated (March 2005) THE USE OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE CONDEMNED IN THE TALLINN CITY PARLIAMENT On February 18, 2005 Allar Joks, the Estonian Chancellor of Justice as well as the ombudsman in the Tallinn city parliament, criticized an MP, Dimitri Klenski, for addressing parliament in Russian. Mr. Joks believes that the MP violated the Estonian Constitution, which states that the language of all official work in state institutions is Estonian. The Constitution also stipulates that in the regions where non-Estonians constitute the majority, local authorities have the right to use the language of this majority, however, only to supplement the Estonian language. The Chancellor’s decision was sparked by an inquiry of the speaker of the Tallinn’s parliament, Maret Maripuu, who has been waging “a language war” with Mr. Klenski for a long time. Last year Ms. Maripuu appealed twice to the Language Inspectorate (LI) demanding sanctions against Mr. Klenski, but the LI found no grounds to act1. Ms. Maripuu does not agree with LI’s attitude and demands the application of punitive sanctions against Mr. Klenski. A fine for violation of “office work” language rules may be up to 12,000 EEK (766 Euro). Mr. Klenski, who speaks both Estonian and Russian, does not understand why he could not speak Russian. He speaks first of all to his voters who are mostly Russian-speakers. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, February 23, 2005, by Alexander Shegedin, http://www.eurolang.net/.
Updated (November 2005) DISPUTE OVER SETU CULTURE AND LANGUAGE PROJECT FUNDING The Union of Setu Districts has sent a letter of protest to the Estonian Prime Minister, Andrus Ansip, and the Minister of Culture, Raivo Palmaru. Representatives of this small South-Estonian ethnic group are not satisfied with financing of the Setu language and culture from the state budget. In the summer of 2005, the Ministry of Culture promised to raise state support for Setu cultural programs for the next four years from 3 to 5 million EEK (320,000 Euro) but since then no money has been received. The chairman of the Union of Setu Districts underlined that the additional funding was especially important for new Setu projects, such as a newspaper in the Setu language and a Setu museum. The deputy chancellor of the Ministry of Culture, Anton Parna, explained that the Ministry simply does not have enough money for Setu cultural projects because its budget was determined long before talks about these. However, he promised that more money could be allotted to the Setu minority from 2007 onwards. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, October 31, 2005 by Aleksandr Shegedin, http://www.eurolang.net/ Updated (December 2005) NEW ESTONIAN DEPARTMENT FOR NATIONAL MINORITIES Since the switch of Russian-medium schools to Estonian is getting closer (year 2007), the Estonian Minister of Education, Mailis Reps (Center Party) proposed to establish a special department for national minority schools at the Ministry. At present several ministerial departments and a special working group coordinating their activities deal with the issues connected with minority schools. During the parliamentary session the Minister Reps outlined three main reasons speaking for the establishment of the new department. Firstly, the 2007 language changeover has been prepared insufficiently; secondly, there is no single state policy regarding national minorities in Estonia and finally, also some immigrant groups are outside educational and political integration. According to the Minister, it is hazardous for something as important as the school language reform to be divided among different government departments. Reps sees the new department's foundation as a long-lasting project. If, however, the department did not prove to be successful, it would be closed. Currently there are still about 40,000 pupils studying in Russian-medium schools. Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, November 21, 2005 by Aleksandr Shegedin, http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2523&Itemid=1&lang=en Updated (February 2006) CILJA LAUD PUT IN CHARGE OF ETHNIC MINORITIES' EDUCATION The Estonian Education and Science Ministry has set up a separate department to deal with issues of ethnic minorities' education, with Cilja Laud1 in charge of it. The duties of the department will be to map and to form the linguistic and cultural identity of the minorities. Moreover, they want to implement an education policy, which will support integration of the ethnic groups into society, by creating the suitable legal space and planning the necessary resources. Nevertheless, their main goal is to prepare Russian-medium secondary schools for transition to partial instruction in Estonian by autumn 2007. Source: Estonian Review: Domestic News, January 2006 http://www.vm.ee/eng/kat_137/7264.html
Updated (July 2006) ESTONIA SUPPORTS PUBLICATION OF WORKS OF THE MARI LITERATURE The Estonian Ministry of Education and Research has allocated more than one hundred thousand Estonian kroons (about 6,500 Euro) for the publication of books by Valentin Kolumb1 in the Mari language. The money has been transferred by Fenno-Ugria, an NGO authorized by the ministry, to the account of a publishing house in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia, which will publish the second volume of the writer's collected works. This support is the result of a memorandum signed in August 2005 by the Ministers of Education for Estonia and the Republic of Mari El. They agreed on creation of favorable conditions for bilateral cooperation in education and culture. Furthermore, the choice to support this publication was not accidental as a counselor of the Language Department of the Estonian Ministry of Education explained. Kolumb and his work mean for Maris the same as Juhan Liiv, whose poetry became a part of national spirit, for Estonians. Valentin Kolumb (1935-1974) released the Mari poetry from the Soviet pseudo-pathetic element and modernized it thematically as well as in form. He became famous not only in his homeland but his works were valued also beyond the Iron Curtain. Today, the demand for Kolumb writings in the Mari language is high. Readers as well as schools and libraries in the Republic of Mari El will be interested in the new publication. Source: Information Centre of Finno-Ugric Peoples, the press release on June 16, 2006 http://www.suri.ee/press/Eng2006/060616eng.html
Updated (August 2007) FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ADDITIONAL ESTONIAN LANGUAGE CLASSES IN RUSSIAN–MEDIUM SCHOOLS The Education and Science Ministry plans to offer financial rewards to Russian– medium high schools that decide to speed up the switch to partial teaching in the Estonian language. The ministry is planning financial support for schools that teach, in addition to literature class in the Estonian language, one more subject in this language. Deputy Secretary General, Katri Raik, noted that the sum offered would be motivating – about 4,500 Euros per each additional subject. Raik said the Ministry is also devising a monitoring system to get feedback about Estonian–language instruction from the beginning of the school year to advise and assist schools accordingly. In September, the transition to Estonian is to start when Grade 10 students at Russian high schools will have Estonian literature classes in Estonian. From September 2008, social studies will become the second obligatory Estonian–language subject. Estonian–language Geography, Music and Estonian history classes will follow, and by 2011, each school must choose two more subjects taught in Estonian. Source: Baltic Times online, News, July 26, 2007 http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/18379/ Updated (August 2008) A NEW INTEGRATION PROGRAM FOR THE NEXT SIX YEARS Months of hard work on different levels preceded the outcome of a new “Estonian Integration Program 2008-2013”, which is actually a strategy and a plan for governmental and other institution in the area of integration, and which replaced the “Integration in Estonian Society 2000-2007” program completed in 2007. Preparation of a new integration program was based on the following principles:
Estonia's aim for the following years is to support the feeling of belonging of permanent residents to the Estonian society by sharing common values and knowledge of the official language. Successful integration will result in an opportunity for citizens to realize themselves, to feel safe participating in economic, social, political and cultural life of the society. Estonia has created possibilities to speak in other languages and to develop national cultures. Vision of Integration Program is to achieve by the year 2013 a situation, where, compared to 2007:
Source: Office of the Minister for Population and Ethnic Affairs website, Integration and national minorities – Integration http://www.rahvastikuminister.ee/?id=11394 Updated (September 2009) STATE PROGRAMS HELP TO DEVELOP THE STATUS OF THE ESTONIAN LANGUAGE With regard to language protection and its legal regulation, including the provision of language-related information, preparations for a new version of the Language Act were launched in 2008. The new Act will focus mainly on ensuring the quality of the Estonian language, instead of the issue of language use. A number of national programs supporting the development of the Estonian language have been launched recently. Amongst others, it is worth mentioning the provision of free language advice by phone (by the Institute of Estonian Language), designed as part of everyday language organization and maintenance, and also the creation of a Language Maintenance Center operating in Tartu. The latter organizes continuing education for the employees of state and local government agencies in the field of Estonian, publishes informational material on the Estonian language and gathers information regarding official and public language use. Yet, the national program Value Development in the Estonian Society (2009–2013) was completed at the beginning of 2009. One of the aims of the program is to support the development of values beneficial to the Estonian language in the society and the country. In order to increase public appreciation of the Estonian language, the Ministry presents the Wiedemanni Language Award and the Language Deed of the Year Award. For the same purpose, the Ministry established a badge for the winners of the Wiedemanni Language Award, held an international conference Emakeelne Eesti, emakeelne Euroopa and distributed its collected presentations to all upper secondary schools. The student competition Keelevägi was prepared in the autumn of 2008 and aired on ETV at the beginning of 2009 and Estonian language days are being held in schools in the peripheral regions of Estonia. Information on Estonian is being distributed through the childrens portal www.lastekas.ee and children are trained to communicate with the computer in Estonian. Support is provided for the magazines Oma Keel and Hea Laps as well as the Keele Infoleht published as part of the newspaper Sirp on a quarterly basis. The Ministry also subsidizes the national language and literature competitions. For instance, a twelve-poster series on the Estonian language was prepared in cooperation with the Mother Tongue Society and the Estonian Literary Museum (in five languages), the French version of which was presented at the beginning of 2009 in Paris at the Expolangues fair. The Ministry of Education and Research is cooperating with the Ministry of Culture within the scope of the national programmes South Estonian Language and Culture (2005–2009) and the Setomaa Cultural Programme (2007–2009). Their aim is to ensure that the regional variations of Estonian are studied and used. The national program, Supporting Estonian Terminology (2008–2012), was launched in 2008. It is aimed at supporting terminology committees and terminology studies at institutions of higher education, the creation of a unified dictionary environment as well as targeted terminology stipends and stand-alone terminology projects, including a project for the creation of an education terminology dictionary. During 2008, the online version of the Dictionary of Definitions of the Estonian Literary Standard was created and preparations were made for the free distribution of the dictionary in schools in September 2009. The state program Estonian Language and Cultural memory (2009–2013) has been implemented since 2009. Source: Estonian Ministry of Education and Research homepage, http://www.hm.ee/index.php?1511100. |
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