Language Research

During the oral portion of the naturalization test a conversational knowledge of Estonian must be demonstrated, but examiners have a right to ask questions that go beyond just the language requirement. One Russian speaker told a Forced Migration Project researcher that when he took the test he was asked how to get from Tallinn to the coastal city of Parnu. Although he claimed that he answered the question in more or less grammatically correct Estonian, he was told that his answer was factually wrong. He did not pass the test, however there was no way to verify independently the reason for his failing grade.

Accusation of discrimination and human rights abuse against Russians in Estonia were common in the Russian press. However, a survey done in December 1994, reported that 83% of those questioned denied the existence of ethnic discrimination. An estimated 35% of the respondents had already obtained Estonian citizenship and 58% had started application procedures, while only 2% wished to leave Estonia and 4% wanted Russian citizenship.

Article 6 stating that the official language of Estonia shall be Estonian can be amended only by referendum because it belongs to the Chapter 1 of the Constitution. To introduce another or additional official language, Article 6 has to be amended. To initiate such an amendment, the approval of at least one fifth of the members of the Riigikogu (Parliament) is necessary. If all non-citizens obtain Estonian citizenship, then they will constitute 25%-30% of the voters. The whole problem about citizenship is not about the second official language or changes in Estonian political system but about the access of non-Estonians to legislative power. (Integration and Language, Priit Jarve, European Center for Minority Issues, Flensburg, Germany).

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Updated (February 2002)

According to Jüri Valge, Advisor of Language Policy at the Estonian Ministry of Education, it is usually generalized that two language groups exist in Estonia: Estonian speakers and Russian speakers. But in fact the "Russian speakers" mean several different ethnic and linguistic identities, such as Ukrainians, Belarusians, Germans, etc.

There are over 400,000 people speaking another language than Estonian in the country. In the end of last year, Estonia amended its laws on national and local elections, removing the old language requirements for candidates running for political office. This means that members of the local or national government no longer need to state their proficiency in the Estonian language. "There is also a Cultural Autonomy Law which allows language minorities to get education in their own languages. However, in practical life this law has not been implemented yet. This is partly due to the fact that for instance the Russian speakers often live in municipalities where they are in majority and they have all the service in Russian anyway. And other language minorities, such as Ukrainian or German speakers, simply do not have the experience to apply for available funding", says Valge.

Estonia signed a scientific and educational agreement with Ukraine and Russia which will, inter alia, allow Ukrainian people to get education in their mother tongue in areas where the number of speakers is significant. Currently, there is also preparation process of a law which will allow immigrants education in their mother tongue.

Estonia ratified the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 1998, however, has not yet signed or ratified the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

VÕRO

The Võro language is a Finno-Ugric language and a descendant of the old South-Estonian tribal language. The Võro Institute in Võru is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the lesser-used Võro language and culture in Estonia. Kadri Koreinik, researcher working for the institute, says that the difference between the standard Estonian language and the Võro language is comparable to the difference between Swedish and Norwegian. They are intelligible; depending on the dialects.

There are approximately 70,000 Võro language speakers. The Võro people have preserved various old traditions and beliefs and numerous Võro folk songs and folk tales have been transcribed. One of the priorities of the Institute has been the composition of a standard, written language. The first-ever Võro-Estonian dictionary with over 15,000 entries is one of the primary products of the language standardization efforts. At the moment, the dictionary is in the print house and will be in stores in February. The development and analysis of Võro grammar has begun, and the Institute is also producing a textbook about local history. Thanks to the Institute, instruction in Võro language began in 1997 in five schools. By 2001, the number of schools offering the Võro language and culture class had risen to twenty-six, which means that nearly half of the schools in the historical 'Võromaa' have taken up teaching the Võro language and culture. Some of the problems that the Võro language faces today are funding difficulties, and a lack of people. "Pay rates do not motivate people, especially young and educated people do not stay and work here," says Koreinik.

Kadri Koreinik also speaks about another problem: peoples' attitudes. The language has a low status. It is not prestigious to speak Võro, and a lot of teachers think that they should concentrate their education on teaching English instead. However, she believes that the situation is improving: "If we compare data from 1994 and 1998, the percentage of people responding that they are frequent speakers, have increased. It is no longer just a "kitchen language."

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Updated (August 2003)

INTERVIEW WITH THE ESTONIAN MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO ABOUT MINORITY INTEGRATION AND CULTURAL AUTONOMY

Eurolang journalist Toivo Tänavsuu from the Estonian daily "Eesti Päevaleht" spoke with the Estonian Minister without Portfolio, Paul-Eerik Rummo, about the Russian minority issue.

What is the current status of the Russian population in Estonia compared to 1992?

In 1992, sixty-eight percent of the Estonian population were Estonian citizens. Thirty-two percent had no citizenship. Estonia had 1,54 million inhabitants.

Currently, eighty percent of the population are citizens, thirteen percent have no citizenship and the remaining seven percent are citizens of other countries. Only 1,36 million people live in Estonia at present.

There are people, whose native language is Russian, who live among Estonian citizens but do not have citizenship, such as Russian ex-military staff with residence permits and other inhabitants with residence or work permits. Their rights and duties are regulated by a law that considers their nationality irrelevant.

The Estonian government supports the survival of the cultural identity of minorities, including Russians. We have a special law regulating Russian language based education. Russian cultural associations and Sunday schools are supported on the same principle as other minority associations. In Estonia it is legitimate for minorities to have their own cultural autonomy.

How many unregistered people are there in Estonia?

International organizations talk about 30,000 to 50,000 people who are not registered by the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Bureau. We think there are only about 3,000 such people and we are able to identify the majority of them.

Thanks to the outstanding work of the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Bureau there are not so many unregistered adults. However, there are a lot of unregistered children, especially in Ida-Virumaa [in the eastern part of Estonia]. For some reason parents are not keen to document their children's presence in Estonia.

Since the beginning of 1990s Russian politicians, sociologists, historians and other people from the elite have criticized Estonia and other Baltic states for abusing their Russian minorities. Is there a lack of democracy and human rights in Estonia?

These accusations have always been propagandistic. They are a part of the diplomatic games Russia is playing with NATO and the European Union. Russian leaders are perfectly aware of how things really are in Estonia. Our Russian neighbor makes statements about miserable and undemocratic conditions of the Russians living in Estonia. At the same time they apply a special double-duty trading regime to Estonia. Economically, the Russian minority living in Ida-Virumaa is the biggest victim of this regime.

The question is whether these statements are hypocrisy or not? Estonia is a democratic state that respects human rights. It is OK when a minority living in Estonia turns to international publicity to ask for a judgment about the situation in the country. We also carefully follow the opinions of our Russian partners.

Russia and the European Union are getting closer to each other. In this process, we intend to highlight the conditions of Finnish-Ugrians and other minorities who are living in Russia.

After Estonia's second independence in 1991, a lot of Russians returned home from Estonia. Is this process still going on?

We respect their right to move. Lets keep in mind though that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of people moved within the former Republics.

Due to emigration the Estonian population has decreased. But formally the emigration process already ended. Currently some people who moved in the 1990s are excited to come back to Estonia. This is mostly because of their families being here.

Some of the Estonian fundamentalists claim that Russians should immediately go back home, or voluntarily choose to learn Estonian and pass the citizenship test. Is that also a part of Estonian politics?

Not a single respectable Estonian party makes such a statement. We cannot force Russians to move when they have permits to live here. Choosing citizenship is a part of their free will. The role of the government is to explain the advantages of being a citizen, to promote a highly liberal way of applying and getting the citizenship, and to help people learn Estonian.

Fifty percent of the costs connected with learning of Estonian are covered with the help of the European Union PHARE program. The coalition government signed an agreement with a scheme according to which the Estonian government will pay the other fifty percent.

Our goal is to avoid segregation where groups of people do not understand each other and seal themselves off into geographical and mental "ghettos." That is why we work so hard to help migrants learn the language and give them information about their opportunities. This also accelerates the naturalization process, which, of course, cannot be a target on its own. To accelerate the naturalization process, Estonia will not give up the basic principles of its policies on citizenship.

Do you agree that it is difficult for Russians to pass the citizenship exam in Estonia?

Lets keep our feet on the ground. We are talking about people living here permanently, who have neither Estonian nor other citizenship. A lot of them were born in Estonia; they have lived here and raised their children here. They are exactly like Estonian citizens; they have almost the same rights, excluding the right to participate in parliamentary elections and the duty to serve in the Estonian Army. Their juridical status; however, is different because they have not applied for any citizenship.

Estonia has one of the most liberal citizenship laws in Europe. If you have lived here for five years and passed the language and legal comprehension tests, you will have citizenship. The problem is with informing migrants about their options and the lack of motivation on their part. Their minds have been captured by violent propaganda and myths. Along with minority organizations we have been working on an optimal model for counseling and spreading of objective information among non-Estonians.

More than 95 percent of the population in Narva (Estonia's 3rd biggest city situated in Ida-Virumaa) are Russians. How do you imagine the situation in the city twenty years from now? Is Narva a threat to Estonia?

Narva is Estonia. Estonia is not a threat to Estonia, even when it is a part, where a majority of people speaks Russian. But language is not a threat to society. We would like to integrate these people into the Estonian society; they should leave their "ghettos" and get the same information as anybody else in Estonia. We would like to guarantee the use of Estonian in public and service sector.

It depends on their free will and cooperation whether people in Narva in twenty years will have been speaking more Estonian than they do now. We would like to see that. At the same time it also largely depends on the demographic situation in Estonia.

Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, July 30, 2003, by Toivo Tänavsuu, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4345

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