286
submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent.

What’s more, classes at his school — one of the country’s best — are now taught in Russian, not Belarusian, which he has spoken for most of his life.

Belarusians like Mikalay are experiencing a new wave of Russification as Moscow expands its economic, political and cultural dominance to overtake the identity of its neighbor.

It’s not the first time. Russia under the czars and in the era of the Soviet Union imposed its language, symbols and cultural institutions on Belarus. But with the demise of the USSR in 1991, the country began to assert its identity, and Belarusian briefly became the official language, with the white-red-white national flag replacing a version of the red hammer and sickle.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br -5 points 2 months ago

Don't you like when some big country forces their language in your region?

(I despise the English language by the way)

[-] ravhall@discuss.online 4 points 2 months ago
[-] P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 2 points 2 months ago

Unfortunately, I don't speak much other than Portuguese and English. I'm trying to learn Latin, though.

[-] ravhall@discuss.online 7 points 2 months ago

Try Toki Pona or Esperanto. They are languages designed to be universal, with minimal words. Toki Pona only has around 130 words.

https://tokitrainer.com/

[-] P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 2 months ago

Those are in my list, too. I'm really interested in learning these. Unfortunately, I'm a distracted individual with terrible time management.

[-] GiveMemes@jlai.lu 0 points 2 months ago
[-] P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 2 months ago

I surely want to learn this language, but I often find myself busy and/or distract, along with my terrible time management. 😓 I still hope I learn it someday.

[-] Resol@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Esperanto does have some criticisms, most notably the fact that it's too Eurocentric. A Chinese person is gonna have a FAR harder time learning it than, let's say a Chilean.

Toki Pona on the other hand is basically an amalgamation of many unrelated languages, with simplified phonotactic rules to make it easier for... well, everyone. Also, they do have a logographic writing system like Chinese, but at least it looks like the exact thing it's describing.

[-] ravhall@discuss.online 1 points 2 months ago

I like it, because everyone can use it. 130 words could easily be learned. Especially people with learning disabilities

[-] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 months ago

German, of course!

this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
286 points (98.0% liked)

World News

39096 readers
2512 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS