Tadevush Struzhetsky admits that there are some people working in the Culture Ministry who have very little knowledge of the Belarusian language.
However, Mr. Struzhetsky is sure that there is no language problem in the cultural area of Belarus. The question is in the extent of its daily usage, he said at a round-table conference held in Minsk on February, 16, 2012.
According to the Deputy Minister, everything in the Culture Ministry’s policy is designed to support and promote the Belarusian language. «I can demonstrate it using actual examples. All culture-related regulations in Belarus are in the Belarusian language, and so are signs on the buildings of culture institutions and nearly all record-keeping.» Besides, the Culture Ministry shows equal respect to the Russian language and replies in kind to letters in Russian, he said.
Mr.Struzhetski is sure that most Belarusian people know the Belarusian language and express the readiness to use it but finding themselves in specific situations they fail to do that. «But it is crucial that civil servants should speak Belarusian,» the state official points out.
As a result of the government’s policies in the last 16 years, the Belarusian language is no longer in official use and remains neglected by educational institutions. In 2009 it was included in UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing.
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