VOA标准英语2009年-Tajikistan Considers Russian Language Ban

Tajikistan is considering a bill that would prohibit the use of Russian by government agencies in the former Soviet¹ republic. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon is urging lawmakers in the Central Asian country to speed passage of the measure, which some people in Russia view as a hostile act.
　
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon (file photo)

Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon told a nationwide television audience last week the greatness of a nation can be judged, first of all, by the amount of protection and respect its official representatives give to their national language.

Tajik Association of Free Media member Abdufattokh Vokhidov agrees with Mr. Rakhmon's assessment². He says the Tajik language was relegated³ during the Soviet period to home use, and many people in Tajikistan neglected their native tongue.

Vakhidov says people of his generation were born under Soviet rule and educated in the spirit of the Russian language. He notes some people who do not know Tajik have no respect for it; they think the only language in the world is Russian and cannot imagine life without it.

In Moscow, lawmaker and nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky said adoption⁴ of the Tajik language law would be considered an act of hostility⁵ toward Russia. He threatened the Central Asian republic with retaliatory⁶ measures, including denial of visas for unemployed⁷ Tajiks looking for jobs in Russia.

The Interfax news agency quotes a member of the Parliament's Commonwealth⁸ of Independent States Committee, Alexei Ostrovsky, as saying dissatisfaction among unemployed Tajiks could then erupt in street protests.

The head of the Tajik Migrant Workers Union in Moscow, Karomat Sharipov, says remittances⁹ sent by Tajik migrant workers in Russia help maintain the social and economic stability of Tajikistan, where unemployment runs high.

Sharipov says more than 120,000 Tajik citizens in Russia have children born of mixed marriages, more than 800,000 have obtained Russian citizenship¹⁰, and they will return to their native country speaking Tajik and Russian.

The director of Russian language testing at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Svetlana Melnikova, told VOA she agrees with President Rakhmon about the need to protect all national languages. But she says many of them are being affected¹¹ by globalization, particularly in the areas of business and science.

Melnikova says technical terminology¹² in CIS countries exists basically in Russian and English, and Tajiks will need to choose one of them. She predicts it will take more than a decade before Tajikistan develops its own scientific vocabulary.

Abdulfatah Vakhidov says the Tajik language, which is similar to Persian, was influenced throughout the 20th century by Russian, and does not correspond to the needs of its speakers. At the same time, he says no one is suggesting that Tajik cannot borrow foreign technical terms.

Vakhidov says languages constantly develop and so does Tajik, because new technologies emerge and those who speak the language accept foreign terms that reflect the advance of high technology. He says Tajik speakers do not make up new words, but rather accept terms from English, Russian, Persian, Arabic and other languages, which no one opposes.

Vakhidov says Russian is currently used very widely in Tajik science, industry, and government. If passed, the language law would require the exclusive use of Tajik in national courts, armed forces, police and other agencies of government.

While Svetlana Melnikova questions the practical considerations of the measure, she says it would not infringe¹³ on anybody's legal rights.

Melnikova says she would not go so far as to talk about any violation¹⁴ of rights for Russian speakers just because a country declines use of another language. After all, she says, Russia does not demand that Americans speak Russian just because there is a Russian diaspora in the United States.

Ethnic¹⁵ Tajiks comprise about 80 percent of Tajikistan's population. Fifteen percent are Uzbeks, one percent Russian and the remainder belong to various other ethnic groups.

Karomat Sharipov says Russian should remain the language of international communication among countries of the former Soviet Union. Abdulfatah Vakhidov says the languages spoken in those countries should be allowed to develop by those who speak them, free of outside interference.

There is no word on when lawmakers will consider the Tajik language bill.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

3 relegated   

v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类

参考例句：

• She was then relegated to the role of assistant. 随后她被降级做助手了。
• I think that should be relegated to the garbage can of history. 我认为应该把它扔进历史的垃圾箱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

5 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

6 retaliatory   

adj.报复的

参考例句：

• The process can take years before the WTO approves retaliatory action. 在WTO通过此行动之前，这个程序恐怕要等上一阵子了。 来自互联网
• Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a punishment. 将惩罚性关税强加于中国相当于对我们自己实施课税惩罚。 来自互联网

7 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

8 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

9 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

10 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。

13 infringe   

v.违反，触犯，侵害

参考例句：

• The jury ruled that he had infringed no rules.陪审团裁决他没有违反任何规定。
• He occasionally infringe the law by parking near a junction.他因偶尔将车停放在交叉口附近而违反规定。

14 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

15 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。