Native speech

Now on June 6 in Russia the day of the Russian language will be celebrated. Dmitry Medvedev signed the corresponding decree yesterday during a visit to the Pushkin State Language State Institute. This visit was not accidental - on June 6, 2011, the 212 years since the birth of an outstanding Russian poet. “In my opinion, I couldn’t find the best day for the Russian Language Day, I had no hesitation here,” the president explained the choice for the holiday.

At the same time, Medvedev noted that it is necessary to engage in Russian not only on holidays, but “every day, especially since every person living in our country uses this language.” Within the walls of the institute, the president met with representatives of the scientific and educational community, linguists, employees of the Russian Mir Foundation, young Russianists, specialists in popularizing the Russian language on the Internet. “The Russian language is the highest value that exists in our country. I don’t even know what it can be compared with, ”Medvedev said, speaking to teachers and students.

During yesterday's visit, the Minister of Education and Culture Andrei Fursenko fell into an extremely awkward situation.

Employees of the institute demonstrated Dmitry Medvedev how first-year students are tested, using the interactive system of dictations (on the Gramota.ru reference and information portal).
During the test, you need to insert the correct words or individual letters into the finished text, and then check the correct completion of the tasks and read the rules that were violated. Medvedev first wanted to test his knowledge, but at the last moment changed his mind. Having explained that “does not want to substitute for obvious reasons,” the president proposed testing just the Minister of Education for literacy. However, Fursenko reacted to Medvedev’s proposal without enthusiasm and tried to laugh it off: “Next time. If you sign something, then I can. " "Yes. The main thing is not to make more mistakes than the guys, ”the president commented on the refusal of the minister. Subsequently, Fursenko had to explain his refusal to colleagues and even someone on the phone, Kommersant notes. “I’ve been writing for many years for many years,” he laughed.

Photo: PaUXLINKA, Flickr.com

Not without a small attack on the exam. The President of the International Association of Teachers of the Russian Language and Literature Lyudmila Verbitskaya proposed returning the usual essay to school exams, claiming that because of the exam, schoolchildren will soon learn to speak and write. Dmitry Medvedev did not respond to this proposal in any way, but Fursenko noted that today from the Internet you can write off “one hundred options for any compositions”, and therefore this method of testing knowledge cannot be effective.

The president did not have time to sign a decree on the establishment of a new holiday, a scandal had already flared up around him. The leader of the Communists, Gennady Zyuganov, condemned "United Russia", which, according to him, "privatized everything related to Russian spirituality." The Communists claimed that they were the first to propose to celebrate the day of the Russian language on June 6, but their bill rejected their bill in the Ministry of Culture, and now representatives of the authorities are realizing other people's ideas.

It is possible that on June 6 it will become a holiday in Ukraine. According to REGNUM , the Verkhovna Rada deputy from the Party of Regions Vadim Kolesnichenko invited the parliament to proclaim this date of the day of the Russian language. Russia has long been expecting from the Ukrainian authorities the adoption of a law that would establish a special status for the Russian language, because, as it follows from hundreds of polls, more than 30 percent of citizens believe that both Ukrainian and Russian languages ​​should be state -owned throughout the country.

However, on June 6, it has long been a holiday for those who appreciate the Russian language and Russian culture. In honor of the birthday of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, exhibitions, literary readings and festivals are held throughout the country. In addition, holiday events are held in other countries of the world. Yesterday, a concert was held in New York, dedicated to World Russian Language Day, and in Cairo the Russian embassy presented a monument to the great Russian poet, KM.RU reports. However, experts found that Russian schoolchildren relate to this date with much less interest. According to them, the school curriculum does not give students those knowledge about Pushkin that could interest children and adolescents. Moreover, sometimes inept teaching causes only a negative attitude to the poet’s work.

Last year, June 6 was already celebrated as the Day of the Russian Language. But then it was the initiative of the UN, which appropriated to each of the six working languages ​​of this organization (in addition to Russian, these include English, French Spanish, Chinese and Arabic).

Today, the Russian language is one of the most common in the world. According to the UN, over 260 million people talk around it

In the CIS, USA, Canada, Israel, Germany, Poland, Turkey and other countries, and about 150 million of them consider Russian native language. In Russia, more than 130 million people speak it, while at least 110 million Russians is a Russian language is native language.

Experts claim that the number of Russian -speakers around the world is increasing. According to the head of the Russian Mir Foundation, Vyacheslav Nikonov, about 6 percent of the European Union citizens speak Russian. Nikonov called for support to foreign schools where training is conducted in Russian. At the same time, the expert noted that the Russian language "was punished in many countries."

Dmitry Medvedev agreed with this statement and spoke out for the spread of broadcasting of Russian television channels. The President did not exclude that one of the topics of the Russia-Es Summit, which will be held in Nizhny Novgorod, can be the status of the Russian language in European countries. Moreover, as many specialists recognized at yesterday's meeting with the president, in Europe, interest in the Russian language is only growing.

The Russian authorities, in turn, are ready to allocate significant funds for the popularization and development of the Russian language - it is planned to spend 2.5 billion rubles in the Russian language FCP “Russian language” for five years.