Second state. Anthropological

Do you think that if Russian is given the status of a state language in Latvia, then all residents of the country will speak two languages? This can be done now. If there are two official languages ​​in the country, then Russians will use only Russian. And Latvians - both. Although they almost always do this now, it is voluntarily.

This lesson was learned by Latvia during the years of Soviet power. It was then that the number of speakers of the Latvian language sharply decreased. Due to the extermination and expulsion of a large number of Latvians from the country. Due to the forced emigration of a large proportion of the local population. Due to the entry into the country of a large number of people who did not necessarily need to learn the language of the country of their new residence.

It is impossible in a single state to give equal status to languages, one of which is on the verge of extinction, and the second is spoken by a fairly large population. If this is done, then the line separating the first one from extinction will cease to exist. You can ask linguists. They will knowledgeably tell you that the fewer speakers a language has, the more difficult it is for representatives of the larger linguistic population to learn it. And many Latvians also understand this and often meet these representatives of large linguistic populations halfway. They go differently in accordance with their concepts and beliefs. Some people switch to the language of their interlocutor, while others, on the contrary, patiently continue to speak Latvian, giving you the opportunity to practice speaking in the state language. They need a lot of patience for this.

As Latvians themselves say, they can hardly stand it when their native language is distorted, so it is easier for them to switch to a language that the interlocutor knows - Russian or English. They reproach themselves with this weakness when it comes to the fact that Russians speak Latvian poorly. They do not create conditions for language practice.

So Latvians defending their language as the only state language is not revenge for the Soviet years. This is an elementary remedy against its disappearance. And all reasonable people should support these efforts. After all, the next disappearance of any language on the planet is an irreparable loss for the entire world culture.