[lg policy] Russian Duma Member Pledges to Learn Estonian (

[Harold Schiffman]

Russian Duma Member Pledges to Learn Estonian (1)

Major General Tatyana Moskalkova, head of the Estonian-Russian
parliamentary group in Russia's Duma, has said that she intends to
learn the Estonian language. The MP's statement came at the beginning
of a three-day visit to Estonia, on which she was accompanied by
members of Duma committees on local government, federal affairs and
regional policy, Postimees wrote. During their visit, the first by a
Russian parliamentary delegation since 2006, the Duma members plan to
discuss issues related to the border, the situation of pensioners,
non-citizens and language policy.

"The question of the Russian language is one of the most significant
in the entire post-Soviet space," said Moskalkova. "We are extremely
interested in having the Russian language preserved in the younger
generation in Estonia. I am setting myself the task of learning
Estonian, since I am the coordinator of the Estonian-Russian
parliamentary group."

Moskalkova's pledge is likely to be met with a mixture of appreciation
and skepticism in Estonia, since the grammatically complex,
Finno-Ugric language has proven difficult for most foreigners to
master.

On November 24 the deputies met with Speaker of Parliament Ene Ergma,
members of the Estonian-Russian parliamentary group and the
parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, as well as with officials
from the Foreign Ministry. Over the next two days they will also meet
with officials and visit cultural sites in Tartu and Narva, the city
with the highest percentage of native Russian speakers.

http://news.err.ee/politics/6a2d9dd9-629d-4958-8b0a-3c812608f75f

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list