Speak Russian or be silent. Nationalist lawmakers want to ban foreign languages at the workplace — a rule that would leave some foreigners speechless.
Two deputies from flamboyant ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s party introduced a bill on Dec. 12 last year that would bar Russians and foreigners from speaking foreign languages on the job during working hours, state-run RIA news agency reported.
It cited a summary of the proposal as saying that many foreigners do not know Russian and “speak amongst themselves in their own language at the workplace during work hours, which makes the native Russian population indignant.”
That explanation suggested the bill is aimed mainly to control the speech of migrant workers from former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus, whose growing presence in Russia has led to ethnic tension.
Some Russians accuse migrants of a lack of respect for Russian culture and say they should assimilate or leave.
(Liberty Times)
要不說俄語,要不就別說話。民族主義的議員希望在工作場合禁止外國語言,這項規定將使得一些外國人無話可說。
國營的RIA通訊社報導,極端民族主義者弗拉吉米爾‧季里諾夫斯基所屬政黨的兩名代表,去年十二月十二日提出一項法案,將禁止俄羅斯人與外國人在工作時間說外語。
報導引述提案摘要說,許多外國人不懂俄語,「他們在工作時間,在工作場合,彼此說著自己的語言,讓本地人(俄羅斯人)憤慨」。
那項解釋顯示,此項法案主旨在控制來自中亞與高加索地區的前蘇聯國家移工的語言,這些族群在俄羅斯越來越多,導致種族緊張。
部分俄羅斯人指控移工對俄羅斯文化缺乏尊重,說他們應該同化,要不就是離開。
(自由時報/翻譯:自由時報國際新聞中心)
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