The Belarusian language is growing in popularity and influence, Igor Kopylov, the Director of the Yakub Kolas Institute of Linguistics at the Research Center for Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature at Belarus' National Academy of Sciences (NASB), said when speaking at a roundtable discussion on the role of the Belarusian language in science, education, and legislation on 21 February.
“I am pleased to note that the Belarusian language is popular with the youth nowadays. The language is also fashionable and prestigious in business today. Its Internet presence is expanding, lots of fiction books are published in Belarusian. There are also more and more advertisements in the language. What is more, Belarusian is also used in church,” Igor Kopylov said.
He also noted that the Belarusian language is less widely used in some other areas of life. “These are education, science, and legislation. Today, we have gathered here to discuss and find the ways to solve the existing issues of the functioning of the Belarusian language in the society, to draw up guidelines and suggestions on how to expand its usage,” Igor Kopylov added.
The NASB Mother Language Week is held from 20 to 26 February 2017. It is dedicated to the International Mother Language Day, celebrated annually on 21 February. On this day, the NASB Yakub Kolas Institute of Linguistics hosted a roundtable discussion featuring the representatives of Belarusian government agencies, MPs, professors from the Minsk universities, journalists, the senior staff and young scientists of the NASB.