Język polski na Białorusi
Polish language in the republic of Belarus

Summary/Abstract: The situation of the Polish minority in Belarus was always difficult because the politics of Belarusian authorities was focused on destruction of anything connected with Polish culture or possessing Polish roots: intelligentsia, school, theatres, press. The reestablishing of Polish education in late 80-ties of the last century started from scratch therefore and the biggest amount of learners studied Polish in late 90-ties of the XX century. Recently the amount of students has decreased which is explained by the current demographical and political situation. The most significant influence on forming national consciousness is possesses by family. Unfortunately nowadays it is being observed that most of Polish families has not performed that function anymore and using of Polish language by members of Polish families is decreasing. The leading role of Polish language in a Catholic liturgy is changing as well: the word “Catholic” does not mean “Pole”. According to surveys 66% of Catholics would prefer Polish as the language of liturgy, 20% – Belarusian, 10% – Russian and Polish, 4% – another language. This situation creates the possibility of disappearing of Polish language from liturgy and catechism. Consequently the role of Polish schools and organizations in education of chil¬dren and teenagers has increased. Language acquisition begins in kindergartens dur¬ing extra lessons or within Polish groups. The forms of language acquisition at school vary a lot. Most of the students learn Polish languages after-hours, some of them attends required Polish classes at school. Moreover there are two Polish schools of Grodno region. There is an opportunity of studying Polish language in high educational estab¬lishments in Belarus, e.g. in Grodno State University Polish language department has existed since 1989 and it prepares its students to teaching Polish language. Farther development of Polish education in Belarus depends on both factors the Poles attitude and current political situation in the country.

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