Moscow Gave the Karelian Language a Translator — But Not Karelia the Right to Choose Its Future
On 8 September 2026, Yandex Translate added the Karelian language. More than 86,000 parallel sentences were supplied for the language model, along with around 100,000 additional text fragments to expand […]
Moscow Celebrates the Languages of Its Nations While Reinforcing the Russian-Language Imperial Vertical
On 8 September 2026, Russia marked its so-called Day of the Languages of the Nations of the Russian Federation for the first time. The Kremlin spoke of nearly 200 peoples, […]
7 March 1937 – the linguocide of the Buryat people. The centuries-old tragedy of the Buryats – causes and consequences
In 1937, the Buryat people were banned from using their national script. Today, the Buryat language is considered endangered, and UNESCO predicts it will disappear by mid-century. This tragedy led […]
Buryat language and literature will not be taught to new students at Irkutsk State University
Buryat language and literature are not among the programmes of study for which Irkutsk State University will be recruiting students this summer, Buryat Irkutsk noted. Previously, there were state-funded places […]
About the Belarusian Shot Revival, translations and music. Ales Plotka
This is the second episode of “Language Question” — a podcast about endangered languages, where we will help you understand these languages as part of a common heritage that deserves […]
Ruslan Gabbasov: I have never been able to understand and will never understand those who oppose the mandatory study of the Bashkir language
I have never been able to understand and will never understand those who oppose the mandatory study of the Bashkir language (or any other language of the national republic). You […]
“The goal is total Russification.” Moscow cuts hours of teaching native languages: at present from two to one
Starting from 1 September, Russian schools will reduce the number of hours for teaching native languages: instead of two, to one hour per week. This will especially affect non-Russian-language schools, […]
In a New Threat to Non-Russians, Moscow Wants to Stop Calling Their Languages ‘Native’
The Russian government has come up with draft legislation it hopes to push through quietly that will require schools to stop calling the languages non-Russians speak “native” and instead refer […]
The Russian language is being pushed out of Kyrgyzstan
Interesting news from Kyrgyzstan, a country that is perhaps Russia’s biggest ally in Central Asia. The country’s national parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh, has passed a law to protect and promote […]
“Since about the age of ten, I realized I was different”: a conversation with an East Slobozhanshchyna Cossack-Ukrainian from the Voronezh region
This story is about loss and preservation. About how generations of Ukrainians were systematically deprived of their memory, language, and even nationality in official documents. The interviewee is Mykola (name changed for safety reasons), an East Slobozhanshchyna Ukrainian Cossack. He was born and raised in the Novokhopyorsk district of Voronezh Oblast — a region where Ukrainian used to be spoken in families, but over time it was banned, ridiculed, and erased. Some details have been intentionally omitted for safety reasons.
