austraLasia 1143
Russian in our region!
ULAAN BAATAR: 23rd May 2005 -- It may come as
a surprise to know that Russian is spoken in at least one part of the East
Asia-Oceania Region. In Mongolia. And for twelve months or so now,
there has also been a Salesian Bulletin produced in Russian...from Gatchina in
Russia. Mongolia and Russia are neighbours.
With that knowledge, the Salesian Regional
for EAO, Fr Klement, has asked Russian Salesians and Salesians working in
Russia to consider supporting the Mongolian mission with Russian
materials, especially educational, Salesian and biblical materials.
Not that all Mongolians speak Russian, though probably most adults have at
least a smattering of Russian. So why the
request?
In 1944 the then Russian-dominated
government decreed that the Cyrillic script be used instead of the ancient
Mongolian script. The Khalkha dialect of Mongolian, which the
majority speak, is not in itself so close to Russian, but rather closer to
Turkish. A 1991 government decision to return to Mongolian script is more
a decision on paper than in fact, partly because of the financial and
educational implications of such decisions.
Hence it makes some sense for the Salesians
in Mongolia, who need to provide materials in the language, to find the best way
to translate the materials they need for education and evangelisation - and to
do it from Russian is much easier than from English or Italian because of the
script. Good thinking, probably from a Regional who has more than a smattering of Russian himself!
By the way, ever wondered why all those
double 'a's in Mongolian names, like Ulaan and Baatar (sometimes written as one
word)? Double letters in the romanised version indicate
stress.
VOCABULARY
smattering: a little bit of,
used mainly in reference to knowledge of language.
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