U.S. English Foundation Research

ESTONIA

Language Research

LANGUAGE

The situation in Estonia is very similar to that in Latvia. The Law on Language was adopted on February 21, 1995 and came into force on April 1, 1995. The first article says that Estonian shall be the state language. Any other language besides Estonian shall be considered a foreign language (Article 2), even the language of the historic Estonian national minority's. The precise wording of Articles 8 and 10 is interesting: "in oral communication with employees of State Institutions and Local Governments persons who have no command of the Estonian language may, by mutual agreement, use instead a foreign language mastered by the employees" and "every person shall have the right to receive replies from State Institutions and from Local Governments as well as from the officials thereof in the language of a national minority alongside the Estonian language, where at least half of the permanent residents in a local government unit belong to a national minority". Therefor it is permissible to use a language other than Estonian in certain cases, which is impossible in Latvia.

CITIZENSHIP

The first Law on Citizenship came into force in 1992. From 1992 to May 1995, more than 184,000 persons obtained Estonian citizenship, with 48,500 coming through naturalization. Requirements for gaining citizenship were liberal in comparison with other countries; 5 years minimum residence, elementary knowledge of the Estonian language and Estonian history, and loyalty to the republic. These requirements were tightened in the 1995 Citizenship Law. According to this law children had a right to acquire citizenship by their parents application, if their parents were already naturalized or applying for citizenship together with their children. On December 9, 1997, the Estonian government adopted a draft amendment to the Citizenship Law that allows children born after February 26, 1992 to legally stateless parents, to become citizens upon their parents' application. Parliament had however postponed the adoption of these amendments. This law was finally adopted in 1999.

At the beginning of 1999, there were 503,000 non-Estonians (35% of the population) in Estonia. 144,000 were Estonian citizens, more than 88,000 were Russian citizens, 13,000 were citizens of other countries. For the remaining 250,000 people there are different terms such as alien, person with no determined citizenship, or stateless person.

NATURALIZATION

Knowledge of the Estonian language is the main precondition for naturalization. The government simplified the language test for applicants for Estonian citizenship in 1998 by omitting 10% of the most difficult questions. Success rates became high, around 90%. Still, according to the surveys, 50%-70% of stateless adults are not, in their opinion, able to fulfill the language requirements.

On the other hand, 50%-60% of ethnic Russian citizens wish to become Estonian citizens (if the conditions were less strict) and they want their children to be citizens of Estonia as well. The citizenship policy in Estonia would have presumed the existence of a massive language learning program and its financing. Due to he fact that such a program does not have expected state support, the language requirements can slow down the process of naturalization.

INTEGRATION RATHER THAT ASSIMILATION

In Estonia, the talk is mainly about integration not assimilation. A change to more liberal attitudes is inevitable in both communities. Non-Estonians realized that to link their future with Estonia, they have to look for ways to participate in Estonian society. Their children should be educated in Estonian schools and kindergartens. Non-Estonian should not be evaluated as a problem but as a potential for development and a participant in the reconstruction of Estonia. Estonian language learning should be motivated through a wide variety of social needs and programs.

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Updated (July 2002)

CITIZENSHIP

Estonian society still remains divided along lines of ethnicity and legal status. As of January 1, 2000, ethnic non-Estonians comprised just over a third of the total Estonian population. Full 28 percent of Estonian inhabitants are ethnic Russians. Around 21 percent of the Estonian population still lack citizenship (mainly Russian-speaking minority). Today roughly 275,000 individuals, including an estimated 62 percent of the minority population, are without Estonian citizenship. Some of these persons are citizens of another country, while some 175,000 (including 43 percent of Estonia's minorities) are stateless.

The slow pace does not result from reticence of non-citizens to regularize their status. According to a 1996 survey, a mere 7 percent of stateless persons (and 30 percent of those with Russian citizenship) expressed disinterest in applying. However, doubts among non-citizens about their Estonian language skills are an impeding factor. According to surveys,"50 - 70 percent of stateless adults are not, in their opinion, able to fulfill the language requirements."

Source: Minority Protection in Estonia, Open Society Institute 2001, http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10/233/minority_estonia.pdf, EUMAP (The EU Accession Monitoring Program Report on Minority Protection), http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10

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Updated (November 2002)

Although the Minister for Foreign Affairs Kristiina Ojuland answered the question how she would describe the language policy of Estonia regarding the Russian minority with the words that the official language in the country is Estonian, the reality looks different. According to the latest progress report of the European Commission (October 2002) the Language Law states that employees are required to have a minimum level of Estonian-language ability, proportionate to the public interest of the post. But many employees in the public but also in the private sector are not able to meet these criteria. A Language Inspectorate, responsible for the enforcement of the language legislation, found out that for example some police officers in the Tallinn area have almost no knowledge of Estonian. The situation is similar for a number of prison officers.

Furthermore, the Commission's report estimates that 10 to 12 municipalities still use Russian as their working language. According to the Estonian law it is possible for municipalities to make a request to use Russian as their administrative language in parallel with Estonian if more than 50 percent of the local population are Russian-speakers. So far this option has not been used.

The Minister evaluated positively that Estonia has managed to deal with this sensitive and complex issue in a peaceful way.

Source: Eurolang News, Brussels, October 24, 2002, by Margret Oberhofer, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=3893

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Updated (February 2003)

RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN ESTONIA UNDER ATTACK

Sixteen branches of universities from Russia are currently guaranteeing higher education for the Russian-speaking population in Estonia. This fact; however, is sharply criticized by Gunnar Vaht, a head of the Bureau for Recognition of Foreign Diplomas within the Ministry of Education.

To establish a branch of a foreign university is prohibited by Estonian legislation; however, registering them as "consulting centers" can easily dodge this. Moreover, according to Mr Vaht, young people will receive bad education and invalid diplomas there.

The reason for existence of these schools is obvious. Russian-speaking youngsters cannot get education in Estonian state universities because they do not have a proper command of the Estonian language. They either study in these private Russian universities or leave Estonia to study abroad (mainly in Russia).

The Russian Academician Society of Estonia signed an appeal pointing out that now thousands of graduates of Russian schools from all parts of Estonia study in these universities, at their own expense. They want to receive higher education in their mother tongue. These people are an important intellectual resource for Estonia. An average fee for a one-year course at the Russian branches is about EEK 10,000 (€645), in comparison to EEK 15-24,000 (€1,000-1,500) at public universities.

The Accreditation Center for Higher Education recommended to the Ministry of Education to close these branches. This proposal was approved by the parliamentary fraction of the right-wing Pro Patria party. But the opposition believes that the repressive style in this case is not appropriate, and that the Ministry of Education has to prepare, in a close cooperation with the rectors of Russian-language universities, a state program for non-Estonian higher education. The problem could be resolved if Russian-speaking young people had other opportunities for getting higher education in Estonia.

Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, February 19, 2003, by Alexander Shegedin, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4102

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Updated (August 2004)

CITIZENSHIP

TERMINOLOGY

• "Non-citizens" are all Estonian residents without domestic citizenship. Almost all of them have resided on the territory of Estonia since the country restored its independence¹. Sometimes, such persons are specially called "Soviet era residents".
• "Stateless" are those residents who do not have any citizenship. Estonian authorities normally call them "persons with undetermined citizenship".
• "Non-Estonians" are both citizens and non-citizens of a minority ethnic origin.
• The terms "an Estonian" and "a Russian" are an indication of a person's ethnic origin.

FACTS

1. Non-citizens of Estonia are mostly people who arrived in Estonia after World War II and their successors. The majority of them are ethnic Russians or other Russian-speakers. Stateless people, followed by the citizens of Russia comprise the largest part of this group.
2. In 1992, non-citizens made up 32 percent of the total population. Due to migration, naturalization and other reasons, their percentage dropped to 20 percent in 2000.
3. Currently most of the non-citizens in Estonia reside here on the basis of a permanent residence permit. Soviet era residents do not enjoy a special status and their residence permits may be revoked under certain conditions.
4. At least several thousands aliens reside in Estonia illegally. These people came/were born in Estonia before and after 1991. An expulsion procedure in Estonia is relatively simple.
5. Integration of minority population, including the non-citizens, has recently become an official policy. It is based on acquisition of citizenship and on knowledge of the Estonian language. Integration funds are mostly allocated to a language training of the non-Estonian speakers.
6. The level of Estonian language proficiency among the non-Estonians remains low. In some places they constitute an overwhelming majority of the population.
7. The naturalization procedure is normally based on the exam in the Estonian language and the Constitution/Law on Citizenship exam. More than 120,000 people did naturalize in the period between 1992 and 2003, the majority of them constituted by ethnic Estonians and children under 15 years of age. Most naturalized people received citizenship without a language certificate or a diploma from an Estonian-language educational institution.

Annual naturalization in Estonia (1992 - 2003, October)

Year	No	Year	No
1992	5,421	1998	9,969
1993	20,370	1999	4,534
1994	22,474	2000	3,425
1995	16,674	2001	3,090
1996	22,773	2002	4,091
1997	8,124	2003	3,150

8. A recent sociological study revealed that according to the majority of both stateless people and Russian citizens, language requirements are humiliating and they are considered to be an obstacle to the naturalization. While 55 percent of stateless people think the lack of citizenship does not hinder living in the country, 95 percent of them value the Estonian citizenship as a means to gain security to stay in Estonia.

Why haven't you obtained citizenship yet? (in percent)

REASON	Stateless Persons	Russian Citizens
I am already a citizen of another country	-	85
Cannot learn the Estonian language	61	73
Lack of citizenship does not hinder living in Estonia	55	78
Requirements of citizenship exam are humiliating	61	69
Easier to travel to Russia and other CIS states	38	72
Estonia is too small for its citizenship to have any value in the world	21	34
It would be of little use to me and my family	18	44
Do not feel as belonging to Estonia	9	12
Wish to avoid military service in Estonian army	8	3

According to Article 9 of the Estonian Constitution, the rights, freedoms and duties of each and every person, as set out in the Constitution, shall be equal for Estonian citizens and for citizens of foreign states and stateless persons in Estonia. Nevertheless, the Estonian Constitution permits a differential treatment of non-citizens in certain fields of social life (e.g. Article 28 - right for assistance from the state, Article 29 - freedom of profession, Article 31 - freedom of private enterprise, etc).

Age structure of different status groups in Estonia, in percent (the 2000 Census)

	0-29	30-59	60 and more
Estonian citizens	41	39	20
...including citizens of non-Estonian ethnic origin	39	44	17
Russian citizens	18	40	42
Citizens of other countries	26	52	22
Stateless persons	40	45	15
All Estonian population	40	39	21

Persons who did not graduate from Estonian-language educational institutions may be asked to demonstrate a special proficiency certificate. This document may be issued only after a special exam where an authorized commission checked person's oral and written skills in Estonian. At the moment there are three levels of proficiency. The two highest levels seemed to be an obstacle for many non-Estonian speakers (see the table below). The requirements for proficiency in the Estonian language do not apply to persons who work in Estonia temporarily, as foreign experts or foreign specialists.

Percentage of persons who successfully passed the proficiency level tests in 2002 and 2003 (percentage of participants in the tests)

Level	2002	2003
Lowest	74	77
Middle	52	59
Highest	55	63

EDUCATION

Before 1991 it was possible to receive education either in Estonian or in Russian at all levels in Estonia. Since the country regained its independence, the opportunities of studying in Russian have been shrinking. Currently the public funded higher education institutions offer studies only in Estonian with few expectations for certain groups. There are also some private education institutions where young people, who do not speak good Estonian, may study in Russian².

The right of minority members to elementary and basic education in their mother tongue (Russian) is recognized by prominent political forces in Estonia. As for upper secondary schools (forms 10-12), since the academic year 2007 Estonian will have become a basic means of instruction. After this date 60 percent of all work in minority upper secondary schools will have been done in Estonian. Prolongation of the transition period, however, may be permitted by the authorities on the individual basis (Articles 9 and 52 of the Law on Basic School and Upper Secondary School).

Some non-Estonians decided to send their children to Estonian-language schools while many non-Russian minorities continue sending their children to Russian language schools. At the moment, under certain circumstances, these children have the right to attend classes of mother tongue and culture in publicly funded schools (Article 9 (3)).

OTHER USE

According to Article 10 of the Law on Language (based on Article 51 of the Constitution), "if at least half of the permanent residents of a local self-government belong to a national minority, everyone has the right to receive answers from state agencies operating in the territory of the corresponding local government and from the corresponding local government and officials thereof in the language of the national minority as well as in Estonian."

Both citizens and non-citizens of minority origin can use the benefits of this provision; however, its implementation in practice is rather inconsistent.

The Constitution (Article 52) and the Law on Language (Article 11) foresee the possibility to use a minority language as the second official language in local self-governments where the majority of permanent residents are non-Estonian speakers. However, no local self-government has received permission for bilingual work from the national government so far. Thus local authorities do not append a Russian translation to official invitations, announcements and notices. In practice Russian is widely used only for official informing in the predominantly Russian self-governments.

There is no obligation to use a minority language in consumer's information (including information notes enclosed with drugs and dangerous goods) (Article 16). On the other hand, minority or foreign languages can be used in Estonian courts. In most cases, however, the requirement of interpretation or translation into Estonian will be applied (the Code of Criminal Procedure (Article 16) and the Code of Civil Procedure (Article 7)).

Source: Legal Information Center for Human Rights, Non-citizens in Estonia, Report 2004, Vadim Poleshchuk, http://www.lichr.ee/eng/researchers.analysis/non-citizens.pdf

RUSSIAN CANNOT BE USED IN PAPERWORK IN NARVA

Deputies of the town hall in the eastern Estonian city of Narva³ have again been forbidden to use their native tongue (Russian) in paperwork.

This contravenes the national legislation, which permits the use of a national minority language in documents on the territories where a particular ethnic group makes up the majority of the population. Permission to use the minority languages must be issued by the central government in Tallinn.

According to the Notification on the Denial, which the Narva authorities received from Tallinn, legalization of the Russian language in internal documents might depress the use of the Estonian language in that sphere.

Mikhail Stalnukhin, a member of the Estonian parliament, expects that the town hall deputies will continue speaking Russian at the sessions, but the documents will be issued in Estonian. It is an asset that the government in Tallinn did not object to the Narva deputies' making oral statements to the central authorities in Russian.

Source: IRAT-TASS, July 28, 2004

¹ in 1991.

² However, these institutions do not have accredited programs of master and doctor studies.

³ Narva is Estonia's third largest city, and the Russians make up 96 percent of its population.

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Updated (October 2004)

YOUNG RUSSIANS ARE NOT ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT LEARNING ESTONIAN

An opinion poll, conducted by the Estonian Sociological Center "Faktum", has examined the Estonian state integration program providing Estonian language studies to young Russian speakers. The results demonstrate growing opposition to the program. Only 33 percent of the young Russians consider a good command of the Estonian language to be essential; however, 28 percent of them think there is no point in learning Estonian.

A part of the research also dealt with the Estonian school reform¹. Forty-eight percent of the Russian respondents are against it as well as many experts who fear that the reform will provoke tensions between the two big language communities in Estonia.

According to an MP and a member of the Estonian Integration Council, Sergei Ivanov, the Faktum poll proved that many young Russians do not regard themselves as fully-fledged members of the Estonian society and they suffer an identity crisis.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union many residents of Estonia (mostly Russian speakers) have been left with no citizenship. Many young ethnic Russians would like to leave Estonia what can explain their lack of enthusiasm for learning Estonian.

Source: Eurolang News, by Alexander Shegedin, Tallinn, October 11, 2004, www.eurolang.net

¹ The government plans to change 40 percent of the teaching program in Russian-medium schools to Estonian from September 1, 2007.

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Updated (November 2004)

RUSSIAN-MEDIUM EDUCATION IN ESTONIA WILL NOT BE ABOLISHED

The Estonian Minister of Education, Toivo Maimets, assured that nobody wants to abolish Russian-medium education in Estonia. According to the Minister, the government plans to switch 60 percent of Russian-medium schooling (in the 10th and 12th grades) into the Estonian language. However, unlike Latvia, Estonian local authorities have the right to apply to the central government to postpone the reform in those schools which are not ready.

There is no fixed date for the switch in Estonia when the year 2007 is only a starting point for the reform. The Minister claimed that Russian schools have a wide range of opportunities to implement the reform, taking into consideration the real abilities of schools, the wishes of parents and school-children's abilities.

In Latvia the reform resulted in the growing tension between the Latvians and Russians. Mr. Maimets admitted that though the countries have come along very similar roads on the strategic level, their tactics are different. The deadline for the Estonian school reform is not fixed and local authorities can keep Russian-medium education in certain schools if it is necessary.

By 2007 the Estonian authorities should have a clearer picture about the changes in Russian-language education in Estonia. They understand that it is important to guarantee both the ability to teach in the Estonian language and the quality of teaching.

Source: Eurolang News, Tallinn, November 8, 2004, by Alexander Shegedin, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4801

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Updated (July 2007)

TEACHERS DO NOT SPEAK ESTONIAN AT THE REQUIRED LEVEL

Estonian language inspectors have visited the East–Viru county vocational education center and found that all but one of the teachers were unable to speak Estonian at the required level. The teachers who failed will be required to take another test before October 1.

The inspectors also issued misdemeanors to 42 teachers who failed to improve their language skills as per orders from previous year's inspections.

Further, they also visited the nearby East–Viru county central hospital, where they required 466 employees of the hospital to take the language tests. Approximately 200 misdemeanors were handed out at the hospital.

Source: Baltic Times, June 20, 2007

http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/18088/

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Updated (September 2007)

A NEW SCHOOL REFORM CAME INTO FORCE AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

The new reform of the education system in Russian–language schools entered into force on 3 September but the education authorities have pointed out that the reforms were far from a broad imposition of the Estonian language upon the Russian minority. The Estonian–language literature classes amount only to one hour of tuition per week, affect just 34 schools and are only applied to students in the tenth grade. The reform, however, will be introduced gradually subject by subject and by the year 2011, 60 percent of tenth-grade subjects at the Russian–language schools will be delivered in Estonian.

The changes into the education system failed to spark widespread outrage, as occurred in Latvia three years ago when similar reforms were attempted.

Irene Kaosaar, head of Minorities Education Department at the Ministry of Education, said she was optimistic that the Russian community understood the need to teach young people Estonian. The tertiary education prospects of young people depended on their ability to speak Estonian, as there are very few university courses delivered in Russian, she also added.

During the summer, 40 teachers attended special training courses at the University of Tallinn to help them prepare for the changes. Moreover, schools have been equipped with textbooks and audio guides that help teach the subject “as a second language”.

This is, however, not a big change for many students as they usually study Estonian from the first grade for about three hours per week. Furthermore, many schools, including those in the heavily Russian-populated areas, offer immersion classes in certain subjects. Therefore, the change will only affect 34 out of 63 Russian schools, as the rest of them already deliver the Estonian literature subject in its native language. The country’s five private Russian schools have also signed up for the reforms voluntarily.

Source: The Baltic Times, News, September 5, 2007 by Joel Alas

http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/18702/

A HEATED DEBATE OVER THE NEW INTEGRATION PROGRAM

At a conference, entitled “Integration in Estonian Society 2008 – 13”, representatives from the government, minority groups and academics met together to debate the key points of a new integration program.

The delegates spoke passionately about their objections to the program, which bases nearly all its objectives on the requirement of non–ethnic Estonians to learn the national language. Once created, the integration program will be used as a guideline for government departments and other institutions, and will set a number of objectives to be met by 2013.

At the conference, Ain Aaviksoo from the Praxis Center for Policy Studies (an organization hired by the government to help formulate the policy), said that Estonia should drop its defensive attitude towards its national language and improve the situation by a more positive promotion of the language and a kinder attitude to new speakers. He added that the language could survive only if others are positively encouraged to learn it.

The new integration program has been criticized for focusing too heavily on language issues. Liidia Kolvart, representative of the minorities advocacy group Luura, said the integration program failed to define what kind of society Estonia wanted to become. “The only priority of this program and previous programs is studying Estonian,” Kolvart noted. She also added that the program, which is currently in formation, appeared no different from the previous ones – they also placed full priority on assimilating all residents to become Estonian speakers.

Source: The Baltic Times, News, September 12, 2007 by Joel Alas http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/18768/

RUSSIAN–SPEAKING CABLE TV IS TO BE BANNED

The language authorities in Estonia plan to ban Russian–speaking cable TV Orsent as it does not transmit programs in the national language, and thus it violates the Language Law. According to the language inspection, the Orsent TV–channel, which was once closed in 2004 for the same violations, keeps on transmitting films, TV programs and advertising without translation into the Estonian language.

The inspection has appealed to the Ministry of Culture to know how Orsent TV channel got five–year license for transmission. Then, it plans to meet the channel authorities to decide whether to start a case of offense or to ban its transmission.

Source: Russia–Info Center, News Archive – Russia International, September 6, 2007 http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/4704/

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