Latvia bans teaching Russian as second foreign language starting 2026

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Salamence@lemmy.zip⁩ to ⁨globalnews@lemmy.zip⁩

https://ua.news/en/world/u-latviyi-zaboroniaiut-vivchennia-rosiiskoyi-iak-drugoyi-inozemnoyi-movi-z-2026-roku

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7224815

From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.

Starting the same date, Russian-language TV and radio broadcasting will be banned in state media. Additionally, the VAT on sales of Russian-language books will increase to 21%.

These measures aim to reduce the presence of the Russian language and strengthen the role of the Latvian language in society.

Russian is the native language for 36% of Latvians.^[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language_in_Latvia]

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bluGill@fedia.io ⁨22⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
Russian is useful to know if you are a spy but otherwise not worth it

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Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’m confused. So bilinguals in Latvia can’t learn Russian but everyone else can?

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- hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  First foreign language is always English, then later they can choose a 2nd foreign language to study, now restricted to official languages of EU countries
  
  Latvia has a very large Russian minority, over 20% of the population, so Russian has been popular language to pick - partially because many schools just may not have (enough) teachers for other options
  
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