Three letters that threaten Lithuanian language

In May 2013 14 MPs from various parliamentary groups registered a project of amendments to the Civil Code which would allow for using the following letters from the Latin alphabet: “w,” “q,” and “x” in the names of legal persons.

On June 12, 2013 (Tuesday), the Seimas rejected the amendments to the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania drafted by a group of MPs. 14 MPs voted for the project, 12 voted against it, and 14 abstained from the vote. The project was rejected for re-examination.

The proposed amendments are not even aimed at permitting the Polish spelling of names or names of streets, but at using letters of the Latin alphabet in the names of companies and enterprises.

“Small things lead to big things,” said Leonard Talmont MP (the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania), when commenting upon the results of the Tuesday vote. “If one can reject a small amendment, one can likewise reject a big one.”

The project stipulated that “the name of legal person had to be created on the basis of the norms of the official Lithuanian language, with the exception of words from local dialects and foreign words coined on the basis of the Latin alphabet.” The project also said that “the name of a legal entity could be created from letters of the Lithuanian or Latin alphabet (which could not make meaningful words), numbers, and combinations of numbers.”

According to one of the originators of the project, Liberal Remigijus Šimašius, a great number of other European countries, including Latvia and Estonia, use such a procedure. What is more, international companies now use non-Lithuanian letters to create their own names, although, theoretically, the Civil Code forbids this.

“The ban has been in place for several years now, but it has been so strictly obeyed just recently,” said Šimašius.

In the meantime, critics of the project claim that it is necessary that the Lithuanian language be protected and explain that the project humiliates it.

“Why are you destroying the Lithuanian language?” asked Vida Marija Čigriejienė MP (Conservatives).

“This is not as humiliating for the Lithuanian language as it is for Estonian, Danish, and other languages,” said Remigijus Šimašius.

Conservative Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė voiced her indignation that, nowadays in the names of companies and enterprises in Lithuania, there are a lot of non-Lithuanian words. She was surprised that one cannot find Lithuanian expressions in their names and said that the name of a hotel in the MolėtaiDistrictMunicipality– “Santa Barbara” – was a very negative example of that.

Šimašius said that it is a name of a city in the USA and the Civil Code does not forbid using it. According to Šimašius, an amendment is necessary for entrepreneurs operating in international business.

Such an amendment would make the process of setting up companies more efficient. It is now hindered by a government resolution in accordance to which, since May 2013, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language has had to approve the name of every new company or organisation. The Commission has to act upon the regulations included in the Civil Code, which permits only the use of Lithuanian letters in the names of companies and enterprises. As far as the spelling of registered trademarks is concerned, the use of non-Lithuanian letters is allowed at present.

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2013/06/12/trzy-literki-zagrazaja-jezykowi-litewskiemu/

Tłumaczenie by Elwira Łykus w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Elwira Łykus within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.