The Lithuanian writers against the original spelling of names

45 Lithuanian writers expressed their outrage at the intention of legitimizing the spelling of non-Lithuanian names in the original in documents.

In the widespread letter to the president, the chairwoman of the Parliament, the Prime Minister and the head of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, the Lithuanian writers reminded of the alleged threat that would appear as a result of the changes. According to the authors of the letter, when the original spelling of names comes into force, there will be about 150 new letters and diacritics in the use of the Lithuanian language.

“It will be contrary to the constitutional principle of the state language, it will disrupt the work of state and self-government institutions, as well as other enterprises, institutions and organizations. Only the small number of people will be able to learn such a number of new letters and diacritical marks (…)” – these are just some of the reasons mentioned by the authors of the letter.

According to the writers, the adoption of the amendments would lead to discrimination against those citizens whose names are not written in Latin letters. This group includes Tatars, Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Georgians and Armenians.

Among others, the letter was signed by such writers as: Vidmantė Jasukaitytė, Mikelinskas Jonas Vytautas Rubavičius, Arvydas Juozaitis, Jurgis Gimberis, Julius Keleras, Rimvydas Stankevičius, Mrs Dalia Teišerskytė.

Source: http://zw.lt/litwa/litewscy-pisarze-przeciwko-oryginalnej-pisowni-nazwisk/

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