They not only give opinion on non-Lithuanian names

17-person State Commission on the Lithuanian Language appointed by Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament) not only gives opinion on the possibility of writing a name in the original form in Lithuanian identity documents but also appointed 7 subcommissions. One of them, that is, the Textbook Assessment Subcommission assesses the language of school and academic textbooks.

On Thursday, the 25^th of September, 7-person Textbook Assessment Subcommission assessed the textbook “Gospodarka w 31 godzinę” for 9-10 grade comprehensive schools. As the members of the Subcommission informed, the textbook received positive assessment, that is, experts of the Subcommission said that it meets the requirements of language correctness.

Moreover, the Subcommission have also assessed nine textbooks for students of higher education in Lithuania. Linguists agreed that the language of four textbooks should be improved, five textbooks does not meet the requirements connected with language correctness because they contain mistakes and language shorcomings.

We remind you that on the 5^th of October on the application of Lithuania Seimas, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language gave the opinion that non-Lithuanian names can be written in the original form in passport but only when a non-Lithuanian name was acquired through marriage with a foreigner or a foreigner acqcuired Lithuanian citizenship.

National minorities living in Lithuania are disadvantaged once again. Their names will be written in accordance with the old rule which says that names should be written by the letters of Lithuanian alphabet depending on how they sound. The Chairperson of the State Commission of Lithuanian Language Daiva Vaišnienė PhD was asked by journalists about the names of Poles that live in Lithuania and relying on the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, she said that there is no possibility to write the original form of a name in identity documents.

The resolutions of the Commission are legally binding for all state and local government offices, all institutions, companies and organisations.

Moreover, on the 1^st of May 2003 the first Lithuanian regulations according to which the names of new companies should be subject to the control of the linguists of the State Commission of Lithuanian Language came into force.