The sample of rendering

The article I am going to give a review of is taken from the “Rossijskaya Gazetta” dated at January, 28, 2011. It is published under the eye-catching and screaming headline “The Russians have come and speak”.

The subheading and a short introduction to the interview quickly identify the issue of multiculturalism as controversial. With the help of Russian language teachers from Ukraine, Germany, Latvia, Belarus, laureates of the Pushkin’s Contest organized by the “Rossijskaya Gazetta”, the interviewer Jadviga Juferova explains why it is controversial.

In the subheading the author reminds the reader of the fact that it is already 20 years since the former Soviet republics have been going their different ways. And it’s high time we look at the problems of our compatriots, who having stayed there, needed to accept new standards of life. The question arises how well they have adapted themselves to the traditions and culture of the countries whose citizens they have become.

Establishing her perspective on the issue, the author is using an appeal to the authority. She cites Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, who has recently stated that multiculturalism “completely fell through in her country”. On the one hand, immigrants ought to adjust themselves to the customs and traditions of their new motherland. And the government is going to be tough in this respect. On the other hand, the real problem is that there are quite a number of immigrants who refuse to integrate into society, thus violating the law of the country. The author supplies a statistic which adds validity to this assertion. In Germany there are 3 million of Russian people and the controversy is whether they should fully assimilate into the culture and language of the foreign country or try to save their own roots.

Having set up the main idea of the interview, the author proceeds with a series of questions that help to clarify this debatable issue. She is interested whether the flood of immigrants with poor knowledge of German irritates the local population, whether the attitude to foreign children at schools is tolerated or not, and whether bilingual children themselves are tolerant.

Svetlana Morozova, a teacher from Germany, stresses that these questions are not easy to answer because there is no one answer. Firstly, she explicitly expresses an opinion about those Russians who came to Germany from the former Soviet republics by stating that their cultural level is not very high. This factor determines their attitude to reality and to the local culture. Svetlana expresses a belief that in Germany it is quite possible to preserve one’s own culture and to obtain the knowledge of the German language. Everything depends on a person’s will and desire.

Secondly, she identifies the problem of intolerance on the part of the local population. The citation of the inscription at the railway station serves as a piece of evidence that the problem does exist. But on the whole the Germans (especially educators, doctors, clerks) are quite tolerant and are even afraid of being accused of intolerance.

In conclusion the interviewee expresses her appreciation of the steps made by the state authorities, who support intergration by alotting more money to associated projects every year. But at the same time there are a lot of cities that continue to have self-segregated communities which show the reluctance of the immigrants to intergrate.