My nation was so moved with “What? When? Where?” game recently that today the issue of officials’ speaking Russian during that game is more discussed in the press than the Karabakh issue. I am not going to participate in the debate whether broadcasting a TV show in Russian is legal in Armenia. In my opinion, the National Commission on TV and Radio (NCTR) has to answer that question, but the only result of that commission during the past 10 years was not allowing “A1+” to broadcast, NCTR doesn’t care for the rest.
But even if broadcasting a game in Russian is a serious violation of the law, one must probably take into consideration that the show goes on air only a few times a year. And, for example, foreign movies dubbed into Russian without synchronized translation provided for by the law are shown on different channels every day, sometimes a few times a day, and no one seems to protest against it. Since the language is at issue, it is probably worth to pay attention to the language of some TV series, which seems to be Armenia, but in reality is contemporary rabis (labor art) “newspeak” (if we use the well-known term from George Orwell’s well-known novel). That language is surely worse than literate Russian.
I want to say that “What? Where? When?” game is not the thing that should arouse particular social anger. Here we have not the most undistinguished sons of our nation, to say the least, who show their not-so-bad traits. Therefore, one can wait for one or two years, while our representatives will negotiate with the game owners and let’s hope that they will gain the right to conduct the local rounds of the game in our official language.
I would not show the same tolerance toward a show, at which guys from some unknown Armenian “jungles” try to “hook” girls completely corresponding to their intellect. Or perhaps the other way around, the language and mentality of that TV show characters is too hard for me to understand.
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As for the language itself, it seems to me that it is time for our respected political scientists Richard Giragosian and Alexander Iskandaryan to hold press conferences and give interviews in our native language, they have lived in Armenia for quite a long time already. Why is it necessary for intelligent people to make speeches in Armenian? It is very simple, in order that our language facts are developed, crystalized in social, scientific fields. It will also help to conduct “What? Where? When?” game in our official language.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
