LET'S SPEAK AZERBAIJANI

Almost all thinking persons ask themselves at some point about the purpose of their existence, weighing all the pros and cons. But the only answer can be that the purpose of life is life itself and its dignified continuation: our progeny should have a good upbringing, an excellent education and become cultured people. We all want this to happen, not only in some foreign lands, but in our Motherland too. And if we want this to happen in Azerbaijan, we must create the appropriate conditions. We love to deliberate on the issue of patriotism, but our textbooks still have sad misprints (a problem which R+ has raised more than once - author) which do not help at all in raising the next generation. And we continue to connive at this situation, forgetting that it all begins with the first book in one's mother tongue, with the Azerbaijani language textbook at school.

"Where does Motherland begin?"

As the problem of the "Azerbaijani-speaking" versus "Russian-speaking" population remains pressing in the country, we must do our best to make certain that future generations, first and foremost, speak the Azerbaijani language very well and are also fluent in Russian, English and other languages. We need an educated society - this is precisely where Motherland and patriotism begin. We need to promote the Azerbaijani language and, therefore, it is time to stop chiding the older generation - those people who, because of the circumstances of their lives, do not speak Azerbaijani - and start working. Everyone knows about Israel's experience in this area: there are plenty of FREE Hebrew teaching centres in that country, let alone the fact that centres of Israeli culture and Hebrew language have been established in many countries of the world, including in Azerbaijan. This is what it means to safeguard and care about the mother tongue. Why can we not emulate this experience? There are going to be plenty of people who would like to learn Azerbaijani but cannot afford to pay for classes.

The issues of a patriotic education for youth, love of the native tongue and preservation of its purity is closely linked with which books of folklore our children read first. To our great regret, we have to admit that in Azerbaijan, we do not pay due attention to this very important aspect, although writing, editing and publishing books for children should be the work of the most professional linguists. What do we have instead?  I recall the anger of a mother with a one-year-old daughter. "I want my child to speak good Azerbaijani, which is why I tell her fairy tales only in our language. I decided to look for good children's books in the Azerbaijani language: the market here is saturated with excellent, well-thought-out, well-illustrated and well-designed books in Russian. But no similar books are available in Azerbaijani. The interesting thing is that Azerbaijani-language children's books are very badly illustrated - they are in the realms of surrealism, in which even an adult has difficulty figuring out what is depicted, let alone a child. There is poor-quality paper, small letters and 'poisonous' printing ink. And the adaptations of old fairy tales are equally removed from both perfection and from purity of language."

Many of the problems with the Azerbaijani language have worsened following the transition to the Latin alphabet, although this was an inevitable consequence of changing times. "In the 20th century alone, we have changed our alphabet three times. No sooner would the people get used to one alphabet than they had to accustom themselves to another - Arabic, Latin, Cyrillic, Latin," said Elmira Axundova, Assistant Professor at the Baku Slavic University, linguist and vice president of the Rasul Rza International Literary Fund. "Every time, the nation had to part with the preceding literary tradition and this resulted in complete illiteracy. Children who study only Azerbaijani and English today cannot read Cyrillic letters. This means that they cannot read most of the literature available in Azerbaijan. There are attempts to deal with this problem in Baku, but in the provinces you would be hard pressed to find books in Latin script."

Safeguarding the mother tongue

The expert noted that it is, of course, impossible to reprint all of the books in Azerbaijan in the Latin alphabet in a short period of time, despite the special government programme which has been in place since January 2004. This is why, if our children are not to have problems with books, they should study Cyrillic, Latin and, whenever possible, the Arabic alphabet too.

In the opinion of specialists, the Azerbaijani language really does need protection and, as Elmira Axundova said, the "problem of the Azerbaijani language is a purely linguistic problem. It arises from the fact that many manuals and books on the Azerbaijani language and on the present-day problems of the language are only now being written. The language develops dynamically, it changes all the time. Changes have become particularly noticeable in the last decade."

In Axundova's words, this is a painful issue in terms of organizing translations. There are at present no training methods, aids, audiotapes or videotapes to study the Azerbaijani language. The Americans, British, Germans and French produce these kinds of materials, and produce them quite well too. This type of educational literature uses special teaching methods and takes into account the fact that it will be used by foreigners.

"We, on the other hand, can only use textbooks designed for an entire academic year. But there are people who want to study the language at a faster rate. And they need special manuals, video and audio tapes and all the other materials which are not available in Azerbaijan today. Let me give you an example. I attended French language courses at the French embassy. I was very pleased when they gave me all the books and educational aids that I needed and I found out that France allocates up to 50 million euros a year for teaching the French language abroad. As for Israel's experience in this field, everyone knows about it. Every nation in the world is doing its best to help foreigners adapt to the language of the country. In Israel, for example, no one will employ you unless you speak Hebrew and this is a very difficult language to learn. That is why, for people who come to live or study in Israel, the state creates the conditions for studying the language: there are countless free courses. If we want to promote the Azerbaijani language, we must first of all open many free language centres. Every organization should run its own courses. And the courses need teachers, which is something our country is certainly not short of," added Ms. Axundova.

Going back to the roots

Luckily, we have some facilities in Azerbaijan for printing attractive children's books with high-quality content - some of the prerequisites are already in place. And perhaps one of the most conspicuous events in terms of the safeguarding, preservation and promotion of the Azerbaijani language in the last couple of years was the publication of the book 'Vatan Dili' (Native Tongue) which was prepared for print by a linguist, Assistant Professor Vuqar Qaradagli. The textbook was first published in the late 19th century by renowned Russian enlightener Aleksey Chernyayevskiy, who worked as an inspector in the Gori Seminary, and it was the first European-style manual of the Azerbaijani language for a whole galaxy of prominent representatives of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia of the late 19th - early 20th century, including Uzeyir Hacibayov, Mahmud-bey Mahmudbeyov, Nariman Narimanov, Suleyman Sani Axundov.

In Mr. Qaradagli's opinion, the book is unique if only because it serves its main purpose of promoting the Azerbaijani language in its literary form and giving readers access to its origins.

"The book is not only the first native tongue textbook which, incidentally, was the main book used by Azerbaijani children for more than 50 years (its first part was published in 1882, and the second part in 1888) but also a brilliant example of how a fundamental and comprehensive manual should be designed, with a surprisingly thorough consideration of the subtle nuances of children's psychology. The Vatan Dili textbook has many tongue twisters, puzzles, proverbs and is written in a rich, yet very comprehensible and literary language. This comprehensibility does not at all imply any primitivism or baby talk, which some modern textbooks indulge in. Furthermore, it can still easily rival present-day elementary school manuals. But the paradoxical thing is that this amazing and, in a very real sense, pioneering work, which has gone down in the treasury of Azerbaijani educational and enlightenment history, is today effectively forgotten. Just a handful of people know of its merits from first-hand experience. And that it was forgotten is a great injustice, which needs to be addressed," Qaradagli noted in his interview with R+.

In the linguist's words, the different aspects of the book are intertwined and, like pieces of a mosaic, fit together to gradually and most miraculously form a beautiful picture, the book.  And if we want to talk about the most important point, it is probably the unique group of authors who did their best to impart their souls into the book. A.O. Chernyayevskiy, S.G. Valibayov and Hasanaliaga-xan Qaradagskiy wrote Vatan Dili using the pedagogical principles of the prominent scientist and founder of Russian pedagogy, K.D. Ushinskiy. For grammar rules, the authors used the works of Mirza Kazimbey, Lazar Budaqov and Mirza Abulhasan Vazirov. The book used the so-called phonetic method, which simplified the educational process. It is rich in samples of folklore, which are used very aptly, and sayings, proverbs, maxims and tongue twisters which enhance the educational effect of the text and are interesting to children.

Practically all the textbooks written by prominent Azerbaijani teachers for elementary schools in the early 20th century had their origins in Vatan Dili. It is literally "stuffed" with both small and major discoveries, beginning with the authors' texts, observations of the weather, or flora and fauna and ending with translations of the verses and fables of Ivan Krylov, which were translated especially for Vatan Dili by Hasanaliaga-xan Qaradagskiy. The prominent teacher and poet wrote rhymes and short stories suitable for the readers' ages, and he "test-ran" them with the pupils of the school which he opened in Susa.

Qaradagli draws special attention to the fact that the book is entitled Vatan Dili, not Ana Dili [Mother Tongue] as similar books are called these days. And the title is absolutely appropriate given the content of the book, which gradually, tactfully and expertly familiarizes the child not only with the tongue, but also with the Motherland: "As the child ascends the ladder of learning, broadening his knowledge and adapting to his studies, the material gets increasingly more complex. The child learns not only about new notions and expressions, but also about the world around him; and of course, he learns the mother tongue too!"

In Qaradagli's words, the standards of literary language which we use today are largely based on the example which was set 126 years ago by Vatan Dili and the textbooks of the early 20th century which appeared a little later.

"I admit it was very difficult to work because a great deal has been lost. But it was not just difficult; it also interesting. For example, it took me much time and effort to find out what exactly some of the units of weight of the period meant. Some of the words have been lost from our language altogether, for example, the word for one species of snake: only the Latin name remains, because these snakes are extinct now. You cannot imagine how I rejoiced every time I managed to elucidate the meanings of old words. I traced the meanings of a couple of dozen very rare or lost words - but they are witnesses of our history and of the world of our forefathers. I wanted to build a bridge of sorts between our present-day and past life. Perhaps over the years one gets to understand better how many useful, good and necessary things the people did for us who lived and worked before us," said Vuqar Qaradagli.

Let us note that in the 2007 edict of Education Minister Misir Mardanov, Vatan Dili was recommended as an educational aid for secondary schools.