While in the cities Belarusian people predominantly speak Russian, in rural areas people tend to speak Belarusian. Moreover, most of Belarusian Russian speakers consider Belarusian as their native language.
According to the 1999 census, 85.6% of over 8,000 Belarusians surveyed consider Belarusian their mother tongue, and 41.3% of them said they used Belarusian at home. In addition, Belarusian is considered a mother tongue by 67.1% of Poles who live on the Belarusian territory, 57.6% of whom speak Belarusian at home.
Many Belarusians do indeed speak Russian primarily. However, this is the result of discrimination against the Belarusian language during the country’s past in the Russian empire (from 1794) and then in the Soviet Union (from 1922). Both Russian and Belarusian have been the country’s official languages since the referendum in 1995 (Belarusian was the only official language between 1991 and 1994). According to the 1991 census, the first census in independent Belarus, Belarusian was spoken at home by 36.7% of the population and Russian was spoken by 62.8% of Belarusians.
Do Belarusians Actually Speak Belarusian?
Belarus Digest
Ostrogorski Centre
http://belarusdigest.com/myth/do-belarusians-actually-speak-belarusian-372
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Myths About Belarus
http://belarusdigest.com/myths_about_belarus
Does the word “Belarus” translate as “White Russia”?
Does Lukashenka have the support of the average Belarusian?
Is Healthcare in Belarus Free?
Are the Belarusian and Russian languages very similar?
Does Belarus have low unemployment?
Does Belarus look like a run-down Soviet province?
Are there foreign companies working in Belarus?
Have Belarusians Always Used the Cyrillic Alphabet?
Do Belarusians actually speak Belarusian?
Is Belarus a dictatorship where all foreigners are followed by state security?
Do Belarusians have a weak national identity?
Are Belarusians fundamentally rural Orthodox Christians?
Are Belarusians pro-Russian?
Has Minsk always been the capital of Belarus?
Is Belarus “the last dictatorship in Europe”?
Is Alexander Lukashenka a phenomenon unto himself?
Is it very cold in Belarus?
Is the language issue important in Belarus?
Are Belarusians required to ask for permission each time they want to leave their country?
Has Belarus always been under control of foreign countries?
Is Belarus’ national religion Russian Orthodox Christianity?
Is Belarus far from Europe?
Has Belarus always been an authoritarian country?
Is Belarusian statehood temporary?
Is Russia interested in regime change in Belarus?
Did Belarusians ever have an independent state prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union?
Is all Belarusian opposition nationalistic and anti-Russian?
Is the Belarusian political opposition weak?
Does Lukashenka want to become Russia’s President?
Is the West investing a lot in the Belarusian opposition?
Was the Belarusian legal system first developed in the Soviet Union?
How effective is the democratic opposition in Belarus?
Is the Belarusian population uninterested in politics?
Is Lukashenka the Kremlin’s “loyal satrap”?
Did Belarus adopt its first Constitution in the Soviet Union?
Is inequality a serious problem in Belarus?
Belarus Digest
http://belarusdigest.com/
Belarus Digest provides non-partisan analysis of Belarus-related events written by Belarusians specifically for an English-language readership. It is a project of Ostrogorski Centre, a think tank established by Western-educated Belarusians based in Belarus and the European Union.
Belarus Digest launched in 2008. Today our authors write on Belarus from Minsk, London, Boston, Berlin and Kyiv.
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http://ostrogorski.org/
The Ostrogorski Centre (also knows as the Centre for Transition Studies) is a private, non-profit organisation dedicated to analysis and policy advocacy on problems which Belarus faces in its transition to market economy and the rule of law. Its work is nonpartisan and dedicated to achieving practical results.The Centre is named after Moisei Ostrogorski (1854-1921) – a prominent Belarusian political scientist, politician, legal history scholar and historian who greatly contributed to the study of political and legal systems in transition from autocracy.
The last decades have seen rapid transition of Belarus in all kinds of fields — from business environment to religion, education and security. Globalisation and internet have not left Belarus alone. Ironically, think tanks remain largely national initiatives, rooted in the views of one country. With its multinational and comparative outlook Ostrogorski Centre breaks the pattern.
The Centre is pioneering the first think tank established by Western-educated Belarusians based in Belarus and the European Union. Its analysts working in Minsk, Kyiv, London and Berlin understand the challenges of transition in the region because they have lived through it. Educated at the world’s leading universities, the centre’s experts have cultivated the culture and technical skills required to deliver Western-style analysis.
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Anglo-Belarusian Society
http://www.absociety.org.uk/
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Беларусы ў Вялікабрытаніі
http://belarusians.co.uk/