Yamal residents to test their proficiency in Nenets, Khanty, Komi and Selkup languages
© RIA Novosti. Evgeny Biyatov

Yamal residents to test their proficiency in Nenets, Khanty, Komi and Selkup languages

A campaign to raise awareness of indigenous languages, I Treasure My Mother Language, has kicked off in Russia's Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, according to the website of the regional administration. The initiative is timed with International Mother Language Day, and gives the Khanty, Nenets, Selkup and Komi people a chance to test their proficiency in their native languages.

In a total of 10 tasks, test takers will be asked to introduce themselves in their mother language, translate words into that language and find their antonyms, read a native language text and translate it into Russian, and another seven interesting tasks. The final task will be to submit proposals regarding the preservation of their languages.

The test must be completed before March 3 on the website of the Yamal-Nenets Department for Indigenous Small-numbered Peoples of the North.

International Mother Language Day was established by a resolution of the 30th session of the UNESCO General Conference in November 1999. Since 2000, it has been observed on February 21 to protect linguistic and cultural diversity.

In the Yamal-Nenets Area, 24 schools in the Yamalsky, Tazovsky, Nadymsky, Priuralsky, Krasnoselkupsky, Purovsky and Shuryshkarsky districts, as well as the district forest boarding school, teach local minority languages.

In addition to radio and TV broadcasting, the ethnic-language newspapers Nyaryana Ngerm and Lukh Avt are published to preserve and promote languages of minority ethnic groups of the Russian North. Local Russian-language publications, including those distributed in the Shuryshkarsky, Yamalsky and Purovsky districts, also contain monthly updated pages in minority languages.