Estonian Human Development Report 2016/2017 Estonia at the Age of Migration EHDR 2016/2017 Migration, identity and language change

摘要: The English language is not threatening the maintenance of Estonian. It is important to maintain an emotional bond with the Estonian language and the desire to transmit it to the next generation. Radical solutions (eg ‘no language other than Estonian’or ‘only English for science and business’) do not seem reasonable. Rather, flexible solutions appropriate for each context should besought. Languages die not because of foreign linguistic impact but because their speakers abandon them and are unwilling to transmit them down to the next generation.Identity is an emotional bond which often cannot be determined through objective characteristics. While we cannot choose the country we are born in, or our mother tongue, we can choose our attitudes and develop our linguistic repertoire. While the Estonian language is the basis for Estonian identity and one of the main values of the Estonian people, one should find more values that are shared by society as a whole.