BRAIN GAMES: QUIZ SHOW ON ARMENIAN TV IN RUSSIAN RAISES QUESTIONS
SOCIETY | 05.11.13 | 16:33
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
The popular quiz show series on an Armenian TV channel conducted in
Russian has raised more questions in Armenia, with a former opposition
lawmaker pointing to the violation of the country’s language laws.
It is for several years that the local version of the ‘What,
Where, When’ intellectual game (during which six “know alls” answer
questions sent in by TV views) has been shown on Armenia TV “under
the patronage of the Armenian Prime Minister”. It is a “franchising”
of a similar show created still in the Soviet times and popular on
Russian television since the 1970s.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) member Lilit
Galstyan, a former MP, voiced her protest with the game’s being
conducted in Russian and also because no translation is provided,
which, she insists, constitutes a violation of the law.
In the latest game shown over the weekend among the six “know alls”
were Armenian Education Minister Armen Ashotyan, Justice Minister Hrair
Tovmasyan and Chief of Government Staff, Minister Vache Gabrielyan.
On Facebook Galstyan, who is a linguist by training, in particular,
said: “The state language in the Republic of Armenia is Armenian
and it is the ministers of education and justice that must maintain
that sacred norm in the first place… In Georgia the same game is
conducted in Georgian. And do not even start explaining that it is
the format of an international TV program [that prompts the use of
the language]. In that case let such projects as Voice or X Factor or
Who Wants To Become a Millionaire be conducted in English. And who has
said that the language of knowledge or intellect can only be Russian?”
The former MP made it clear that she was not against foreign languages,
but she was against the violation of the law and the use of a foreign
language where it is unlawful and inappropriate.
According to the Armenian law on television and radio, programs or
films in foreign languages should be shown on Armenian televisions
only if simultaneous interpretation/translation is provided in the
form of voiceover or subtitles. The law, however, is often violated
in the case with the Russian language, which has widely been spoken in
Armenia since the Soviet times, but is not a state language after the
collapse of the USSR. ‘What, Where, When’ is one of the examples of
when a citizen speaking only Armenian has no chance of understanding a
program shown on an Armenian TV channel. Critics say what makes this
violation more brazen is that the show often involves high-ranking
guests, such as ministers, lawmakers, scholars, others.
Responding to Galstyan’s comments, Karen Kocharyan, the chief producer
of the Armenian version of the show and its host, said, sardonically:
“Tell Lilit Galstyan that the next time specially by the order of
the Dashnaktsutyun party the show will be in German.”
Earlier, talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service Kocharyan said that the
show did not violate the law, which allowed 20 percent of programs
to be conducted in the language of ethnic minorities. (And Russians
are officially an ethnic minority in Armenia). But several years ago
Kocharyan told the Aravot newspaper that under the license the program
could be conducted in Armenian or in Russian, but they chose Russian
for convenience. He, in particular, explained that it was in Russian
not because it was meant for an ethnic minority, but because they did
not have time to translate everything for the editors overseeing the
TV production from Moscow.
The popular TV show was first broadcast in September 1975 on the
central television of the USSR. Six “intellectuals” seated around a
table are given questions from TV viewers and are supposed to provide
correct answers within a minute. The game became very popular during
the Soviet times and after the collapse of the USSR maintained its
popularity in Russia and other former Soviet republics as well.
Armen Hovhannisyan, a member of a civic initiative protesting
foreign-language education in Armenia, believes that the organizers
of the game in Armenia do not consider Armenian to be “a language
suitable for intellectual activities.”
“The problem is that when they want to look smart and make an
impression of an intellectual person, they do not speak Armenian.
Let’s remember the Soviet times when the Armenian language was
considered to be the language of workers and provincial folks, and
Russian was used at the higher levels,” Hovhannisyan told ArmeniaNow.
The criticism of the popular show comes at sensitive times when
quite a few opposition members in Armenia see dangers of the loss of
sovereignty in view of the government’s decision to join the Russia-led
Customs Union.
Last week saw another language-related scandal as opposition MP
Khachatur Kokobelyan protested the absence of translation at a session
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly’s
defense committee at the Armenian National Assembly.
Speakers at the meeting, including Armenian officials and officials
representing the other five countries that are members of this
Russia-led defense pact, communicated in Russian. Kokobelyan,
the leader of the Free Democrats party, insisted on addressing the
gathering in Armenian only and eventually the translation was provided.
In this connection Hovhannisyan emphasized: “We need a conscious
mass that we do have in our society today and that is, thank God,
expanding that will be able to adjust life in a way that an Armenian
will not be humiliated especially in his own country. Let’s become
masters of all of our wealth, including our language.”
http://armenianow.com/society/49776/armenia_language_quiz_show_what_where_when_criticism_russian