Nowadays, people are more interested in learning other languages. Although learning a new language is great, they should not forget about their own language.
The best ways to learn a language are:
1. Learn the language in that country.
2. Watch foreign series and movies with subtitles.
3. Take advantage of YouTube videos.
Being able to speak a language improves your memory and makes you more capable of multitasking. It also allows you to access social media easily.
What should be done to save our language from the influence of foreign languages?
- We should use our own words in our daily life.
- We must be careful not to use foreign words.
- The names of workplaces and the signs used must be in Azerbaijani.
Why should we protect our language?
Because we convey our thoughts, feelings, wishes to others through our language. We must protect the language we speak from risk of being replaced by foreign words.
There is a poem by Bakhtiyar Vahabzade about our language:
"Oh, fashionably polite people who forget to speak in their native language,
Strings and instruments don't touch your heart.
Let these be mine
But let the bread of the homeland be yours."
Today, many people are almost ashamed to speak their own language. Mostly young people prefer English and Russian words. So, what is the reason for this? How to protect our language? Even the names of shops, restaurants, and streets are in foreign languages. What is the reason for this? Why do we prefer foreign names over local ones?
SIA conducted research on the topic and learned the opinions of experts. 
Huseyn Azeri, press secretary of the Azerbaijan State Advertising Agency:
"The State Advertising Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ADRA) suspended the broadcasting of 6,000 advertisements in 2021, of which 1,200 (20%) were related to violations of the norms of the State language. According to the results of the conducted monitoring, 47% of these dismantled advertisements were written only in a foreign language due to spelling errors, the percentage of advertisements without an Azerbaijani equivalent was 42%, and the percentage of advertisements written in foreign languages with spelling errors was 11%.
In order to protect the state language in outdoor advertising, a joint commission consisting of employees of Baku City Executive Authority, Linguistic Institute named after Nasimi, Monitoring Center under the State Language Commission and Intellectual Property Agency was established at the initiative of the State Advertising Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ADRA). Taking into account the proposals of the commission, the "Speak for our language" campaign was implemented by ADRA. The video on this topic was shown on advertising devices in the city and on social networks.
Educational activities among entrepreneurs are currently being continued. The institution has prepared special brochures on the promotion of the national language in outdoor advertisements and the rules for its correct use. Brochures created in cooperation with the Monitoring Center under the State Language Commission were distributed to entrepreneurs in Baku and other regions. The information leaflets contain excerpts from the provisions of the laws "On the state language in the Republic of Azerbaijan" and "On advertising", as well as visual examples of the use of literary language norms in advertisements.
We also need the support of the public in this matter. We ask our citizens to take their picture and share it with the hashtags #ADRAgovaz, #monitoringmerkezi, as well as to provide information through the social networks of both institutions, if they come across advertisements that do not comply with the state language norms in the open space.
Doctor of Philosophy, sociologist Mail Yagub: "It is a high culture for a people to love their own language. It is interesting that in the two most developed countries of Europe - Germany and France, people prefer to speak in their own language rather than in English. I have personally witnessed this. I get the result: from the economic and technological point of view, the development creates self-confidence in the people, they prefer their own language and prefer their native language.
But why are we so in love with Russian and English languages? We still sometimes speak Russian as a sign of high culture. However, knowing the language alone is not an advantage. If that were the case, the local people in those countries would all be civilized people because they spoke Russian and English. But of course it's not like that. Among them are also criminals and other not-so-civilized people.
I think that this factor is at the root of some of our people's excessive love for foreign languages. We use foreign language to make ourselves appear "progressive".
What to do? There are two ways. One is administrative control. The state should prevent this issue. Second and more important: we must evolve past this habit. In this case, be sure, our self-confidence will increase and we will not feel comfortable speaking another language."
Education expert Kamran Asadov: "First of all, let me note that if we want the growth trend of the Russian section to be in favor of the Azerbaijani language sections, the level of teaching in this sphere should be raised. It is true that there are those who treat Russian language education as a fashion. Many of them think that by studying in Russian, their children will be selected for their intelligence. But this is not the case. First of all, the previous generation of intelligent teachers has declined. I think it is more appropriate for children to prefer English to studying in Russian. Russian can be learned for the sake of knowing an additional language. But general education is in Russian it is not right to try to acquire it. Especially if the child is going to live and work in Azerbaijan, he or she should study in their own language. However, if the children learn additional languages, it will be more promising for their future.
Let me tell you the fact that currently, education in Russian is 7.6% of secondary schools. 340 out of 4472 secondary schools are Russian schools. 90 thousand students study in these schools. This means that 6.3% of all educated children study in Russian. It is true that 450,000 children are taught Russian as a foreign language in secondary schools. This means 32% of the total students.
In addition to these, the number of students studying in general education institutions across the country by sections: 1,428,608 students in the Azerbaijan section, 131,412 students in the Russian section, 1,114 students in the Georgian section, 5,457 in the English section, 130 in the French section, 130 in the Turkish section 295 students study in the department. In total, 1,567,016 students are registered in republican secondary schools. The largest indicator in terms of class density is in the Turkish language section with an average of 27 students per class. In the Azerbaijani and Russian language sections, which have the largest number of students in the country, the density of students in the class is 18 and 24, respectively.
The tendency to study in Russian is related to the desire of every parent to educate their child in a decent environment. If the quality of the textbooks has not been improved, if the teachers have a primitive attitude towards the students, then which section should the parents send their children to? A parent is looking for such an environment so that his child does not face such negative situations. Parents do not want their children to learn from poor quality books. Russians have a more serious approach to the issue of books, both in terms of illustration and meaning. For example, who would read a poorly written history book? A history book should be professionally written so that you can get the same pleasure out of it as you do from fiction. Random people should not write books to relatives. These factors have a negative impact on the quality of education.
We must improve the quality of teaching the Azerbaijani language. We should also pay attention to the teaching of the Azerbaijani language in the Russian sector. In other words, students studying in the Russian department must know the Azerbaijani language perfectly. There is no need to turn the increase in the number of Russian units into a tragedy. First, I will give my opinion. In the last 70 years, the importance of the Russian language was very high, this is undeniable. Some of our specialists are more comfortable in Russian than in Azerbaijani.
The role played by the Russian language in our education system was great. In order to achieve something, you needed to speak Russian fluently.
The more languages a person knows, the better for him. As for the Russian language, let's not forget that the people of 6/1 of the land area of the world speak this language. There is too much information in this language. Note one point. Now the demand is for English language, but since there are no schools that provides free education in English, children who study in Russian can already speak at least 2 languages - Azerbaijani and Russian. But "There are not enough teacher resources for English-language schools, there is no tradition for this. But a tradition can be created. It is a pity that because the education of an independent country is not sufficient in its own language, people prefer education in another language. Currently, education in our country is officially conducted in two languages, Azerbaijani and Russian. In addition, there are several schools operating with the support of the Turkish and French states. However, it seems that there is a serious interest in teaching in English, albeit informally, and this is clearly manifested in the private education sector. Teaching in English is also implemented in several forms, either some international schools, or schools that teach in the English language department in addition to the Azerbaijani and Russian departments. The attitude towards the Russian department is ambiguous, but nevertheless, our parents turn to the Russian department in order to make the future of their children comfortable. Because they are sure that for a person who knows the Russian language, it is easier to get to the MBD countries and to certain literature with this tool, which makes it easier to grow up as an educated person.
We are sure that if there are English-language departments in public schools along with the Russian department, the rating of the Russian department will suddenly drop. However, the presence of Russian units is not encouraging from an ideological point of view, if you are a neighbor of a big state like Russia, the attitude towards this language will always be good from the point of view of economic relations. In any case, there is no harm in knowing several languages. If your child is studying in the Russian section, this means that he will eventually receive a certificate from the state of Azerbaijan and will have a chance to continue his education in both local and foreign universities. Because the students of the Russian section have the same rights as the Azerbaijani section, they study with the same curriculum, only the language of instruction is different here. In addition, public schools in Azerbaijan officially have a Russian section, which allows their children to learn a second language without incurring additional costs. In this regard, the advantage of the Russian section is certainly greater than the English one.
In our country, the situation is different in English sections. Private lyceums in this section teach with an international curriculum, and in the end, students (pupils) are not given an Azerbaijani certificate. Because in our country, more IB and Cambridge programs are taught in English, and because the Azerbaijani curriculum is not taught, the students have no chance to take the certification exam. If we take into account that in our country, only ADA University accepts students with SAT or other international exams, then it is impossible for these students to be admitted to our other universities. Even in the 9th grade, when a student wants to switch from the English section (which also includes sections in other languages: Turkish, German, French) to the Azerbaijani section, he falls back one grade. In fact, it does not fall back, because education in international programs is 12 years, and in ours it is 11 years. That's why our parents perceive it as falling back."
Seymur Verdizadeh, chairman of the Center for Journalist Research, editor-in-chief of the Yenisabah.az website: "It is the duty of each of us to preserve the purity of the Azerbaijani language. We must all protect our language from foreign influences.
Unfortunately, interest in the Azerbaijani language has decreased significantly in recent years. Azerbaijanis do not want to speak their native language, or speak it reluctantly. Russian, English and other foreign languages surpass the Azerbaijani language. I blame the officials and those in authority rather than the ordinary citizens for the creation of such a sad situation.
Our officials boast of their knowledge of foreign languages at every opportunity. They even try to put it in people's eyes, figuratively speaking. I have yet to see any official boasting that he knows his mother tongue perfectly. Therefore, there is a large influx of Russian-language schools in the country. Our citizens who do not speak Russian also want their children to study in this language. These people think that if their children do not know Russian, they will not have a bright future. As long as ordinary Azerbaijanis are not saved from this negative trend, we will not be able to save our mother tongue from this neglectful attitude.
It is unfortunate that the names of cafes and restaurants, recreation centers, and tourist facilities are in foreign languages. Such cases are disrespectful to our language. It would be much better if shops, restaurants, tourist centers used national-historical names. Why should the name of a recreation center be "Le Chetau" instead of "Alinca"? It is necessary to act sensitively in such matters".
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