On March 13, 2023, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova decided that the Moldovan language does not exist, declaring Romanian the official language of the country. However, in the south of Moldova, people still do not know or do not recognize these changes. Journalist Dina Golubey from a Russian-speaking family tells in her personal office how she learned the Romanian language and how this experience influenced her life path and career in journalism.

Thanks to her knowledge of the Romanian language, she contributes to the development of the regional news platform from the Republic of Moldova tuk.md, which has been operating in the south of the country for 4 years. Although he initially focused on writing news in Russian, he is now also involved in the development of the Romanian version.

“Me, a child who didn’t know the Romanian language at all, at school in Romanian?!”

“I come from a small family in the south of Moldova, being a Moldovan with Bulgarian and Russian blood. The family always communicated in Russian, because my parents went to school in Soviet times and studied the “Moldovan language” with the Cyrillic alphabet. As a child, I had the honor of enjoying the attention and care of my father, who taught me to read Russian from the age of five. Growing up in a deeply religious family, communication and reading were on the agenda, but only in Russian.

In 1997, the time was approaching when I was going to go to school. My parents faced an important choice that affected my future – which school to choose, with Russian or Romanian language of instruction. The Russian gymnasium in his hometown of Kantemiri was going through a period of decline, with a reduced number of students and teachers, along with unfinished renovations from the days of the “Stalinist” regime. So my parents decided to enroll me in the Romanian “Mihai Eminescu” Gymnasium, which was considered the best, even if it was a little further from home.

I, a child who did not know the Romanian language at all, at school in Romanian? Funny now, but back then it was a serious challenge.

In a class of 28 students, small in stature, but with huge backpacks, they spoke a language completely foreign to me. Some of them also knew Russian. I was looking forward to the break, a precious moment when I could communicate with my colleagues in Russian, because the 45 minutes of the lesson became a difficult test in Romanian. These short breaks of rest became real oases of relief after the efforts spent during the lessons.

From the first day of school, September 1, dad enrolled me in the city library. The first book I got there was with beautiful pictures and Latin letters. In the evening, I flipped through the book and really wanted to read, but I couldn’t.

At school we had a teacher who had just graduated from college and came to teach us. She was young and very kind to us, I felt her love, although I didn’t understand it, just like she did me. She was the one who started staying with me after school to teach me Romanian. It all started with simple letters and words and within the first month I had learned the letters and was ready to read books. The book with poems and pictures no longer attracted me, because I had flipped through it hundreds of times, so I took another – “Childhood Memories” by Ion Krynge. It’s still my favorite book so far, even though I’m 33 now.

“Every day I read and repeated the learned words, playing at home, talking outside with the children in our yard”

I remember my mother sometimes wanted to look at my homework and started looking at my notebooks. He watched carefully for 10 minutes and said “well done, you get a 10” and the next day I got a 4. I told my mom that I will not show her homework anymore because she is not doing well. And I didn’t show them all 9 years of school.

Miss Eugenia continued to give me extra hours after school for six months for free, and I would come home and already speak Romanian with my family, forcing them to learn the official language of Moldova. I remember well, the alphabet I was learning had capital letters that I couldn’t remember from the beginning. I made associations with Russian letters or words that came to mind. It was very difficult for me unknown words that I had to remember, with sentences that I read syllable by syllable. But after reaching the end of the textbook, six months later I fluently read “Sleepy Birds” by Mihai Eminescu, while Creange captivated me with his stories from my childhood.

Day after day I read and repeated the learned words while playing at home, talking outside with the children in our yard, talking at home with my parents and grandmother. It was a year of work for both me and the teacher. She was always patient with me. She did not know the Russian language or grammar, so it was very difficult for her to work with me, because I did not always understand her, and neither did she understand me. But at the end of the year, I knew how to speak Romanian perfectly and be proud of it. At that time, I did not think that I would become a journalist and write texts in an unfamiliar language, which until the end became my native language. However, Miss Evgenia always believed in me. Now I want to thank him for the gift he gave me, the gift of speech. The language of great writers and poets. The language my ancestors spoke and the language I use to write news for the citizens of the country.

During my journey in journalism, I realized that language is the key to authentic communication and that languages ​​unite us in a special way. I write news and articles in Russian as well as Romanian, which is a powerful tool for communicating information and building bridges between different communities. In my every word, I feel the rich influence of the Romanian language, which contributes to the diversity and depth of communication in the journalistic field. In this way, the Romanian language becomes not only a communication tool, but also a means of exploring the world and sharing the stories that shape our shared reality.

I now have the ability to confidently communicate and write in Romanian. For the past three years, I had the honor of working as a journalist for tuk.md, a news portal from the picturesque south of Moldova. During this period, I mainly devoted myself to writing news in Russian, considering that the local community consists mainly of Russian and Bulgarian speakers. However, last year I decided to move my place of residence to the municipality of Cagul. In this new phase, I also started writing articles in Romanian. In Cagul, I believe that the Romanian language is more common and I am extremely happy to be able to communicate with the local authorities and residents in this language. It is my pleasure to be able to bring news, good or bad, to the Cagul community. All thanks to the efforts and support of my parents, the dedication of my teacher and the subtle influence of Ion Creange”