拉脫維亞就俄語成官方語言全民公投
Citizens in the European nation of Latvia are voting in a referendum Saturday to decide whether to make Russian the country’s official second language.
歐洲國家拉脫維亞的民衆星期六進行全民公投，決定是否要讓俄語成爲拉脫維亞的第二官方語言。
Although the second-language referendum is seen as having little chance of passing, the question has triggered a heated debate between the country's large ethnic Russian and Latvian populations.
雖然就第二官方語言進行的全民公投獲得通過的機會不大，但這個問題在該國衆多的俄羅斯人和拉脫維亞人之間引發了熱議。
When the former Soviet Union broke apart in 1991 and Latvia regained independence, Most of its Russian-speaking citizens chose to remain in the country.
在前蘇聯1991年解體而拉脫維亞恢復獨立時，大部分講俄語的民衆選擇留在拉脫維亞。
And even though the government in Riga offered them citizenship, some Russian speakers, such as swimming instructor Viktor Saltikov, say their voices are not being heard.
即使里加政府給予這些民衆拉脫維亞國籍，但是一些像游泳教練薩提科夫這樣講俄語的人說，政府沒有聽取他們的聲音。
Saltikov says Russians would feel better if their language was made official. He says Russians are not going to vanish from Latvia, no matter how much some people would like them to.
薩提科夫說，如果俄語變成官方語言，俄羅斯人會感覺好一些。他說，不管一些人多麼希望俄羅斯人消失，他們是不會從拉脫維亞消失的。But ethnic Latvians say that the Moscow-backed attempt to integrate the Russian language into the government is an attempt to weaken Latvia’s sovereignty and drag the former Soviet republic back into Russia’s sphere of influence. Andrejs Salaks, an accountant, says it is a question of civic duty.
但是拉脫維亞人說，將俄語納入拉脫維亞政府體系受到莫斯科支持，這是在削弱拉脫維亞的主權，並使這個前蘇維埃加盟共和國再度回到俄羅斯的勢力範圍。薩拉克斯是一名會計師，他說，這是公民義務的問題。
Salaks says if there are still people in Latvia who do not know the official language, it means they have not tried to learn it. Even the prospect of obtaining citizenship has not urged them, he says, and this means they are not loyal to the country they live in. If the second state language is introduced, they would be left without any reason or motivation to learn Latvian.
薩拉克斯說，如果拉脫維亞還有一些人不會第一官方語言拉脫維亞語，那表示他們沒有試着去學。他說，連會拉脫維亞語容易獲取公民身份這點都無法敦促他們學習，那就代表他們根本不忠於他們居住的國家。他說，如果採用了第二官方語言，這些人就更有理由或動機不學拉脫維亞語了。
Latvia is one of three small Baltic states that was part of the former Soviet Union for most of the 20th century. Many Russians moved into Latvia during that time, and about one-third of Latvia's people now speak Russian. The Russian and Latvian languages will be equally acceptable in matters of government if half of all eligible voters, more than 771,000 people, vote "yes" on the constitutional referendum.
拉脫維亞是波羅的海三個小國之一，20世紀大部分時間裏都隸屬前蘇聯。許多俄羅斯人在這段時期搬到拉脫維亞，現在拉脫維亞大約三分之一的人說俄語。如果有半數以上的合格選民，也就是超過77萬1千人在這次憲法全民公決中投下贊成票，俄羅斯語和拉脫維亞語將在政府事務中並行使用。
Final results are expected in a couple of days.
預料，最終結果將在幾天內揭曉。
