LANGUAGES WE CHOOSE: LITHUANIA’S EXPERIENCE

The paper discusses the situation of Russian language in Lithuania. The current educational system, attitude of the Lithuanian society towards local cultural and linguistic pluralism, historical and present geopolitical problems - all these factors have a direct influence on modern Lithuania’s Russian-speaking population’s awareness of their ethnic language as either native, heritage or foreign, as well as on the selection of the language of school instruction for children from Russian-speaking families.Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly clear that the politics on language and education of the last two decades, aimed at strengthening the positions of the state language and at assimilating national minorities, needs amending. To achieve change, it is necessary to thoroughly study the possibilities of modern family and state language policy and to educate the society about these possibilities. The paper makes use of data from official statistics and sociolinguistic research.