Estonian dialect speakers can list their language in official state records
People listing Estonian as their native language in Estonia's population register will soon also be able to specify which dialect they speak.
Minister of the Interior Igor Taro (Eesti 200), himself a speaker of one such local language, noted this is a long-awaited change in state recordkeeping.
"This is wonderful news not only for local language speakers and keepers of traditional culture, but for all of Estonia," Taro said.
He said this change means an important part of people's identity can now be officially recorded.
The Institute of the Estonian Language (EKI), in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research, compiled a list of the most widely spoken dialects. Statistics Estonia will add this list to its language classifier, which is also used by the population register.
In the native language field in the centralized online register, users will soon be able to select dialects, or languages, including Seto, Võro, Mulgi, Tartu, Saare, Hiiu, Muhu, Kihnu, Kodavere, Kuusalu, Lüganuse and Jõhvi.
No official evaluation will be required — people can self-assess their dialect fluency when entering their native language data.
The change will not affect how nationality and other native languages are recorded in the register.
Once the update, expected as early as this week, takes effect, users can review or update their language data — as well as address and other registered information — online at rahvastikuregister.ee.
--
Editor: Aili Vahtla
