In the countries of origin and in Israel, hundreds of ulpans operate, numerous textbooks and dictionaries have been published, special radio programs are dedicated to learning the Hebrew language, and recently a round-the-clock interactive television channel, Arutz HaIvrit, was launched. But, as practice shows, most Russian-speaking repatriates lack sufficient motivation to improve their Hebrew skills.
As Radio Liberty notes, all emigrants of previous waves, including former Soviet citizens who came in the 1970s, under the influence of pervasive state propaganda and public opinion, almost immediately switched to Hebrew. State policy dictated assimilation rather than integration. New arrivals were immersed in an environment where everyone, without exception, spoke Hebrew. They were instilled that speaking the language of the country of origin was indecent and humiliating, especially after a Jew finally returned, that is, became an Israeli. However, representatives of the last wave of emigration had practically no incentive to learn the language: so many people arrived that they had no communication problems (in Russian, of course).
As a NEWSru.co.il poll showed, the smallest number of respondents (3.8%), when asked about possible reasons for leaving Israel, chose the answer 'Inability to master Hebrew.' However, according to the results of a study conducted by the Mutagim institute, 29% of repatriates from the former Soviet Union still speak Hebrew poorly or very poorly. At an intermediate level, 31% of Russian-speaking Israelis know Hebrew. Only 28% of repatriates can read and write it well, while 42% either cannot read and write the state language at all or have a very low level of knowledge.
The closure of most ulpans for learning Hebrew, the dismissal of hundreds of teachers, and the direction of repatriates wishing to learn the language of their new homeland to private schools — such are the plans of the Ministry of Absorption. 'The ulpan system has proven its inadequacy, and most repatriates who have gone through it do not speak Hebrew even at an intermediate level,' the Ministry of Absorption officials are quoted as saying by the newspaper Haaretz.
According to official data, in recent years about 8,000 new repatriates go through ulpans, of which only 80% complete their studies. For the majority, the level of spoken Hebrew upon completion ranges from unsatisfactory to almost good. Less than a third of those who finish ulpan can read and write Hebrew at an acceptable level.
In light of these data, a year ago the Ministry of Absorption created a special commission, which concluded that the system of teaching Hebrew to repatriates should be removed from the control of the Ministry of Education and transferred to a special authority. 'Our goal is to provide new repatriates with effective tools for learning Hebrew. It is necessary to significantly improve teaching methods,' said Absorption Minister Yaakov Edri.
Currently, the most preferable in the eyes of the leadership of the Ministry of Absorption is the system of providing new repatriates with vouchers to pay for Hebrew instruction in private schools. 'The problem with ulpans is not only in teaching methods but also in their mismatch with the rhythm of life of a new repatriate. Most simply do not have the time and opportunity to come to study in the mornings because they need to go to work,' says the ministry's director general, Erez Halfon.
In addition, learning Hebrew may become not optional, as it is now, but mandatory. According to Halfon, 'The ministry is considering the possibility of reducing the absorption basket for those who do not go to study Hebrew.'
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education, inclined to agree with the proposal of the Ministry of Absorption, cut the budget allocated for teaching Hebrew from 79 million shekels in 2007 to 41 million in 2008. This means that now only basic Hebrew will be taught in ulpans, while advanced language courses for holders of certain professions will be closed.
Another innovation of the Ministry of Absorption will be the creation of centers for language teaching for children of new repatriates in the first months after arriving in the country. 'Currently, children of repatriates go straight to school and study Hebrew parallel to regular lessons. Meanwhile, they sit in classrooms and understand nothing. It would be much better if they skip a few months of school but come to class already knowing the language,' says Halfon.
As NEWSru.co.il notes, according to a survey conducted at the beginning of last year, only 40% of respondents are fluent in Hebrew. Among the main reasons for poor Hebrew proficiency, respondents highlighted three: Russian-speaking environment, old age, and lack of time to learn the language. Over 50% of those surveyed noted that they write poorly or cannot write in Hebrew at all. At the same time, 47% expressed a willingness to sit back at a school desk to learn the language.
The number of Russian-speaking population in Israel, according to various estimates, is about one million — and this in a country of seven million. Immediately after a wave of repatriates poured into Israel in the early 1990s, speakers of this language appeared in almost all state institutions, banks, supermarkets, and other retail chains and firms. Not only 'Russian' grocery stores and restaurants mushroomed like mushrooms after rain, but also bookstores offering, among other things, 'Russian' music and computer software with a Russian interface. The channel 'Israel Plus', the state radio station 'Reka', and a mass of private radio stations broadcast in Russian, and on Israeli cable and non-cable television channels, if there is no simultaneous voice translation into Russian, there are almost always Russian subtitles. In such a 'comfortable', relaxing environment, emigrants, for the most part not spoiled by prestigious jobs requiring 'good Hebrew', simply have no particular need to learn the language.
Therefore, it is not surprising, notes Radio Liberty, that the new emigrants from the former USSR have become objects of criticism from old-timers and the mass media, and a source of pride for Israeli sociologists, who have finally found a grain of cultural diversity in Israel, whose monoculture was formed and imposed for decades on a society that was simultaneously created from such dissimilar 'Moroccans' and 'Europeans'. The result of this symbiosis was Russian songs in Hebrew, words like 'balagan', 'bardak', 'sumatokha' and even elements of Russian profanity, which sound quite decent here, since their true meaning is simply unknown to the average Israeli.