Azerbaijan’s NTRC reveals main problems with using literary language on television and radio

Azerbaijan’s NTRC reveals main problems with using literary language on television and radio
# 06 October 2017 10:19 (UTC +04:00)

The monitoring of TV channels in Azerbaijan, which was conducted by the National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) in 2013, revealed that the level of mother tongue use in programs was below 50 percent, said NTRC Chairman Nushiravan Maharramli.

He made the remarks at a conference titled “The Role of Media in the Preservation and Development of the Azerbaijani Literary Language,” which was held in Baku on Friday, APA reported.

Maharramli said that the NTRC set the task for TV channels to increase the share of the use of the Azerbaijani language to 75 percent.

“Then the task was set to bring this figure to 100 percent and it was achieved. The next stage is about preservation and development of the literary language. Necessary measures have been taken and are underway in this direction,” he said.

According to the NTRC chairman, the results of the initial monitoring were very alarming.

“Our linguistic scientists summarized the results of the monitoring. The first problem was identification of spoken language with the literary language. Dialects on TV channels should be eliminated. We learn the literary language based on not dialects, but the literary language norms. Unfortunately, these norms are breached on our TV channels. TV and radio channels should seriously consider it,” he said.

He stressed that the problem lies in foreign words entering into our lexicon.

“It is normal that some scientific terms enter into our language, but our TV hosts sometimes use foreign words unnecessarily. Big states nowadays are widely using ‘soft power,’ making an effort to influence educational, media, and colloquial language. Unfortunately, our experts who study abroad also use the foreign language more when they return. This problem is especially conspicuous when it comes to those who complete their study in Turkey. Another problem is about pronunciation— particularly phonetics. Much of the responsibility is on news presenters and TV hosts, who do not follow phonetic norms,” he added.

Maharramli also pointed out fast speaking as one of the problems.

“Some hosts speak too fast, so they fail to observe the norms. Also, there is a problem with the language of ads which are made overseas and inaccurately translated into Azerbaijan,” he said.

The NTRC chairman also voiced his disapproval of the dubbing.

“The dubbing during the Soviet period was a lot more quality. We now long for them. News presenters and TV hosts must be responsible when they get the job. They must speak perfect Azerbaijani. Sadly, some TV councils’ work is just on paper,” said Maharramli concluding his speech.

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