Minsk airport gets display boards in Chinese, still no Belarusian
Photo: Euroradio
The main display boards of Minsk National Airport got the Chinese version at the beginning of October. There are three languages at the moment: English, Russian and Chinese. However, there is no Belarusian.
Meanwhile, the other transport enterprises including the Belarusian Railways and Belavia are actively making use of the Belarusian language. Director of the National Airport Minsk Dzmitry Melikyan has commented on the issue for TUT.by:
"I would like to remind you that there are two state languages in Belarus: Russian and Belarusian,” Melikyan noted. “Unlike Belarusian, Russian is one of the world’s eight languages of international communication. Our display boards are available in three languages of international communication.”
The name if the airport is written in Belarusian and the Belarusian language ‘is being made popular on its territory’, Dzmitry Melikyan noted. However, the flight information is not available in this language ‘to avoid misrepresentation and unnecessary questions’:
"People need to be able to find their way. 30% of our customers are transit passengers who do not speak Belarusian. We are trying to make it convenient for passengers in the first place. The nearest regions of the Russian Federation (Smolensk and Pskov Oblasts) are also using our airport because it is a better variant for them in comparison with Moscow airports".
All the airport employees can speak foreign languages and Belarusian, Melikyan assured.
Belavia CEO Anatol Husarau has commented on the addition of the Chinese language to the display boards in Minsk Airport:
I visited Prague a few days ago. Their display boards are in Czech, English and Korean. There are many Korean passengers in that airport. That is why I think that it is fine that our display boards are available in Chinese now.
