On Tuesday, the ministry announced that it will update the Language Act. Minister of Education Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said the share of people with foreign backgrounds settling in Estonia has grown significantly in the past two years.

The amendments deal with several issues, including exams, specialists, dialects, and language rules for taxi drivers and specialists. Another is the translation of films shown in cinemas.

"There has been a great deal of resentment about the fact that we have films dubbed into Russian, with no subtitles in Estonian, entirely in Russian," Kallas said on Tuesday, adding the draft includes a proposal to no longer allow dubbing.

At the same time, Kallas stressed the ban would only concern cinema distribution and children's films would be excluded.

"Movies dubbed into Russian are the comfortable option, so that you are only in a Russian-speaking environment," said the Minister of Education. "We're trying to use force to push people into environments other than just the Russian language."

Director General of the Language Board Ilmar Tomusk said many state authorities' websites are completely translated into Russian and English, but this does not always need to be the case. Translation software removes the need for the state to do this.

The Ministry of Education also wants to increase the fine rate to motivate people to comply with language requirements. The proposed draft sets the maximum penalty at €9,600 for an employer and €1,280 for an individual.

There are also plans to introduce fees for the state exam if a person has repeatedly failed.

Kallas said the number of people taking the exam has risen sharply due to the education reforms coming into effect this autumn. But many people use the exams as a way to assess their level – and it often falls short.

"This is a very expensive way for the state to learn a language, and it also creates queues and a lot of frustration, because statistics show that only a small percentage of people take the exam. This is because people come to the exam completely unprepared, just in case," she said.

The amendments also want to ensure Estonian-language administration in public sector institutions. The new amendments will add them to a list of organizations that must provide it.

New rules regarding foreign specialists and experts will also be drafted. For example, if a teacher comes to work in Estonia, then they will be exempt from knowing the language for five years. After that, the usual rules will apply.

The Ministry of Education also wants to clarify the concerns of Estonia's dialects in the updated law.

"The plan is to draw up a comprehensive action plan to support dialect languages /.../ with concrete actions and a budget," the minister said, adding the law should stipulate how Võru, Mulgi or Seto languages ​​should be used in education and give the right to define it as a second mother tongue in the population register.

While the language skills of taxi drivers and couriers have gained a lot of attention, they have not been mentioned in the draft.

Kallas said the B1 language requirement still applies to taxi drivers, so the ministry does not consider it necessary to introduce specific regulations. Additionally, Bolt has promised that it will check their workers' language skills.

"In the case of food couriers, the feedback is that they stay in this occupation for a very short time, these are the occupations of entry into the labor market," she said, adding taxi drivers need more supervision.

Tomusk stated that the language board cannot check all taxi drivers. The agency has 10 inspectors and only responds to complaints.

The Ministry of Education hopes to come up with a draft by the fall.

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