Foreigners working in Lithuania’s service sector and interacting with clients should speak Lithuanian, believe four out of five people in the country, according to a survey commissioned by LRT.
The poll, conducted by Baltijos Tyrimai, found that 81 percent of the respondents (aged 15-74) either somewhat agreed (40 percent) or strongly agreed (41 percent) with the statement that all people working in the service sector must speak Lithuanian, regardless of their status and including recent refugees from Ukraine.
Meanwhile, 15 percent disagreed with the statement, including 3 percent who indicated they “strongly” disagreed. Four percent had no opinion or refused to express one.
Although Lithuania’s laws require that all customer-servicing employees – though not the self-employed – should have a basic command of the Lithuanian language, a two-year exemption has been made to Ukrainian refugees. However, the State Language Inspectorate has reported receiving complaints from locals who did not receive service in their language.
The representative survey of the Lithuanian population was commissioned by LRT and conducted by the market and public opinion research company Baltijos Tyrimai between May 12-29. The survey covered 1,020 Lithuanian citizens.
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