I'm currently a part of a huge, huge American invasion - more than 400 PC volunteers in Ukraine with even more shipping out in March. As in Georgia, the demand for English teachers is part of a push to Westernize and globalize Ukraine, and to distance it from Russia.
As far as I can tell, though, the relationship between Ukrainians and the Russian language is far more complex than this article suggests of Georgia. I mean, the relationship between Ukrainians and all of Russia is complex. While Ukrainian is now the language of education and all state institutions, many people still speak Russian, including the current president. Lots of folks also (to my constant befuddlement) blur the two languages in a slurry of "Sergic."
Language is political (duhhh). My colleague Svitlana was recently getting huffy about Russian speakers - "They think that everything Russian is better, and they look down on Ukrainian." And then sometimes when I speak Ukrainian, people look at me as if I'm putting on hoighty-toighty airs (although maybe that's because my language skills are still so stiff and unnatural).
Oy gevalt, I have no idea how to navigate these muddled waters, but I'm fascinated and will be writing more about this as my service continues.
Super interesting. Excited about hearing more.
ReplyDeleteso i really thought this was interesting, because i had a conversation recently with my older students about ukrainian v russian. i asked what language they spoke better, they said ukrainian. i asked what they spoke at home. they said ukrainian. i asked what language they spoke in stores and around town. they said ukrainian. and so i asked, "if someone started speaking to you in russian first, what would you do? how would you feel?" they told me that they thought it would be rude. and me, coming from kaharlyk where surjek is the language of choice, i asked why. they said "because this is ukraine! it is our native language. we should be speaking ukrainian! this is not russia."
ReplyDeletei just thought it was incredibly interesting seeing the difference between central and western ukraine.
super long comment...i know. sorry!
That sounds very complicated. Why can't we all just get along? But really, though, I'm interested to see it all unfold...your understanding of the tension between the two languages, I mean.
ReplyDeleteSasha: That's one I've never heard before, that speaking Russian is "rude." I'm pumped to come out west sometime and maybe not feel like an idiot all the time... So often I walk into stores and someone shouts at the shopkeeper, "Speak Ukrainian! She doesn't understand Russian!" What would we do out east? Die, probably.
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