Ukraine: The Language Issue


Victor Yanukovych
‘s Party of the Regions is pushing for a referendum on granting Russian official status as a national language, in addition to Ukrainian.

Taras of Ukrainiana points out the irrelevance of such an initiative by citing the 2001 census data:

[…] Nationwide, some 77.8 percent identified themselves as Ukrainians, while only 67.5 consider Ukrainian their native language.

Question: Which of the two languages needs protection?

In the comments section, Taras writes more on the language issue:

[…] If [Yanukovych] wants two languages, he should help his fellow Donbasians learn Ukrainian. He should also work with the Kremlin — not for the Kremlin — to do more for Russia’s 3-million Ukrainian community.

Instead, he and his Party of Regions thrive on the antagonisms and fault lines left by the Soviet policy of Russification.

[…]

As a Kyivite, I speak Ukrainian and Russian equally well. Never in my whole life have experienced any anxiety or constraints while speaking Russian either in public or in private. But I do remember those dirty looks that some people gave me when I spoke my native language in public at the dawn of Ukraine’s independence.

I have no aversion to any language. But I do have aversion to people who want Ukraine to be a colony of the Russian Empire, and are fishing for an excuse not learn Ukrainian, a non-language to them. […] Of course, not all people who speak Russian are unpatriotic. Kyiv, still largely a Russian-speaking city, voted Yushchenko 78 percent in the third round of the 2004 presidential election. […]

Further on, in a comment to Taras’ post, Peteris Cedrins of Marginalia offers the Latvian approach to dealing with the language issue as an example and concludes:

[…] Learning another language is addition, not subtraction — protecting our national languages is about reducing asymmetrical bilingualism, not obliterating Russian.

Journalist Oleksandr Paskhover, who has recently interviewed Yanukovych for Korrespondent magazine, also writes (RUS) about Yanukovych's referendum initiative on his Korrespondent.net blog:

During the interview for Korrespondent […], Victor Yanukovych asked me more questions than I did. So I didn't really understand [who was interviewing who]. I asked him a question about why the election campaign had turned into mutual vilification, and he asked this in response: “Have you heard me insulting anyone, ever?” I asked him a question about the status of Russian as a national language. He asked me: “What's bad about granting the Russian language the official status?”

And I support this! But I approach the issue from a different direction. If the Russian language in Ukraine were given the status of a foreign language, it would've gained so much more from it than from the status of the second national language. Beginning this year, at the gymnasium that my son and daughter attend, they've reduced the number of Russian lessons. The space freed up by this is filled with French, in addition to English and German. I have nothing against the language of Dumas, Zidane and Le Pen, but I think that good Russian will be of more use to my children than half-literate French. The school authorities explained to us that since Russian isn't a foreign language, the ministry of education has cut the hours allotted to its study, in favor of a foreign language. Dear ministers, please return the status of a foreign language to Russian, and let my children study it along with English and German – five times a week.

The discussion of this post has been going on for over a week now; at some point, it has evolved into a brawl, and there's also a lengthy lecture on linguicide, posted in installments by one reader. Here's a translation of just a handful of them (UKR, RUS):

Ihor_Dudnyk:

I wonder if Victor Fedorovych [Yanukovych] has ever heard of Belgium, where there are several national languages, and the country is on the verge of splitting, and the language issue is one of the key reasons for this split.

Introducing a second national language in Ukraine – Russian – will place the country on the verge of a split (Belgium is an example) and will destroy the Ukrainian language (Belarus, where they've almost destroyed the Belarusian language, is an example).

Sasha, you should've advised Victor Fedorovych to learn more about the language situation in these countries, and perhaps then he wouldn't be asking questions like this.

Leading:

Ihor_Dudnyk, I think that the problem of Russian or any other language does not exist in Ukraine. This pseudo-problem is dragged out of the closet every time there is an election, dusted off and solemnly brought out in front of the roaring crowd. And after the election, it's put back into the closet, into the very same corner of it. […]

Petro-syanko:

[…] The language issue is impossible to resolve, because it requires 300 votes in favor of the changes in the Constitution. Of course, [the Party of the Regions] can bribe the deputies whose votes it's missing, but this money would be spent in vain and won't bring any dividends. What will be left for them to be screaming about at the next election […]?

Chif:

The problem of the Russian language is inflated as an air balloon and is exaggerated […]. There are folks from every corner of our motherland at our university. A good example: there are bestest friends in my group, from Lviv, Bila Tserkva and Sevastopol. And the language poses no problem to their friendship… [Javier] Solana has said it best today: Ukraine's got more significant problems than a referendum on the Russian language.

svs02:

It's just that no one has ever thought of … how much the second national language would cost. […] All laws, documents, etc. would have to be accessible in two languages, and so on. That is, I, as a citizen, have the right to come to any institution and interact (including through documentation) in either of the national languages, right? And no bureaucrat from Donetsk would be able to allow himself NOT to speak to me in Ukrainian, and, vice versa, in Ivano-Frankivsk, they wouldn't be able NOT to interact in Russian. Or am I misunderstanding the concept of the national language???

And street signs on the buildings… they probably have to be on both languages, nicht??? [sic]

Petro-syanko:

“And street signs on the buildings… they probably have to be on both languages, nicht???”

Oh, [it'd be great if they were there at all], even in one language, even in the unofficial one :-)

Gm:

I'm addressing supporters of the second national language here:

You say that you are “for” the Russian language.
This ain't so.
In fact, you're “against” the Ukrainian language.

Nothing is threatening Russian in Ukraine. Besides, it's got its own base – the Russian Federation, where it will continue to develop.
But Ukrainian has nowhere to retreat.
Ukraine is its base.

And this is why your position is amoral.

Gm:

I walked into EuroStar bookstore in Kyiv yesterday and eavesdropped on a conversation between a [male customer] and the young salesperson. The conversation was in Ukrainian – the man was asking if there was any science fiction in Ukrainian, and the salesman was politely saying that there was nothing – all books were published by Russian publishers and were available only in Russian. The man left empty-handed.

I asked the guy how many books in Ukrainian the bookstore had overall – he said there were approximately 60-65 titles, and the rest – some 4,000-4,500 items – were in Russian. And then he added quietly that there have been no additions in the past month.

I asked him whether this was the company's acquisition policy. He said it looked like it was, and, in his opinion, this was being done deliberately, because there is a demand for Ukrainian-language books, even though they are more expensive than those published by Russian publishers.

45 comments

  • Peteris Cedrins

    Michael Averko wrote, among other things:

    “When supporting Russian not being made an official language in Ukraine, you’ve no opposition to having the language situation in Belgium raised.”

    I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mike, sorry. Please reread what I wrote. There are no such languages as “Belgian” or “Swiss” or “Canadian.” There is such a language as “Ukrainian.” One can make all sorts of comparisons to all sorts of changing linguistic environments, and I would urge everybody to do so, extensively and particularly. All I am suggesting is that one ought to be very careful with such comparisons, in the specifics both historical and linguistic — and I don’t think you are.

  • Michael Averko also wrote:

    “Having Ukrainian as the sole language can arguably/eventually end Russian language use in Ukraine against how most feel there.”

    All sorts of stuff could eventually or arguably turn into most anything else. Let’s talk about the here and now. Russian in Ukraine isn’t threatened. Ukrainian is. Most Russophones do not know Ukrainian. Most Ukrainians know Russian.

    In Latvia, after almost 15 years of pro-active language legislation and sole official language status for Latvian, more people speak Russian than speak Latvian, even now, despite the demographics — what that means at “ground level” is that I am often forced to speak Russian whilst most Russophones are hardly ever forced to speak the national language.

  • Mike Averko also said:

    “Furthermore, if anything, Russia is more “European” than Hungary vis-à-vis race (without meaning to appear Hitlerian) and language.”

    And how is that not Hitlerian? Re language — then the Finns and Estonians are not “European” in your view, either?

    I do believe that the point is that the Russian Federation is moving further and further away from European norms. Russia aided China in diluting sanctions against the murderous regime in Burma/Myanmar, for instance.

    Russia does not share European values. This refers to the government, of course, not to the culture or the people. Unfortunately, Russia is anti-democratic, as it has almost always been, a few brief interludes aside.

  • Peteris:

    In reply to some of your recent points:

    Kievan Rus was called Kievan Rus and not Kievan Uke. The modern day concept of Ukrainian nationalism is a relatively new development. You’ve a definite bias against Russocentric concerns. I understand Latvia’s history of being dominated in the past by the Soviet Union, Russia and others. I also know that as far as major powers go, Russia has had a relatively tolerant attitude towards others. You can make specific references to Russian wrongs while overlooking the positives and I in turn can show those positives and the manner of other powers towards their subjects. Ukraine isn’t Latvia and for objectivity sake, you should make more of an effort to understand that Ukraine isn’t Latvia.

    Russian language use in Ukraine is under threat. A point which many in Ukraine are against. Let the overall will of the people there decide. There’s no denying that others states exist with more than one official language. Comparatively speaking, Ukraine should be the same.

    Your views of democracy and morals are questionable. Ukrainian politics remains heavily influenced by oligarchs. Georgia isn’t more democratic than Russia. Some Western diplomatic moves are morally flawed. Like supporting independence for an ethnically cleansed, crime ridden Albanian nationalist “Kosova”, while denying Pridnestrovie’s better case for independence. Contrary to what you suggest, Latvia and Estonia have some unpleasant aspects that Mark Ames and some others have noted.

    It can be considered somewhat Hitlerian to claim that Russia isn’t a part of Europe. It definitely is on the Hilerian side to honor WW II era non-German Nazi allies, who in some instances behaved very Nazi like.

  • To further underscore on the points raised in my last submitted set of comments: modern day Russia and Ukraine have a shared history, culture and close linguistic relationship, much unlike the history of Russia and Latvia, or Ukraine and Latvia. As an example, Gogol is a Russian and Ukrainian literary figure.

    Hence, Peteris’ comparative example(s) aren’t as valid as mine.

  • Thanks to Michael Averko for the link about the language history – unfortunately it wouldn’t open for me. I’ll try again later.

    As to Russia moving further away from Europe, I will allow modification to my thoughts and statement. In the political sphere I do believe the “West” does argue that Russia is regressing. One must be careful here and I wasn’t, with apologies. The good people of Russia are like people most everywhere in our basic natures. However, governence does rest on what the culture will accept so it is indeed a tangled issue.

    This language issue is about power. Who has it, how can it be maintained and who wants it. We’re not going to solve it. The undercurrent in these discussions is very clear – it’s really about pro and con Russia. Nothing else.

    For me I’m 8,000 Km away from the argument and it’s up to the Ukrainians. I wish my dear friends there all the best in their decisions. The Ukrainians are a beautiful, intelligent and educated people still suffering in many ways from centuries of Russian domination. I refer once again to Taras Shevschenko as having said all that needs to be said.

  • David, Russia isn’t regressing. It’s advancing. Most Russians I know display a very open minded attitude which includes wanting to engage those who are critical of their country. A most democratic spirit, which I often find lacking in some Western circles.

    “Russian domination” over Ukraine can be interpreted in two extremes. One sees Ukraine as a kind of different entity from Russia which has been dominated against its will. The other acknowledges Russia as having become an overall more developed society/economy from Ukraine.

    Taras Shevshenko was a pan-Slavic advocate who sympathized with the idea of forming a decentralized union of Slavic states.

    David, you’ve referenced an anti-Russian West Ukrainian lady. How well do you know the Russocentric Ukrainian view?

    You will be hard pressed finding someone with a Latvian name like Peteris Cederins to refer to himself as an ethnic Russian. On the other hand, you will find a good number of people with “Ukrainian” names like Taras Protopenko refer to themselves as Russians. Likewise, there’re those with “Russian” names like Ivan Mikhailov, who classify themselves to a Ukrainian ethnic identity.

    It’s no coincidence that the least Russia friendly of observers go out of their way to downplay the close ties bonding many Ukrainians and Russians.

    This brings to mind a recent Global Voices promoted post by Paul Goble referenced and commented on at this link (forgive my repeating it from an earlier post of mine at this thread):

    http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@756.DtVid0rSZey@.77480649/8151

  • David

    As per the below linked blog, the person posting under the moniker “Untermensch” is someone of Ukrainian origin. While being proud of his Ukrainian identity, he’s not fond of the kind of Russia hating views found among some (stress some) in Western Ukraine (notably Galicia) and (to a lesser degree) other parts of Ukraine. In addition to him, I personally know a good number of ethnic Ukrainians who feel the same.

    Not making Russian an official language and encouraging anti-Russian biases encourages the breakup up of that former Soviet republic. On the BBC, Taras Kuzio recently acknowledged that Ukraine needs to balance the differing perspectives on such matter. Along with Adrian Karatnycky, Kuzio said that Russo-Ukrainian differences aren’t violently along the lines of what’s found among some other former Communist bloc peoples.

    Keep in mind that in Quebec City, French is the overwhelmingly spoken language.

  • Thanks to everyone for the education – like I said I’m far removed from the argument. In that I have no facility with either Russian or Ukrainian I have no first hand knowledge therefore I have to listen very carefully to what is being said in English. Unfortunately my experience is not broad but when I listen carefully I hear or read (in English) an undercurrent that to me is disturbing.

    Background – I was born and raised in the “South”, ie the south east of the US. That area lost a war to the “North” (thank God) in the mid 1860’s. That war emotionally lasted at least into the late 1950’s when I was a teenager in high school. These things take a long time to work out.

    As to Russia, my opinions were formed by stupid things like bomb shelters anticipating the final war – the atonmic war with Russia. I spent too many nights on cold and sleepless guard duty in the US army in Germany in the early 1960’s, looking East and wondering when the Russians would be conming across at us. The mission of the 3rd Armored Cavalry was to try to delay and slowly fall back, cross the Rhine to the Western side and hope for reinforcements.

    I do watch the Russians with some suspecion as to motives and I am sure they watch us – they should. Personally, I have deep feelings of good will toward all Ukrainians East and West, no matter their “native” language. I do know this – and history shows it – give the Russians a seat at the table in Ukraine and they will take the meal.

    Taras railed at the Russian Tsar. Taras had to know he was a dead man walking and that is exactly what he became.

    All the best to Ukraine and the good people there. Please do visit http://www.ukraineorphans.net. There you will see that I include all – up front and personal, with fondness and respect.

  • Apologies about the typos. David

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