This is good, and necessary. English has long been the de facto lingua franca of the free world, and this should help future generations to integrate with the free world and to break free from the toxic influence of the Russosphere.
this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
21 points (100.0% liked)
Everything about Ukraine
34 readers
1 users here now
founded 1 year ago
I'm sure many Ukrainians who are temporarily living in English speaking countries will return with a much higher level of English fluency. It's great to see the Ukrainian government understanding the importance of the English language for Ukraine's future, especially after their victory.
I can't wait to visit after victory and learn more about Ukrainian culture and history. I also want to drink a cold beer on the Crimean beach.
I am fluent in Russian and English. Even though Ukrainian was my first language I remember nearly none of it having lived in the U.S. for over 40 years.
Going to have to do a bit of research on how I can help. And yeah, Ukraine countryside is absolutely beautiful, I could see retiring there to teach English. Wife doesn't speak any eastern European languages, so that might be a hard sell.
This is great and necessary! Alot of Ukrainians are living in English speaking countries! Glad to hear that the English Language is being recognised
The Soviet/Russian nationalist dream of eradicating the Ukrainian language might just come true.
Russian ≈ the language of the oppressors
English ≈ the language of Freedom
The Soviet/Russian nationalist dream of eradicating the Ukrainian language might just come true.
How come?
I'm thinking in several decades. More Ukrainians are learning English, particularly those who left Ukraine, however temporarily in many cases. I suppose also people will move to Ukraine—those in the developing world to take care of the aged—IIUC Ukraine was undergoing a loss of population even before 2022, and investors when the rebuilding starts. I can see it now: 10 000s of rich Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians, and Asians buying properties such as houses and condos in Ukraine. I live in wp:Toronto, the 4th most populated city in North America, but cities such as wp:Berlin and wp:Kyiv are about the same size. English will be their lingua franca, and for some unilaterally so.
A building in Ukraine seriously damaged, or destroyed, by a Russian shell or whatever other crap the Russian Army is catapulting into Ukrainian skies, is likely seen by millions as a fixer-upper. Ukraine might not have the money, but Western boomers have trillions in assets. Even now, say, the streets of Kherson, are probably safer than cities in that semi-failed-state of Mexico (such as Juárez).
50 years ago, if a Ukrainian wanted to get ahead (besides emigrating), it was to learn Russian. It is now English. Notice how Zelenskyy speaks English while Putin rarely if ever does.
I think the Ukrainian language will, say, have millions of speakers 50 years from now, but it might be fewer than now.
So yes, the Ukrainian language will be diminished thanks to Russia, but not in the way the latter wanted—and Russian too will take a hit—Russian nationalists are turning out to be bad for Russia.
I disagree with this take, from several points of view:
-
The amount of media attention Ukraine has been getting the bast 1.5 years alone has lead to an increasing popularization of Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian language among foreigners. Just in December of last year it was reported that 1.3 million foreigners were studying the Ukrainian language on Duolingo
-
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to a lot of Ukrainian nationals who were either exclusively or primarily Russian speakers to renounce the Russian language and start speaking and learning Ukrainian
-
The patriotic sentiment that will dominate the country due to this war will lead to a revival of Ukrainian art, culture and language since there will be both a desire from Ukrainian nationals to preserve their national identity and everything that comes with it but also a desire from outsiders/foreigners to learn more about Ukraine, its language and culture
-
English is used as lingua franca all over Europe and it has not lead to the diminishing of national languages, if anything thanks to the EU there's been an active effort to preserve and propagate local languages and culture.
My country has switched from French lingua franca to the Russian one and alter the English one over the past centuries, we have used Old Slavic in our churches, we have been under several imperial occupations and their attempts at erasing our language have amounted to nothing. Our language survived that, so will the Ukrainian one.
At best you can argue that there will be influence and all sorts of borrowed words seeping into Ukrainian language and culture. But that happens all over the place, in all countries, its how culture and people work.
view more: next ›