Imagine: You are only a fourth-grader coming from a mostly Ukrainian-speaking city in the West of Ukraine. One day, your family is forced to find a new job in Kyiv. The matter of moving to the other place is quite stressful, but you, being a very optimistic child your whole life, are happy to see a bigger city with so many new things to visit and try.
Yet once you arrived and transferred to the new school, you have encountered one slight inconvenience – you couldn’t understand the other pupils, mainly because they all spoke russian. Having spoken Ukrainian all your life makes it immensely harder to find friends, communicate with others or even integrate into a new city. It makes you feel less than others. It makes you ashamed of speaking the language you grew up with. In Ukraine.
So, you try to assimilate. And only after a year of such “assimilative russification”, two years of “surzhyk” and a long period of time surrounding yourself with the russian-speaking entertainment, music, literature, and memes, you are finally able to speak russian and are accepted into a “capital society”.
The year is 2013.
A very absurd scenario, but the one that somehow still happened in my life. Only now, on yet another day of the war, have I realized the relatively crooked nature of that situation, which I have experienced since I was only 10.
Nowadays, a lot of russian-speaking Ukrainians face the same type of judgment as I did so many years ago. Some simply switch back to Ukrainian; some try their hardest to learn and communicate in Ukrainian, and some whine about discrimination. The situation is very complicated.
So, let’s talk about one of the most heated questions in our current reality: The question of language.
1. “How come such an issue even arise? Shouldn’t everyone know Ukrainian because it is an official language?”
Let’s start with the simple fact: Ukrainian identity – namely culture, traditions, poetry, music, language – was always persecuted by the now worldly recognized Russian imperialism. The Ukrainian language was banned 70 times thought its entire history, if not more.
Ems Ukaz, Valuev Circular, the period of the “Red Renaissance”, which quickly turned into the “Executed Renaissance” - such are the most cited examples of outright repression and destruction of the Ukrainian language. The Russian Empire, USSR, and the current russia have always propagated the russian language to be “pure” and a “language of intellectuals”, while Ukrainian was always described as a “language of rustics”.
Even in the 2000s Ukrainian-speaking individuals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other cities, which seemed to be ideal places to receive a proper education, had to learn russian simply to survive – for the Ukrainian language was still perceived as “rural and subjugated”.
Despite such markings being mostly gone after the Revolution of Dignity and the events occurring today, the consequences of the “assimilative russification” remained. That is why Ukraine has always been divided in two, when it came to the question of language.
2. “Well, none seemed to be publicly dissatisfied with such “bilingualism” throughout the entire history. Why should the native language be that important anyway?”
Lina Kostenko – a leading representative of Ukrainian poets of the 60s – has once stated an essential forewarning for all generations to come:
“Nations do not die of heart attacks, they are first deprived of their language”.
Throughout the entire history of Ukraine, the importance of learning and speaking our native language was and still is deeply intertwined with the proof of our existence as a nation. Of our everlasting identity, which was subjected by russian imperialism and soviet totalitarianism to the most gruesome tortures imaginable.
Indeed, to know two or several languages is absolutely normal and even widely encouraged in our current international society. But we need to realize that the cause behind the “Ukrainian-russian bilingualism” is not just derived from one’s volition to study another language - it has stemmed from centuries of being put through the assimilative and eradicative colonial policies of the “big brother”.
There is even a semi-joke regarding such an issue: “Two Ukrainian kids are playing in the playground. One speaks russian, the other – Ukrainian. Guess who will switch to which language first?”
The answer always remains the same.
And not in favor of the second child.
3. “Wait, so you say that the russian-speaking Ukrainians should now be oppressed / are now less of value than the Ukrainian-speaking ones?”
According to Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Prohibition of discrimination):
“the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, color, language, religion, etc.”.
That alone should be the answer.
Moreover, I strongly condemn the rather rare, yet surely prejudiced behavior being shown by a few representatives of the Western Ukrainian diaspora towards the temporally displaced persons from the East, covering such intolerance with “them only helping others to faster learn the official language”. That is not how Ukrainian should be promoted. It is not russian to be forcefully and oppressively hammered into an individual, making one feel worthless as I felt not so many years ago.
As a Ukrainian-speaking individual, all I can do and recommend others to follow is to show kindness and support to those, who take steps to learn the Ukrainian language. Only like that would we not only not give another trigger for the infamous russian propaganda to feast upon, but also show the true foundation of a strong, welcoming, and democratic country, thus steadily dissolving the ever-mentioned consequences of russification.
4. So why is it pivotal to speak Ukrainian now?
Current war, painful history, and respect – such are, in my humble opinion, three vital reasonings which should drive an individual to pursue speaking Ukrainian.
The Russo-Ukrainian war has already shown that the usage of one’s national language could truly be of advantage, as it gives us a distinction from other nations, including the enemy’s one.
The words “паляниця”, “суниця”, “Укрзалізниця” clearly prove such testimony, helping not only uncover the saboteurs, but also prove the independence and authenticity of the Ukrainian language – thus busting the myth of it being “one of many dialects of the russian language”.
Now, let me ask you a question: what is the Ukrainian language associated with now? The common answers would be resistance, bravery, unity, and freedom. But what about the russian language? Only by consciously answering those two questions would one make a conclusion:
The more people transition towards speaking the Ukrainian language – the more our inner resistance against russia and everything connected with the aggressor state will be.
Lastly, “respecting the language is respecting the nation”. And when according to the Ukrainian nationality law “the foreigner willing to receive Ukrainian citizenship should possess knowledge of the state language or its understanding to the extent sufficient for communication”, why shouldn’t we?
5. «Я БОЮСЬ ГОВОРИТЬ ПО-УКРАИНСКИ, ПОТОМУ ЧТО НЕ ХОЧУ ЕГО УРОДОВАТЬ / МОЯ СЕМЬЯ И ОКРУЖЕНИЕ ВСЕГДА ГОВОРЯТ ПО-РУССКИ / НЕКОТОРЫЕ МОГУТ НЕ ПРИНЯТЬ МОЙ ВЫБОР...»
Немає нічого неможливого. Така фраза може бути різкою, але ми можемо чітко помітити правдивість її значення в теперішній час:
До першого бомбардування Києва наївна частинка мене все ще сподівалася, що війна неможлива – але це сталося.
До початку другого тижня війни більшість світових лідерів вважали, що Україна капітулює за три дні – однак зараз триває третій місяць нашої боротьби.
росія навіть зараз гадає, що ми зламаємось через внутрішні конфлікти та її зовнішню агресію - але ми єдині.
Те ж саме стосується такого простого процесу, як вивчення чи спілкування українською мовою. Щоб полегшити вашу тривогу, поділюся секретом: я й досі ловлю себе на тому, що вживаю досить багато «суржиків». Ніхто не ідеальний.
Велику роль процесі мовного переходу грає саме рішучість. Створюйте україномовне оточення завдяки фільмам, книгам, музики та спільнот. Пишіть друзям та рідним українською мовою і не бійтеся починати розмову українською. І не соромтеся помилятися – це частина прогресу.
Я знаю, що буде важко. Я знаю, що це забере багато часу. Я знаю, що знайдуться люди, які будуть критикувати або висміювати ваші спроби. Це неминуча частина вивчення будь-якої мови. Багато людей вже пройшли через це.
Але ти можеш це зробити.
І Україна тебе неодмінно підтримає!