Russian Won't Be Taught In Kyiv's Schools. How Do Ukrainians Feel About It?

We asked people on the streets of the Ukrainian capital how they felt about the decision to stop teaching the Russian language in Kyiv's schools from September 1.
Originally published at - www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kyiv-...
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#russia #ukraine

[@russell7489]

Why doesn't anyone mention the DECADES Russia made it illegal to teach Ukrainian, to even teach Ukrainian history, folk tales, the teachers JAILED for YEARS for daring to do so? IGNORING such atrocities to "prevent friction' is WRONG

[@igorjee]

Exactly, that's why Ukrainians should be better, and allow all ethnic minorities to learn in their own mother tongue from kindergarten to high school or even university. Ethnic Russians, Hungarians, Romanians, Tatars shouldn't be forced to learn in Ukrainian, the same way Catalans or Basques shouldn't be forced to learn in Spanish.

[@Stephen85]

@@igorjee there is nothing wrong with teaching children the language of their new country, it's actually beneficial. In America the kids who speak another language get to take a special class to help learn the language, but that is the only class they get talked to in their native tongue. Where are you going to get the teachers to teach all the same classes in multiple languages?

[@melindacadarette3447]

@@igorjee Their parents can teach them their language at home. But if the majority speak another language, then it makes sense to know that language as well. Many Ukrainians know English too.

[@igorjee]

​@@Stephen85 It is Europe and it is only their new country insofar as the borders have been redrawn. Hungarians have been living in Transcarpathia for 1100 years as an ethnic block. Their kids shouldn't be forced to learn in another language. Yes, there must be a Ukrainian language class, but parents should have the freedom to choose between a fully Hungarian, a Ukrainian, or a bilingual school. This is normal in all of Europe and suppressing minority rights makes Ukraine look bad. "Where are you going to get the teachers to teach all the same classes in multiple languages?" Look at an ethnic map of Ukraine. There's no need for 'multiple' languages, it is not the USA where almost everyone is a different immigrant. Hungarians live among Hungarians in the westernmost part and there have been Hungarian teachers since Maria Theresa made public education compulsory in the 1770s.

[@igorjee]

@@melindacadarette3447 Hungarians and Romanians live in their respective regions where they are the local majority. Curtailing educational freedom doesn't reflect well on Ukrainian EU dreams.

[@rgeiler7627]

Lady at 0:48 gets straight to the point. Why would anyone agree to teach in the language of a nation that is trying to kill you?

[@florinadrian5174]

Know thy enemy?

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

because it's also the primary language of like half of the ukrainian population. or at least of the population of what used to be ukraine. with THIS attitude, they'll never take back ukrainian land!

[@susanwestern6434]

The country s official language should be Ukrainian. People can still speak Russian at home. Or any other language.

[@kenlompart9905]

Exactly, I thought more people would say that.

[@stormtruppen4039]

@@Ass_of_Amalek and WHO are you to deem what Ukraine can or cannot take back? Russia is having a bloody nose and it knows it can't fight Ukraine forever whilst Ukraine will not stop fighting until Russia leaves all of Ukraines pre 2014 territory

[@davidmurphy563]

That poor woman saying she was from Mariupol. Imagine if the city you grew up in was destroyed and occupied by foreign troops...

[@EUGEN093]

I'm from Belgrad, I feel her

[@stardust5548]

@@EUGEN093 and still have Russian imperialistic flag(?) as a profile pic

[@EUGEN093]

@@stardust5548 Yes, I do

[@whitezombie10]

@@EUGEN093 when was Belgrad destroyed and occupied by foreign forces?

[@EUGEN093]

@@whitezombie10 are you kidding? Right?

[@wishingonthemoon1]

That old lady really told it straight. Everyone had great answers.

[@exiledhebrew1994]

She probably sided with Nazi Germany

[@meso8848]

What babushka ? 00:50? She knows nothing what is she talking about

[@sarac.3259]

@@meso8848 oh yes you who joined in April 2022 so you could post $&!£ and get a few small coins from Putrid. _You_ know "nothing what" you are talking about.

[@meso8848]

@@sarac.3259 I know nothing what I’m talking about? Then go ahead tell me something I don’t know! Y’all hilarious about trolling and whatever … tell me something I don’t know ?

[@AntiMullahs]

@@meso8848 dood your language is as trash as your equipments, cry bout it 😂😂😂😂😂

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

Maybe teach English for a second language as an elective instead of russian. There's a lot of young Ukrainians in tech and English will really help become even better programmers. My husband is a Ukrainian and programmer, he gets asked advice from people new to the field and when they ask "which programming language should I learn first?" he always tells them to become proficient in English 😉

[@koctan8561]

NO I’m from Ukraine and I’d never support the fake Ukraine government from 2014 who was bought by American money . And killed thousands ! Now you are fooled . Because u weren’t in there u didn’t see what I did

[@Sunshine-un5ww]

Yes i hope we in the west will have a long positive helpful relationship with Ukraine. The young people want a Ukraine that is independent and free and democratic. We will help them !

[@telebubba5527]

@Ligia Gom The Kremlin needs a makeover. Mariupol style.

[@alanmcgowan3457]

@Ligia Gom Better to burn the furniture rather than buy as much as 1 cc of RuZZian gas. Слава Україні

[@naynay1139]

@@Sunshine-un5ww The west doesn’t give a damn about Ukraine except use it to fight Russia as that’s truth

[@TheDeanHaemel]

" it is logical. The Russian language is a relic of the Soviet Union". 👍🇺🇦 Best response right there!

[@alexhouglorytoukraine7203]

wow

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

Yeah, I felt that one!

[@user-ok2mn4bw7u]

😂 You idiot 🤦‍♀️

[@user-ok2mn4bw7u]

The Ukrainian language is not recognized and not registered as an independent one, it was created in 1794 by Professor Hrushevsky on the instructions of the Austrian intelligence service and is a greatly modified Russian language with the addition of a large number of Polish, Romanian, German and even French words, there is no scientific literature in this language, it is a very poor language, teaching in it leads to the degradation of personality.

[@user-ok2mn4bw7u]

@@ZhovtoBlakytniy The Ukrainian language is not recognized and not registered as an independent one, it was created in 1794 by Professor Hrushevsky on the instructions of the Austrian intelligence service and is a greatly modified Russian language with the addition of a large number of Polish, Romanian, German and even French words, there is no scientific literature in this language, it is a very poor language, teaching in it leads to the degradation of personality.

[@Speakers154]

Considering Russia uses the prevalence of Russian speakers as an excuse for annexing Ukraine, it is a no brainer that teaching Russian is not in Ukraine's interest for the time being at least.

[@thebusybee7080]

russia populated those annexed areas and wanted to russify the whole of Ukraine. It is documented. A country's culture and language is its backbone and russia wanted to wipe that out. Ukraine was purposely corrupted by russian officials. They tried to make russian a second official language. In 2014 the previous Ukrainian president Yanukovych refused to sign the offer from the EU for Ukraine to join the EU even though the people wanted it. He wanted to stay aligned with putin. He was a Ukrainian yet this is what he did. The people protested and threw him out. He is living in russia now. And this is what they tried to do over and over. So when you say teaching russian is not in Ukraine's interest "for the time being"- I hope to God it is never.

[@victor-hugedivitorilamas5802]

This is my point as well. If nothing Russia has pushed the boundaries and tried to sabotage Ukraine through the usage of russian, then russian shouldn't be a language that's openly supported in Ukraine.

[@davidknipe4113]

Ditto Estonia, Latvia, etc.

[@flip526]

"since Russia invaded to prevent genocide of its people it's only natural that we go ahead with the genocide"

[@mitchyoung93]

Trying to erase Russian culture from areas that were never Ukrainian is one big reason Borderland is being invaded and right-sized.

[@laurencehastings7473]

Grandma summarised it perfectly 'We thought the Russians were our friends, turns out they are our enemies'

[@gta1kev]

Yet they think the west are their friends while they are draining ukraine in blood but also in resousches

[@laurencehastings7473]

@@gta1kev Who is draining Ukranian blood on Ukranian soil?What about the Russian blood being drained on Ukranian soil 40000 dead and probably 120000 wounded. The crops will be well fertilised and the Ukranian scrap industry will flourish. Slava Ukraini, heroyam slava.

[@daniboi4067]

@@laurencehastings7473 lmfao you guys have 60+ Kia and counting 🤣

[@BobuxGuy]

@@daniboi4067 source RT news

[@exiledhebrew1994]

Yeah like when her father sided with Nazi Germany

[@atticusfredericks6210]

"The Russian language is more like a relic of the Soviet Union" How could any Ukrainian feel differently with Putin's old Soviet-like invasion ?

[@solodad7999]

It's time to rid Ukraine of the language & influence of the communist dictatorship. Ukraine has shown they are no longer slaves to the czarina

[@koctan8561]

That’s completely not true at all u idiot

[@mis4nthr0p3]

"How could any of Europe feel differently with Putin's old Soviet-like invasion?" If nothing else, this has shown the folly of energy dependence on a perennial autocracy, just like the decoupling that's starting with China.

[@user-ok2mn4bw7u]

The Ukrainian language is not recognized and not registered as an independent one, it was created in 1794 by Professor Hrushevsky on the instructions of the Austrian intelligence service and is a greatly modified Russian language with the addition of a large number of Polish, Romanian, German and even French words, there is no scientific literature in this language, it is a very poor language, teaching in it leads to the degradation of personality.

[@user-ok2mn4bw7u]

@@mis4nthr0p3 The Ukrainian language is not recognized and not registered as an independent one, it was created in 1794 by Professor Hrushevsky on the instructions of the Austrian intelligence service and is a greatly modified Russian language with the addition of a large number of Polish, Romanian, German and even French words, there is no scientific literature in this language, it is a very poor language, teaching in it leads to the degradation of personality.

[@cskvision]

While Russia is banning the use of blue and yellow, let alone the Ukrainian language. I'd be thrilled to not learn Russian in Ukraine!

[@MonsterMacLLC]

To be fair it is not just the colors blue and yellow that have been targets... we must not forget the letter “Z” is also on the hit list... Never have my pets Zippy, Zinger, and Zelda looked more suspicious🙀

[@stvk99]

Uhhh when did Russia ban Ukrainian?

[@braveworld2707]

@@MonsterMacLLC It could be worse. They might have been called Zippy, Obliger and Velda. 😱

[@azadthebutt]

Idk about that ban in Russia, I only heard about ban of Russian colours in Ukraine, since 2014.

[@DanLekin]

@@azadthebutt There are a lot of videos from the streets of Russia about banning Ukrainian colors, books and language.

[@dunbar9finger]

Many people replying don't seem to understand that this isn't a ban on having a foreign language class that teaches Russian. It's stopping the special status where Russian is in the standard curriculum. Now it's treated like any other foreign language, as an elective.

[@roxannebabayenne1967]

it even says in Wikipedia that there's a language law in Ukraine that bans Russian

[@DissectGibberish]

As it should be.

[@roxannebabayenne1967]

@@DissectGibberish well let's ban Spanish in the US

[@MeeesterBond17]

​@@roxannebabayenne1967 You mean on the webpage that everyone can edit?

[@Kosh998]

@@MeeesterBond17 I see you haven't tried editing Wikipedia in your life but a sort of person who uncritically believes what others tell about Wikipedia

[@JT-ct2bn]

A woman asking her son in Russian whether he wants to study Russian and him answering her in Russian "I don't want to"🤦

[@vikoccult7494]

The Irony with this is soo silly haha

[@Vatnik_tschistilka]

That just means he still gonna speak the language once beeing a fullgrown man +Ukrainian +English probably, which makes him an asset to mankind.

[@stardust5548]

So what? He don't want to keep studying language of aggressor. What's wrong with it?

[@JT-ct2bn]

@@stardust5548 he already speaks it, it is his native tongue, duh. Otherwise his mother would talk to him in Ukrainian.

[@seagreenmoon13]

@@stardust5548 it is his own language) that is why eastern Ukraine rebelled against west

[@freespiritable]

Albanian here and in our schools we have English taught since first grade then French, Italian, German, Greek, Turkish as second languages. There have been new additions as Spanish, Chinese and Macedonian so people here by ending compulsory education have learned 2-3 foreign languages. Which is in line with EU guidelines.

[@bernardzsikla5640]

Ha! I'm American, I barely speak English after years of primary/secondary and finally, having a undergraduate education 😉

[@mleise8292]

Can you please join the EU already?

[@freespiritable]

@@bernardzsikla5640 lol i speak fluently 7 languages and can manage a communication in some more, I'm a mere French teacher in Albania 😅

[@freespiritable]

@@mleise8292 we've been waiting and waiting 😅, too much prejudice towards us I guess.

[@getanupgrade1018]

This is why the EU are a bunch of losers

[@anthonymorris2276]

Russian is a foreign language to Ukrainians, and might be taught as a foreign language along with English, German, French and Chinese. But never again should the language of a people who have ruthlessly attacked and committed war crimes against Ukrainians be taught as if it were an official language. In Australia, we have many citizens who have come from different countries around the world. Some of them still speak their original languages in their homes. But all schools teach only in English, apart from some which educate indigenous Australians in the languages of their ancestors. Everyone is free to learn a foreign language, and people with Italian, Greek, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Korean heritage - to mention just a few of the more prominent examples - choose to learn the language of their forebears as a foreign language. But that is entirely different from treating such a language as if it were the country’s national language.

[@barneydenstad2148]

Well said. :)

[@stvk99]

Lmaoooo the whole country knows Russian they just like to pretend the don't. Even the president has a Russian accent when speaking Ukrainian😂😂😂 You don't have a slightest idea what you're talking about. Come to Odessa or Donetsk and tell them Russian is a foreign language, see how people will look at you

[@koctan8561]

It is not a foreign language you are a complete liar and idiot . Shame on your mother

[@vaenii5056]

Australia is not the best example, because English is the state language because of colonization. In that regard Ukrainian language is more comparable to indigenous Australian languages - and I think they have the right to have their own national language. Then you can learn second, third or even fourth language on top of that depending on your personal preferences and ambitions.

[@alanmcgowan3457]

I am Irish, you have to learn to let go of he past. English (how were the aggressor in our case) is the most commonly spoken language here. This Vlog only stated that it will no longer be thought in Kyiv. That does not mean it will cease to he thought in the Eastern parts of Ukraine like Donetsk and Luhansk. Whatever the decision of the Ukrainian people is, the world needs to respect their choice. Слава Україні

[@xxcapxr3611]

1:09 I love the fact the mother said *”we already speak Russian at home but they should known Ukrainian for school and life”

[@ban_tuo]

Crazy, isn’t it 😂

[@JustCantGetRight]

wow, it's almost as if people are saying this with a sense of catharsis. like they're overjoyed that they can put their own language first without it being controversial.

[@elenavoicu9155]

👏 👍 👍.....

[@fdk7014]

When Ukraine has kicked Russia out they will not be friends for a long time going forward so Ukraine will turn towards the west instead. Therefore it makes sense to drop Russian and focus on something else, perhaps elevating English instead?

[@hillbillykiller7726]

yeh english is a middle term for all of us in europe to understand eachother

[@LubosMedovarsky]

@@hillbillykiller7726 It's a kind of cuckoo egg in EU after Brexit but whatever 🙂

[@puraLusa]

English is just practical as its international.

[@marcusott2973]

English is one of the simplest languages to learn, it's a hybrid language born of necessity, so that French speakers of Scandinavian heritage could communicate with their Anglo-Saxon subjects. It has become the lingua franca of the world, one of the main reasons for that is it's simplicity. I say that as a native German and English speaker, Austrian father British mother, German is much, much harder to become proficient in.

[@velvetmagnetta3074]

Re: English is kind of a cuckoo egg... So true! 🤣 I'm a native English speaker from the US and can attest to the fact that there are MUCH better languages out there! But since English just adopts words, phrases, and sentence structures from all other languages, it is a nice, open-ended middle-ground that anyone can make their own. It's sort of a symbiotic synergy that gets better the more languages it incorporates.

[@gspaulsson]

I know a lot of Poles who had to learn Russian in school but completely forgot it once the Warsaw Pact fell apart. My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and couldn't stand hearing German, but I'm a Holocaust historian and German is essential for me. Generally, learning languages is good for the brain, as long as it doesn't come with horrible associations.

[@amandeis]

Russian was a forced language. Migrants in the Soviet Union Russified large parts of Ukraine and supplanted the native language. But they became Ukrainians with a different language. Many similarities in Western Europe. Why does Ireland speak English and not Irish Gaelic? Imperialism almost destroyed the Irish language. Similar in France with Occitan and Spain with Catalan. The Czech Republic revived its language after 1880, and German was also undesirable after 1918. The opportunism of the once dominant ethnic group cannot destroy a nation as united as the Ukrainians. If there is one thing Putin has achieved, it is that the Ukrainians now only want to speak Ukrainian.

[@deang5622]

And if the Irish only spoke Gaelic, what opportunities would people have? Hardly any. They have far more opportunities precisely because they speak English. Call it imperialism or colonisation, it doesn't matter, what matters is whether or not speaking English has been beneficial to them.

[@amandeis]

@@deang5622 I am German Swabian and speak my dialect. But can also speak English. Of course, English is the number one world language in the 21st century. When England occupied the Irish it certainly wasn't. It's just an example. I could name dozens. As for Russian opportunism, it is the arrogance and inferiority complex of an artificial "Great Nation". See the example of Napoleon's "Grand Nation" in France. What % of Russian citizens speak Russian as their mother tongue? Overall most okay. But the number of minorities is huge. Over 100. So an artificial nation that is only defined with the colonial Tsarist "Soviet language". Exploitation, slavery and abuse for war and fascist terror.

[@amandeis]

@charles In the GDR it was said that the Russians are our brothers. You can choose your friends. Your brothers don't.

[@Gambol_25]

@@deang5622 were they asked about what they want? :/

[@Gambol_25]

@charles English is the new international language, we don't need ruZZian anymore...

[@toi_techno]

Good luck Ukraine from Ireland. We almost lost our language to an aggressive neighbour as well .

[@matthewjohnson1749]

That was then, this is now. Now you are losing your language because nobody wants to speak it except for the elderly. You *had* good momentum a few short decades back to revive Irish, but it ran out of steam and flopped. Unless, of course, it is "Anglo-Irish" you are promoting as "your own language".

[@laingarrison8966]

@@matthewjohnson1749 are you THE Matthew Raphael Johnson? Love your work

[@andremacko5408]

I've always wondered why Celtic is struggling in today's world in Ireland. Certainly now, being located in the liberal West, Ireland would and should not have any problems reestablishing the dominance of Celtic. All the groundwork is there to let it flourish. I can't but think it's an apathy on the part of the people and politicians to their linguistic history. Sad.

[@tomtocz7284]

@@andremacko5408 prolly because English is the language of world business. Many companies open their European headquarters in Ireland in part because they have a big population of native English speakers to draw upon. But yeah, to see Gaelic make a comeback in Ireland would be pretty awesome!

[@andremacko5408]

@@maireboy The point that as Rus' (Ukraine) expanded in medieval times into Finno Ugric territory is undisputed and introduced clerical (church Slavonic) and no doubt the vernacular Ukrainian of those times is not disputed. However Ukrainian on an academic linguistic level is most closely related to Bilarusian, Slovak, Polish, Serbo Croatian in that order before being related to the language of Moscow. I'm trying to avoid the term Russian language which as you know is a fairly recent artificial moniker created in 1721. Prior to that the area was sooner known as Moscovia or Tataria. I don't understand your point of the same language group or influence of polish on Ukrainian. All languages are influenced by their neighbours and geography. Are you implying Ukrainian is not it's own language and requires outside influences to justify its existence. It certainly seems that way when you bring up surzhyk which is a destructive slang that is local and has no intelligibility between regions of Ukraine. It's like saying the patois of Jamaica is fully understandable by the patois of Barbados. Saying there was publishing in Ukrainian during Soviet times is a cruel joke. Just read Kolasky's education in Soviet Ukraine and Dzuba's internationalism or Russification blows that ridiculous statement out of the water like the battleship Moskva. Finally if you think this is a war over language then you must also believe all Ukrainians are Nazisi including the Jewish democratically elected president of Ukraine, that NATO wants to attack Russia. It's neither of those 3. It's about having a democratic Ukraine with all its flaws on the Russian Federation's border prospering while Putin and his cronies and other despots having to explain to all the peoples ( ethnicities) of Russia why they are being robbed by him and his oligarchs and why China is turning Russia into its own vassal state. I guess Putin fears his Federation is becoming less EURasia and becoming more eurASIA.

[@rafailspari1529]

A taxi driver in Kharkiv saw me trying to talk to him in Ukrainian language. He felt shame that even though he was Ukrainian he doesn't know well to speak it. He said "I am Ukrainian! And I cannot speak Ukrainian...." he hit the steering wheel. They were gathered 6/7 old women at fruit Market around me seeing that I try to order in Ukrainian. When they were asking me in Russian and I replied "я не розумію тебе " one of them hide her face and was laughing and crying saying maybe "of course you don't understand I speak Russian, blame me" I fall in love with Kharkiv, I will return there, I promise.

[@stvk99]

Lmao you think self-hating is cute?

[@joythought]

Rafail, that's a very sweet story. I hope you do get back there.

[@rafailspari1529]

@@stvk99 no saw that someone else is speaking their language and they don't because of russian oppression on the language back in time

[@daniboi4067]

Kharkiv will fall and become 🇷🇺

[@stvk99]

@@rafailspari1529 didn't seem to care much before? by the way, Kharkov was founded by the Russian Tsar Alexey Mikhaylovich in 1654.

[@MrDude826]

Russia thought invading Ukraine would gravitate Ukraine more towards Russia due to fear but it never imagined people would resist Russia's oppression with such fearlessness.

[@gothluv4740]

Nah, Putin dont care about it. He will just make infinitely disputed territories in ukraine, so they cant join the nato/EU. There in the rules of accession it says about disputed territories, the same in Georgia

[@MrDude826]

@@gothluv4740 Difference is Ukraine can pack a punch so Russia can't keep fighting an indefinite war with Ukraine.

[@alexalys]

I think many people don't understand the situation. In Ukrainian schools we study English from the 2nd year. It is a requirement to enter the university later and finish the school in general. Moreover, in most of the establishments you are obliged to learn either French or German. But previously there was the choice of Russian also.

[@Inkling777]

I imagine Ukraine will also convert their wide-gauge (Russian) rail lines to the standard gauge used in most of Europe.

[@carylhalfwassen8555]

Absolutely a must!

[@meow2u22]

Wouldn't converting wide gauge rail lines to stanard gauge European rail lines cause russkie trains to derail? Good idea!

[@puraLusa]

It's a part of the eu process as having available different languages in the curriculum as second and third language.

[@CallistoPili]

@@meow2u22 this is the reason why the gauge is different, in war time this difference matters a lot!!!!!!! logistics and supply chain basically broken.

[@deang5622]

Too expensive and for little benefit. They won't do it.

[@donnacollins1356]

I love hearing Ukraine language it's lilting and curls best I can put into words ruzzia is Sharp and cold clip to it My granddaughter hears me listening and wants to know if I understand Ukraine talk I say no but sometimes I know what they are saying because the action that goes with it, Bless those children they look so happy and well spoken GLORY to Ukraine 🌻🙏💪 love and great vibes from the US 🤝

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

Ukrainian is my second language, English first. I think Ukrainian is melodic, and not too difficult to learn naturally. The alphabet can be intimidating for those used to a Latin script, but if you learn like you did as a child from listening it can be a little easier. When it does come to learning to read it, the words almost always sound like they're spelled unlike English 😁

[@nikikiooo]

As a native speaker of both they sound identical just different vocabularies and slightly different dialects. But I understand the praise of Ukraine, during these times

[@mpakakas3518]

My fart is more uplifting. Would you like me to send an MP3 so you can relax and do your pilates better??

[@mpakakas3518]

@@ZhovtoBlakytniy Whatever is forced on someone is biter. No matter how sweet it really is in life. Keep forcing the Russians with several things and you will be annihilated in the end.... Why don't you just allow parents to choose? You tried that 8 years ago and now they will have referendums and.... bye bye small_russians..... One thing I learned from this conflict: Ukrainians are unable to learn anything...... (you really hate yourselves so much??)

[@AmericanGirl6128]

I Truly love both. The ancient culture and civilization of Both but I am COSSACK at heart

[@AH-mj1rd]

English as second language. They will be prosperous as they can work and interact in the civilized world

[@shecalledmelisalou]

As a student of the Russian language it makes me sad but I totally understand the necessity to preserve and prioritize the Ukrainian language. It should have always been that way. I struggle about what I should do now. I will continue to study Russian. My next language to study is Polish. If a Ukrainian family moves here I will learn Ukrainian out of respect for them and will never speak Russian to a Ukrainian unless they speak it first. May the Ukrainian people continue to be victorious!

[@Gambol_25]

Thank you for understanding, pal. I always find it incredibly rude or a sign of bad behaviour when someone tries to speak to me in ruSSian when we can speak in either Ukrainian or English.

[@VieneLea]

Nie ucz się chłopie polskiego, i tak nie mamy niczego ciekawego do powiedzenia

[@moneywisefinserve268]

BUT ISN'T BOTH LANGUAGES ALMOST SAME OR ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND FOR ANYONE NOT KNOWING UKRAINIAN OR RUSSIAN.

[@Gambol_25]

@@moneywisefinserve268 ruSSian and Ukrainian are as similar as Italian and Spanish (+-)

[@moneywisefinserve268]

@@Gambol_25 MEANS ITS TOTALLY DIFFERENT, LANGUAGES. NO COMMONALITY

[@soupisgood44]

Every single Ukrainian I know has completely dropped the Russian language, even the ones who strictly spoke it their entire lives. It's like a switch flipped overnight for everyone. Also, Ukrainian is closer to all the other Slavic languages than Russian is- which has been fun for us to discover during years of traveling. Who knew how beneficial knowing Ukrainian could be :)

[@krowaswieta7944]

Is it though? As a Pole i cant really tell the difference between Russian and Ukrainian. Maybe because Ukrainians and Russians have pretty much the same accent? I dunno. Note that i actually can understand some Slovakian and a little bit of Czech. But, for instance, i have no idea if people in this video speak Ukrainian or Russian (and hehe, i even have a lot of neighbours from Ukraine, so i guess i should be more used to Ukrainian [in fact like 100-150k people living in my city now are Ukrainian]).

[@cheoilnaheireann_fleadh3944]

My experience is completely different. I'm from Germany and we have huge bunches of Ukrainian refugees here. In school I took Russian classes. I don't speak it fluently and have many grammatical errors in my speech, but one can understand easily...so communicating in Russian works fine. I was still a student when the first refugees from Ukraine arrived...I saw that they were always alone on the yard in the breaks, so I decided to go up to them and try to talk a little bit - which worked out fine! They all speak Russian and I've never had any troubles communicating with them in Russian.

[@soupisgood44]

@@krowaswieta7944 I'm just speaking on behalf of Ukrainian speakers' experiences. As for most Polish people, I wouldn't know. Although... my Ukrainian partner has been teaching several Polish students both languages, and they seem to have a way easier time with Ukrainian than Russian for obvious reasons

[@soupisgood44]

​@@cheoilnaheireann_fleadh3944 well obviously.... the majority of Ukrainians already know how to speak Russian alongside Ukrainian.

[@krowaswieta7944]

@@soupisgood44 Well, again - maybe its because Russians have almost the same accent as Ukrainians. I feel like accent makes huge difference in perceiving a language. The fact is though that from slavic lanuages i can understand the best Slovakian, and a little bit less Czech. And ye, its probably easier to get Serbian/Croatian than Russia/Belarusian/Ukrainian for me as well. And tbh i have no idea what are the differences and simmilarities between these languages (Ukrainian/Russian/Belarusian). But they really sound very simmilar to each other (or maybe im deaf).

[@hinthegroove9740]

I want to go visit with the Ukrainian people. Much admiration!

[@sticky59]

Don't leave it too long or it may be called Russia ! Still, you can always visit the Ukraine's down in Bulgaria .... suddenly the place is crawling with them.

[@peterross97]

@@sticky59 Bullshit. The ruzzians have NO chance of winning this "special military operation' AKA a genocidal invasion.

[@peterross97]

I spent 5 weeks there this past April/May delivering medical supplies into Ukraine and taking refugees out. It was an amazing experience and I for one have nothing but respect for the Ukrainian people.

[@TheGrindcorps]

Okay. Admiration at removing and banning a different language? I don’t know where you’re from but that would be like banning and restricting Spanish in schools as a language in America. Why? Seems pretty hateful and xenophobic to me. There is a significant population of people who speak Russian and it is native language in whole of Ukraine. Why is it admirable to single out ethnic minorities or people who speak a minority language?

[@TheGrindcorps]

@@sticky59 nah. At this point it seems unlikely Kiev and western Ukraine would be. Even in Will become Novorossiya it is not clear it will be Russian Federation. The way things were in Crimean referendum there was vote for restoring 1992 constitution(autonomous region in Ukraine with extreme autonomy) or accession to Russia. Something similar will be happening in places like Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in September 2022 word has it. Nikolaev and Kharkov will probably follow soon after that. The options will probably be similar, though obviously there is no 1992 constitution the same way as with Crimea. Unclear if autonomy within Ukraine will be an option since Kiev will never respect that and Crimea was essentially an closer to independent state under 1992 constitution. Probably it will be independence or no and then if independence yes or no to being part of Russian Federation. So I’m summary, all these soon to be former Ukrainian regions will most likely vote to leave Ukraine but may not vote to join Russian Federation. Even if they do vote to join Russian Federation it is not guaranteed Russia will annex them, same as with Donetsk and Luhansk. They have voted to join Russia but Russia has never approved their ascension and only even recognized them as independent states this year. Perhaps they will all form a new state, a Novorossiyaian confederation of sorts if Russia does not allow their ascension.

[@countmorbid3187]

My daughter didn't know what new language to study after being fluent in Dutch, English, French and reasonable German. She ended up choosing russian because all of the former soviet union were forced to study russian. She quit the day of the invasion.

[@stvk99]

Hahaha weak

[@countmorbid3187]

@@stvk99 She has more character than you'll ever have Orc troll 😂

[@stvk99]

@@countmorbid3187 so am I an orc or a troll? These are 2 different species🤔

[@puraLusa]

@@stvk99 u haven't kept with the times An orc troll is a russian defendant in internet An orc is an invasior of countries A zombie is someone who believes in russian propaganda A tankie is a guy who defends russia cause of soviets A troll is someone who likes to spread hatred in the internet despite political leniancies A tin foil qanon troll is someone who defends russian action cause he/ she is on love of putin and loves dictators. Get it? Cause I do and I'm old I shouldn't but it's so easy.

[@stvk99]

@@puraLusa it doesn't make sense though. use vatnik troll at least, should be in your updated CIA agenda note.

[@albundy7699]

It’s sad to politicize a language. Russian is like English. It’s a widespread language used by many countries and ethnicities. I can go to Kazakhstan or to Moldova and get on speaking to locals in Russian doesn’t mean I support Putin. Hopefully after the war Ukraine will remain bi-lingual.

[@dohboy88]

Bi-lingual....with their 2nd language being English

[@stevenaguilera9202]

I remember teaching a Ukrainian how to swim when I worked at a swimming facility here. I will never ever forget her INTENSE kindness despite the hardships she was going through in her life. She was juggling multiple things but whenever I asked her a question, her eyes would immediately focus to me and give me her utmost attention and willingness to listen and learn. Her energy was infectious and she really meshed well with alot of the Mexicans that were there too !! Because of her, she has left a life-long positive impact on my feelings towards Ukraine. Because of her, I have an EXTREMELY soft-hearted humane altruistic perspective on the Ukrainians

[@guyspearing4608]

I was learning Russian until 24th February 2022, then I stopped that, threw away my Russian books and started learning Ukrainian. When I troll Russian videos here on KZbin in English, there's always somebody who answers me in Russian. I ignore their reply and just say, "Sorry I only speak Russian to POWs". That shuts the buggers up. Slava Ukrainii!!

[@alexandraoryniak5269]

Great answer!! thanks

[@braveworld2707]

*Heroyam slava.*

[@afcgeo882]

I get what you’re saying, but (hopefully) Russia won’t be an enemy forever. They will, however the war ends, be Ukraine’s neighbors forever. You should be smart enough to set current actions of a government apart from the language, culture and history of a country/people. The truth is that most Ukrainians, Russians, Belorussians and most Lithianians are all one people with common roots and history. WW2 intertwined us even more. My grandparents are: 1 Russian from Surazh (close to Ukraine and Belarus), 1 Belorussian from Minsk, and 2 from Ukraine (Nezhin and Mariupol). All of them ended up in Stalingrad after the war. I was born in Leningrad. Immigrated to the US in 1989 and only have a US citizenship. I learned Russian as my first language, French as my second, Italian third and English fourth. You have a lot of reasons to hate all things Russian right now. I know… I left it for great reasons. Just realize that languages should not be a source of hate.

[@braveworld2707]

@@afcgeo882 You need to brush up on the history of Ukraine and how they have been brutalised by the Soviet Union (you know ruZZians) for so long before running off about how they are all brothers with a common history and roots. Look at the history and see who is the aggrieved peoples and what country did the aggrieving.

[@afcgeo882]

@@braveworld2707 I’ll bet I know Ukrainian history better than you… test me. Both countries come from the Varangian Kievan Rus. Ukraine was mostly a subject of Poland/Lithuania until Catherine the Great kicked the Ottomans out of its Eastern parts. Since then, what is today’s Ukraine (arbitrarily made up by the USSR) used to be half under Poland and half under Russia. Ukraine wasn’t even a country, EVER, until 1917. It remained independent for just 4 years then, losing to the Bolsheviks. Even then, there were actually multiple countries there: Komancza Republic, Hutsul Republic, WUPR/WUNR in Eastern Galicia, the UPR (capital in Kyiv) and the communist UKSSR (capital in Kharkiv). The united Ukraine was only created in 1991 and made up of carious regions that traditionally weren’t even Ukrainian, with regions that were Ukrainian, but Russian-speaking and with the Russian church, regions with mostly Hungarian speakers (Catholic), regions with Romanian speakers (Catholic), regions with Polish speakers (Catholic) and regions with Greeks (Greek Orthodox). I know Ukraine’s history because I studied it, at large, due to half of my family being from Ukraine. Aggrieved or not, the still, FACTUALLY, have a common history, and even language, as the Old Russian was almost identical to Ukrainian and Belorussian.

[@lani6647]

Ironic that this whole conversation is going on in Russian.

[@stardust5548]

Actually it's not. They are switching between Russian and Ukrainian

[@Someone-lr3zx]

Only one person was talking russian

[@wtfatc4556]

Ironic that you are dumb...

[@Alina-kot]

@@Someone-lr3zx People at 0:9, 0:29, 1:04, 1:49, 2:05 were speaking Russian, others in ukrainian. if you don’t actually know the languages don’t talk abt it

[@Someone-lr3zx]

@@Alina-kot я не знаю? Все говорили на украинском в отличии от одного

[@mikiknops9667]

Now go to Donbas and ask them if they want to learn Ukrainian and be part of Ukraine?

[@jimjonsen1591]

In Ukraine, they don’t have bilingualism - it’s diglossia,”. (Diglossia is a term that describes when two or more languages are used under different conditions within a community, often by the same speakers.) One language is termed “high,” and the second “low” referring to their status or prestige in society. in Kyiv, the Russian Sovieticus idea of Russian being the “high,” still shows among the older generation is still to some part considered to be prestigious but this is getting slowly rubbed out… In Ukraine, Russian language and its status are both consequences of the genocide done to the people of Ukraine and an imperialistic of the Soviet Union in Ukraine . Due to its post-colonial status, the Ukrainian language was pushed to the margins of all areas of life. In Tsarist Russia, the Ukrainian language suffered from numerous prohibitions. For instance, in 1863 Valuyev Circular, a decree suspending the publication of many religious and educational texts in Ukrainian, or as the Russians called it, Little Russian, denied its existence. The younger Ukrainian generation is now taking back their culture and finding their way back to Ukraine's own roots and they are staring to be proud of their own true history (without Kremlins propaganda and myths ) and are now asserting their national identity and own language as it is their god-given the right to do so . According to polls by the Razumkov Center, in 2017 some 68 percent of Ukrainians said Ukrainian was their native language. Only 14 percent consider Russian to be their native language, while 17 percent said they were native speakers of both Ukrainian and Russian. Russian propaganda likes to misrepresent Ukraine as a country sharply divided geographically, ethnically and politically along linguistic lines for Kremlins agenda and propaganda needs: there are ethnic Russians in the east and south and in Ukraine’s Crimea who speak Russian, and ethnic Ukrainians in the west who speak Ukrainian, the story goes. But at same time Kremlin propaganda will pump out the Russian propaganda MYTH that Ukrainians and Russians are at the same time “one people,” (meaning Ukrainians are Russians as there is acceding to the Kremlin no such thing as Ukrainians ) the Kremlin’s incoherent and false narrative continues. It is a narrative that is sometimes picked up and lazily repeated by Western media. The real situation is much more complicated than the Kremlin’s propaganda, of course. Many people in the east speak Ukrainian as their native language (mainly in rural areas), and many people in the west speak Russian as their native language (mainly in urban areas). Some speak a blend of the two languages, called “surzhyk” combining elements of the vocabulary and grammar of the two languages in a variety of mixes, depending on the locality. Surzhyk is most prevalent in east-central Ukraine but can be heard in all parts of the country, especially in areas adjacent to big Russian-speaking cities. This complex linguistic landscape has been shaped, mainly, by centuries of Russian imperialism - first under the Russian Tsardom and Empire, and later under the Russian dominated Soviet Union. The Russian government has in the history and are still today underhandedly and covertly promoting the spread of the Russian language and Russian dominance over Ukraine. Russia even promotes this idea of a justifiable and rightful dominance over Ukraine not just to its own Russians and the world in general but among the native Ukrainian population as well... They do this by actively refusing to acknowledge the historical facts and the existence of the Ukrainian language and take every opportunity to belittle Ukrainian history by calling it a myth; this way Moscow is indirectly saying that Ukrainian history never existed and Ukrainian people are just nothing more than confused little Russians.. If we look back in time this is nothing new, the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Valuev in 1863 issued a secret decree that banned the publication of religious texts and educational texts written in the Ukrainian language Emperor Alexander II expanded this ban by issuing the Ems Ukaz in 1876 (which lapsed in 1905). The Ukaz banned all Ukrainian language books and song lyrics, as well as the importation of such works. Furthermore, Ukrainian-language public performances, plays, and lectures were forbidden During the Soviet times, the attitude to Ukrainian language and culture went through periods of suppression (during the period of Stalinism) While officially there was no state language in the Soviet Union until 1989, Russian in practice had an implicitly privileged position as the only language widely spoken across the country From around the 1960s nearly all dissertations were required to be written in Russian That caused most scientific works to be written exclusively in Russian. Studying Russian in all schools was not optional, but the requirement. SO DO NOT COME SCREENING about Russian language rights in UKRAINE Mr Putin after Russia has forcefully been running a linguistic genocide on the Ukrainian language for years. Language is the soul of a nation and this is why Russians are pushing Russian in Ukraine to destroy the soul of the Ukrainian nation ... The Russian language is a sign of a "low-born" person a sovieticus dimwit that directly or indirectly is by using Russian in Ukraine supporting the linguistic genocide The Kremlin has been running a linguistic genocide on the Ukrainian language for years.. Russian should not be taught in Ukrainian kindergartens and schools "not to spoil child's speech." and the future sole of the Ukrainian nation and that is what Russian is really trying to do by attacking the Ukrainian language .. "Russian" really should be called 'Muscoviyan " was created in 17 century, and many Russians 'Muscovians "speakers don't understand this fact ! Under Peter the Greats Russia , (let's call it what it really is Muscovy ) and during the the reign of Peter the Great lots of words were borrowed not only from German, but also from Dutch, heavily. So, 11 century Ukrainian (found as a graffiti on Sophia of Kyiv) example: Maty ne khotjachy ditychja bizhja gеt In modern Ukrainian, it is Maty ne khotjachy dytyny bizhytj hеtj (pronounced the same as written) In modern Russian, it is Matj nje khotja (no "chy") rjebjonka bjezhyt prochj (written) Matj nji khatja (no "chy") rjibjonka bjizhyt prochj (pronounced)

[@mikiknops9667]

@@jimjonsen1591 Pure BS In 1989 in one of SSSR countries Ukraine Ukrainian language was proclaimed as official language. So stop bullshit, Ukrainian language was recognized as official even while they was still part of SSSR. In 1994 on referendum in Donetsk and Lughansk, and 90% of people voted for Russian language to be recognized as official language but Ukrainian parliament ignored that completely and only Ukrainian language was official, any other was language of minorities. In constitution of Ukraine in 1996 Russian language was recognized with all other languages as minority language. Same year 1996 Ukraine signed united nation resolution of minority languages but it delayed till 2002 to recognize it in parliament and even then they recognized only part of it. That phase was done when Donbas and lugansk supported Viktor Yanukovych as president in 2004 with 91% Lugansk - 93%. Donetsk. Then problems started, Donetsk and Lugansk started developing extremist feelings and asking for Russian language to be recognized as official language in those parts of Ukraine and asking for federalization, not independence or separation from Ukraine. In 2006 city of Kharkov and regional administration proclaimed Russian language as official language in the region. and after almost whole southern Ukraine followed. Lughansk, Donetsk, Nikolaev, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia etc. While Yanukovych was president in 2012 Ukraine recognized Russian as regional official language. That meant Russian speakers could finally use Russian language in regional administration. But that didn't go peacefully, there was fighting in parliament and Vladimir Litvin who was president of parliament was trying to step down twice to avoid signing the law, but both times parliament gave them absolute support not letting him step down. However law passed and 10. August 2012 that law was on power. From that date a lot of Ukrainian cities proclaimed Russian as official language, Odesa, Kharkov, Herson, Nikolaev, Zaporizhzhia, Sevastopol,Dnepr, Lugansk, Krasnyi Luch and whole regions Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kherson, Nikolaev i Dnjepropetrovsk. Same as that Hungarian language became official in Berehove (Transkarpatië) and Moldavian in some small village and Romanian in Bila Tserkva. When new Ukrainian government took power after coup de etat, parliament voted to cancel the law from 2012 and Russia used that fact to condemn Ukraine for abusing minorities rights in 2014. Even EU parliament called Ukraine to protect law of minority languages and secretary of europe council expressed disagreement with Ukraine decision. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe expressed worry about further possible conflict because of that decision. Bulgarian and Romanian foreign ministers told that is wrong step and expressed disagreement and Greece foreign minister expressed his disappointment. Even Poland and Hungary condemned that step calling it mistake. Because of all that pressure Oleksandr Turchynov did not sign the law and old law protecting minority languages stayed. In April 2015 Verkhovna Rada prohibited both comunistic and nazistic simbols and propaganda. names of cities, streets and other places with names resembling anything with communists had to be changed. Dnepropetrovsk became Dnepr and Kirovograd became Kropyvnytskyi for example. Derusification became the main goal and Ukraine was taking down or changing things written on Russian even on airports and train stations. And from 2026 everything everywhere in Ukraine had to be only on Ukrainian and English language. Ukrainians even organized curses of Ukrainian in Russian speaking territories under their control and in 2017 Ukrainian language became one and only official language in whole Ukraine controlled territory. In June 2016 the law that force every radio station in Ukraine to play at least 25% of their songs on Ukrainian, raising to 35% after a year. Law also forced tv station to 60% of news be on Ukrainian language and law came to power 9 November on national day of Ukrainian language. Economist warned right away that could fire future war in the country. Putin of course used that to accuse ukrainians of Ukrainian nationalists trying to delete Russian culture. In May 2017 Ukraine brought law that force every TV station that work in Ukraine to have 75% of tv program exclusively on Ukrainian language. In 2017 poroshenko brough education law in which Ukrainian language is only one in schools from 5th grade and up. Other language could be learned as additional language, nothing more. That law brought critics from Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary because of their minorities in Ukraine. In 2019 while poroshenko still on power new law was brought and it forced all movies made in Ukraine to be on Ukrainian or any of official languages of EU ( specifically made to block Russian language). TV distribution houses had to be sure that 90% of content is on Ukrainian only. Internet presentations, theater, art, recreation, sport everything that happening in whole Ukraine had to be officially on Ukrainian language. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said that law is unacceptable and that is part of peter poroshenko anti Hungarian politic. 22 May of 2019 EU parament asking of Venice Commission (officially European Commission for Democracy through Law) to analyze the law and give recommendations and in same year they answered that various paragraphs did not success to balance forcing of Ukrainian language and defending minorities languages. Before Zelensky came to power law was again changed allowing high school use of minority languages but classes had to be on Ukrainian. Basically kids was allowed to talk their own mother tong between them. Zelensky came on power and things was looking better, they implemented 6 from 7 recommendations of Venice Commision. Now i could give you some statistics about language but i am tired from translating this on english. You have text in Indeh HR Ivan Covic wrote it and its great text. Title is "Što se dogodilo s ruskim jezikom u Ukrajini i kakve to veze ima s ratom?"

[@Almighty_God_s_daughter]

I'm so happy seeing Ukrainians well and living an ordinary life. Keep up. We pray for you.

[@ediccartman7252]

It's in Kiev. They definitely didn't go to Zaporizhye or even Kharkiv that's under bombardment now

[@Almighty_God_s_daughter]

@@ediccartman7252 and?

[@ediccartman7252]

@@Almighty_God_s_daughter I mean, not all of them live their ordinary life. Kiev and Lviv isn't all Ukraine :))

[@user-ge6eh3fg2b]

@@ediccartman7252 Kyiv is not under bombardment? Are you shure? Cuz something dropped into my father's appartment building yard and blown out reinforced door to the stairs, destroying he's balcony and kitchen in the process. I guess it was fireworks. It's not that somebody wants to destroy capital's infrastructure, to trigger riots i guess

[@ediccartman7252]

@@user-ge6eh3fg2b I wrote it 4 months ago. Not from Ukraine, but as far as I remember , it was relatively quiet in Kiev back then.

[@thebusybee7080]

It is so heartening to see so many comments from all over the world in support of Ukraine.

[@emirion11]

by world you mean west?

[@sarahs.thorpe857]

I'm from Mexico and I don't support Ukraine

[@thebusybee7080]

@@emirion11 no. There have been comments of support from Africa, Europe, South America, Australia, the Phillipines. All over. I am very interested in just how wide the support reaches so I notice.

[@thebusybee7080]

@@sarahs.thorpe857 So then you must support russia otherwise you would not be on this channel commenting as you are. Or perhaps you are not interested in any of what is occurring in Ukraine. Or perhaps you are a little russian bot using a western name. There have been many. But either way, it doesnt matter as so many nations of the world support the independent Ukraine fighting its historical aggressor russia. I bet it must have pissed putin off when Gorbachov dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991 and all those countries became independent.

[@sarahs.thorpe857]

@@thebusybee7080 "so many nations of the world" It's pretty much just America and its vassals

[@jazy3091]

All the best to you Ukrainians! This change is already happening, lots of my Ukrainian friends say they and their families are switching to Ukrainian only and I support it wholeheartedly. I'm Polish and I learnt russian in uni but now I'm learning Ukrainian myself. Language is a vessel of culture, it codifies all details that makes a nation itself, it's the core of identity. Ukraine will win and rebuild, and Ukrainians will speak their language with pride soon! Slava Ukraini! Слава Україні!

[@jimmyc974]

And yet their leader's first lanuage is Russian , and he enforced the killing of his own people by the nazi Azov's . You 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑 are so simple minded to the point of ignorance!

[@SlavBoss-sn5cv]

Slava Ukraini! Chwała Polsce! 🇺🇦❤️🇵🇱

[@SlavBoss-sn5cv]

@BioEngineerHelix if you don't know Ukrainian/russian why do you write about them???

[@matthewjohnson1749]

@BioEngineerHelix "Ukrainian is Russian"? Do you know *either* of these languages? There is not just one difference, there are many significant differences. They really are two separate but related languages. It is no longer plausible or acceptable to pretend Ukrainian is just a dialect of any other language, far less of Russian.

[@polarexperts2125]

Glory to you, my dear Polish. Can you guess how many people from Ukraine have been working in Russia? How many students studied and did their career in Russia? A few millions, my dear. Studying languages is always benefit and free of charge benefit in this case (at schools) . It was giving people choice to work and live wherever they wanted in Eu or in Russia before all this mess. Banning languages - less possibility for future choice. Be smart

[@kremepye3613]

As a speaker of a scandinavian language it seriously suprises me how much spoken ukrainian has in common with swedish/norwegian

[@JH-pv6rd]

Well Scandinavian and Ukrainian languages are related as they are both Indo-European languages.

[@casimirkylian3703]

I was surprised when learning danish that the syntax was sometimes more similar to Polish and Czech than to English

[@smileyxDmiley1]

You‘d be thrilled to learn about how much it has in common with russian language

[@kremepye3613]

@@smileyxDmiley1 i would, why wouldn't i?

[@amjan]

@@JH-pv6rd No, Ukrainian and Scandinavian languages are not related. Ukrainian is Slavic, Scandinavian languages are Germanic. They have little to nothing in common. Tigers and elephants are both African mammals - but that doesn't mean they are similar animals.

[@hardwareful]

"It's a relic of the soviet union." Nailed it. Learn russki-speak the way people learn Latin - to study the past and to study war.

[@connorkenway09]

Lol well said

[@matthewjohnson1749]

@@connorkenway09 No, not so well said. First of all, although under the Soviet Union, Russian was the official language of Party and Government, Ukraine was allowed to legalize Ukrainian as an official language for the Republic, which they did. Secondly, Russian was the official language for the whole country for a lot longer than the Soviet Union or Ukraine even existed -- unless you buy into the Ukrainian Nationalist *myth* that Ancient Rus, was always synonymous with 'Ukraine'. Thirdly, despite the blackening the language get from Putin's saying such great evils in Russian, it is still such an important language of literature than even many great Ukrainian writers wrote in Russian. I have in mind not just Gogol, but Ilf & Petrov (from Odessa). Even the Ukrainian Nationalist poet Shevchenko wrote poetry in both languages. So don't let Putin's wicked words you: Russian is far more than a Soviet relic. Finally, there are two things that I see confuse Americans when contemplating Ukrainian national identity and two languages: 1) Russians and Ukrainians share a common origin in Rus and the Slavic tribes Grand Prince Vladimiir united under his rule 2) the two languages really are closely related. English has no parallel, since all the languages related to English are *much* more different from English than Ukrainian from Russian. We might have had such a parallel if the Norman French had not conquered Britain in 1066.

[@GCarty80]

@@matthewjohnson1749 Would Russian and Ukrainian be about as close to one another as Spanish and Portuguese? And it wouldn't surprise me if Kyivan Rus used Church Slavonic as its literary language (just as western Christendom used Latin, or the Muslim world used Arabic), while the spoken language would have been a gradual continuum, effectively old Russian in the north gradually transforming into something more like Ukrainian as you headed further south.

[@LectionesInterbellum]

As if war is something of the past… and as if there isn’t a Russian minority in Ukraine… (who didn’t even chose for this war anyway)

[@Heirapolis]

@@matthewjohnson1749 You miss the point. It is important to promote your own language instead of the language of an empire that controlled your people for so long. Some founders of Czech independednce only wrote and spoke German, but understood that if Czech people want their own state and destiny, their language will need to become the only one official. Nobody denies that German culture is vast and also important to us.

[@Olizimm]

Save your language and will save your freedom.

[@lordbyron3603]

I love the Ukrainian people! Brave! Resilient! And tenacious! Of course , the ones I’m familiar with are Oksana Baiul, figure skater extraordinaire …. Dogolpolov , Klitschko , Krylov. Their country is beautiful! Exquisite architecture and Acres and acres of sunflowers and wheat.

[@untipo.]

Then don't you love also ukranians that speak Russian? They are Ukrainian too... But their country discriminate them. It's not a democracy, it's just nationalist propaganda financed by usa and their oligarchy (like euromaidan golpe).

[@AndrD1406]

@@untipo. what makes those ppl Ukrainian?

[@oliveryt7168]

- Do you want to learn Russian language - No, I don't want to The irony: He answers in Russian.

[@stardust5548]

So what? He just don't want to learn language of aggressor anymore. Is it that hard to understand for you?

[@seagreenmoon13]

@@stardust5548 he already knows it, he is russian, and they are in the middle of situation where unofficial slogan of their current government is "hang the russian", that is why eastern ukrainian population rebelled against regime . lovely how people in the west see it and think to themseves, "yup, approve 100%" na/i enthusiasts, all of you)

[@danikz9731]

@@seagreenmoon13 if you speak Russian it doesn't mean you are Russian, I'm a Ukrainain who (unfortunately) does not speak ukaisnin and speaks Russian because of the part of ukraine that I am from. Can I ask, are Australians who speak English, and they English, or people from parts of North West Africa french? No,thry were justcolinised and the language was brought to them, you can say the same about Spain and Portugal in South America, I'm a Ukrainain who speaks Russian, but I am not Russian and stand for ukraine.

[@seagreenmoon13]

@@danikz9731 you choose to belive that, you have no other choice. Ukraine was "free" for 30 years. "I'm from that part", from what part? From same place where people were fighting against regular Ukranian army for 10 years before Russia sent help? I doubt that. You let sellouts from your government decide what is your ethnicity, what is your culture, people on the east of Ukraine know who they are.

[@seagreenmoon13]

@@danikz9731 set free that poor owl you are trying to stretch to fit over fkn globe :/ Ukrainian language was there all that time. Comparing your history to western colonization is beyond the pale, Ukrainians are second in numbers population of majority subjects of Russian Federation, Ukranian culture was elevated over many others in times of Soviet Union, Ukrainian leader of Soviet Union gifted you Crimea. And your government is trying in vain to fit your history in narrow "good western guys are welcoming poor suffering mono-ethnic state into true democracy" narrative.

[@PeterSedesse]

putin increased ukranian patriotism 500%. there wont be a person from ukraine who isnt proud to say they are ukranian again. moldova needs to do the same thing.

[@elenavoicu9155]

👏

[@SaturnineXTS]

Belarus too, they have such a beautiful language and it's all but died to russification :(

[@igorjee]

The European thing to do is to protect all the rights of minorities. Ethnic minorities should be able to learn in their own mother tongue from kindergarten to high school or even university. Ethnic Russians, Hungarians, Romanians, Tatars shouldn't be forced to learn in Ukrainian, the same way Catalans or Basques shouldn't be forced to learn in Spanish.

[@ThomasKundera]

Agree To me this should put an end to EU support to UKR now

[@igorjee]

​@@ThomasKundera I'd say, make it conditional on further negotiations. As a Hungarian, this is a point of contention and makes Ukrainians look incompatible with EU norms. I support Ukraine otherwise because 1. Russians are more backward mentality-wise, 2. there should be no precedent made of accepting land-grabbing aggression.

[@igorjee]

@@ThomasKundera Related to Milan Kundera? XD

[@J.o.s.h.u.a.]

Yeah, that will never happen, unfortunately.

[@andremacko5408]

Are you not concerned about the millions of Ukrainians in Russia and Crimea being denied their right to speak Ukrainian as well was the 100s of other ethnicities denied their rights? BTW Ukraine's language laws fully comply with the European charter on languages.

[@philiphennings5167]

To teach Ukrainian over Russian in Ukraine I fully support. To ban Russian all together I do not support. You can have all the feelings you want to Russia if you're Ukranian. What they are doing is wrong. But they're still your neighbor and not having Russian at all will not be productive for developing future relations. You can't ban something that's literally next door to you. It doesn't end well

[@shatpro3994]

bruh if we are neighbors it doesn’t mean we have to know language of every country that borders us

[@radex__]

@@shatpro3994 Russian is pretty important though. It's similar enough to Ukranian so that anyone can learn it with relative ease, plus most people from the former Soviet union speak it so a lot of people speak it at an almost native level. Even if you were to eliminate Russia from the equation, what language do you think is going to be useful for communication between a person from Armenia and a person from Ukraine? It's not going to be Armenian or Ukrainian.

[@iosifd2409]

As somebody said , russian language is a relic from soviet union , same thing for Republic of Moldova or Transnister where Romanian should be tought first alongside , with English or German .

[@elenavoicu9155]

👏 👏 👍 👍 👍......

[@gabrieleguerrisi4335]

And why should be english or german? Aren't them relics of germanic colonizations, genocides, wars, emperialism and so on?

[@iosifd2409]

@@gabrieleguerrisi4335 If we take the history in hands like that , french and spanish are the same . History remains history , only Russia didn't learn't from history , but nowadays English and German , French and Spanish are kinda of universal languages .

[@jschreiber6461]

I am quite sure the young *intelligent* people in all these conflict ridden countries would love to shake off the stinking shackles of their past rulers, language & politics if they could. At present crumbly decrepit old men start wars and young people die for them.

[@wildwoodsgirl1706]

At present and throughout much of history, yep. Ancient men said in writing what you just said, in their own words but exactly the same point. & War itself is a decrepit behavior based on greed, for various things - material or egotistical. Thanks for making me consciously think that.

[@user-vc1bv9bw7d]

It's natural and Ukraine must move forward at the same time. But we shouldn't erase the trace as there were many Russian language speakers in Ukraine as a history. Though I feel sad to see this......

[@malikrug5687]

Russian will the language spoken at what is now ukraine.

[@apr0l]

малорос детектед

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

It should be a transition that's fast enough for young generations to be proficient, but helpful and caring enough to help the elderly that have a harder time learning new things. One day Ukraine will have a nearly 100% proficient in Ukrainian population! It's a bright future for a country that has been attempted to be erased by her enemies countless times.

[@sergiobasilio8098]

That's the example of a totalitarian society

[@patnor7354]

Better to ask the many ukrainians who have russian as their native language how they feel about it. This is akin to Canada banning the French language.

[@sytnikakim]

I have russian as my native, but I am Ukrainian, and I do not like this paradox, children should not learn russian it's harmful for the country

[@DrMrPersonGuy]

Almost all of them have it as their native, because russia pushed it for centuries, and they want that to change. The only reason I still think it should be taught at least a bit is to know thy enemy.

[@Alina-kot]

Many people in this video are speaking russian..

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

Only equivalent if France was invading Canada at the time.

[@antiputi5301]

Most answers were in Russian, you dummy

[@Decebal238]

Simple fact that they can express their views, opinions on the street, what a great step towards democracy 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️

[@artemkalinchuk]

They could do this before as well. It’s not Russia.

[@cathoderay305]

They were a democracy before the war started. Contrary to propaganda, the majority of the ethic Russians in Ukraine voted for President Zelenskyy rather than Moscow's nominee.

[@petarcvele1243]

@@artemkalinchuk yes told this to 50 people burned alive in Odesa in 2014 for being pro russian

[@a0flj0]

In the time before 2014 it was still risky to speak your mind openly. And at that time eliminating Russian from schools would have been nearly impossible, given the influence exercised by Moscow through its puppets in Ukrainian politics. That's why Yanukovych was toppled by the Euromaidan in the first place - he didn't act as a president of Ukraine, he acted as a Russian-appointed governor of Ukraine.

[@artemkalinchuk]

@@user-2-2-8 during wartime, support of the enemy can be counted as treason. It’s like that in any country.

[@mhuschie]

I'm thrilled to see this! Russian should be moved over to the *FOREIGN* language department. It can hang out with Latin, French, German, Polish, English, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, etc. Being bilingual or multilingual does amazing things for brain neural pathway development, and makes people more marketable in the global economy. Learning the language of an aggressor should never be mandatory; elective only. Russia has spent 4 CENTURIES trying to erase the Ukrainian language and cultural identity. That needs to stop.

[@manhetna6350]

You are just stupid, that's your problem

[@matthewjohnson1749]

4 centuries? Tell us, how did Chernenko "try to erase the Ukrainian language and cultural identity?"

[@Vatnik_tschistilka]

@@matthewjohnson1749 Just by not changing the policies applied in the 399 years outside of his very short governing term?

[@elenavoicu9155]

👏 👍 👍...........

[@emirion11]

@@Vatnik_tschistilka how about ukraine is Russia? Ever thought about that?

[@ProjectKyo001]

Slava Ukraini My thought. Where I live now. They have three official national language. At schools two of them are mandatory plus english is mandatory. The tirth official national language can be opted out. Ukraine: Schools mandatory Ukraine language. Give them the option to learn English and Russia. As by choise. From age 12/16. Personally would even English as mandatory as it is international language.

[@markheithaus]

I understand the impulse, but it also hurts my heart. I'm American, but I lived in St Petersburg for a while. My Russian was perfectly acceptable in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. There are many good Russians who are wonderful ambassadors. Putin leaves me speechless. I don't understand that man and others who think like him. The hatred from his heart is like a poison.

[@markheithaus]

@@Paonporteur I know that could happen. It's horrible. I have friends there who feel helpless. Two of my dearest and closest friends in the world are from Kazakhstan. One of them lives in Tbilisi, Georgia and the other is devoutly Orthodox and living in Vladimir, Russia. They're both two of the kindest people you could ever hope to meet, and they both love Kazakhstan. I went to the hometown of my friend in Russia. While there are many Russians who would say to be careful in Kazakhstan because they don't like Russians, my friend was so happy I was in her hometown. She even speaks some Kazakh. To her, those were her neighbors. I'm a Baptist-Catholic conservative (whatever conservative means I guess) from Virginia, and I was in Tbilisi to see one friend and in Kazakhstan to honor both friendships. They both helped me learn Russian. That was nearly 12 years ago that I learned Russian, and now I have finally have a Kazak flag on my wall and it means the world to me. It hurts to see what's happening. My friends belong anywhere. Not because of the language they speak or where they're from, but because of their hearts. That's how I felt when I visited them in Belarus and Russia. I'm sorry. It just hurts. There are these wonderful things that make my heart smile, and on the one hand - similar to the issue with Ukraine - there are Russians who see the growing use of kazak as russophobic, and on the other hand I'm in a place where the vast majority of people have never heard of Kazakhstan, and some think it's a made-up country from Borat. I miss my friends. I sent packages to a lot of my friends in Russia when I was in Tbilisi a few months ago. One of them is a Russian-Ukrainian who was my student in St Petersburg. He's such a nice guy, and he feels pretty helpless. If you're given to prayer, please pray for my friends.

[@escribopapelitos]

@@markheithaus I bet there are thousands more of such stories, people in neighboring countries tend to become friends and even family. Ukrainians/Russians/Kazakhs all know each other to some extent. I wish all Russians saw this and didn't support war at all. People have a right to their own language and identity, the pretext of "one Russia" is just a pro-assimilation by force argument.

[@markheithaus]

@@escribopapelitos I love one humanity. I know it sounds cliche, but it really does hit home. We are all called to Love

[@montimuros2837]

I support Ukraine, but I don't really agree with this move to erase Russian from schools. I am for the protection of linguistic minorities. I understand their reasons though. They see it as the language of the invader. But really to many Ukrainians it's their mother tongue and they're not all to blame for the invasion.

[@OstblockLatina]

A few years ago, speaking to a Ukrainian person speaking Russian, I heard from her that she considered Ukrainian language to be the language of babushkas in the villages, and that being sth - how to say - kind of a village dialect and something slightly embarrasing to speak in. I was completely shocked by this kind of an attitude. It's always been an alien and incomprehensible concept for me to have this kind of a mindset in relation to own national language. I come from a land and nation that prides itself on own language being a part of national identity, and something that has been repressed by enemies throughout centuries, and that my natives fought for very long.

[@J.o.s.h.u.a.]

That is not too surprising. It happened everywhere in the world where a dominating culture has gained more and more prestige. Many local languages in Europe are despised by their own native speakers because they have been led to think that the standard national language is the only prestige language, even if that is not true.

[@Olena.P.]

This is a result of targeted internal politics throughout soviet-era days. Not only language, but own culture was laughed upon via media. Many movies of soviet era, and many russian movies, portray Ukrainians as dumb villagers. And it was like that for decades, so it's not surprising that it passed down with generations, unfortunately.

[@unounounoq]

Ukraine has been occupied by russia for almost 400 years. Millions Ukrainian s were killed just for being Ukrainians. We are bearing such a painful trauma but we will get better eventually.

[@imiy]

Ukrainian was humiliated for centuries. That's why.

[@gothluv4740]

I am from Russia and for me Ukrainian is considered something rustic too, in the village something close to Ukrainian is spoken. Ukrainian and Belorussian were old Russian languages, and we all spoke them, but then they started making up rules and people like Pushkin and so on and so forth appeared, who changed these languages and made it more structured and created some kind of official accent. So it's not surprising.

[@l3eaver]

Rumour has it there soon wont be a Kyiv to speak any language in 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@andrewbrock4636]

are you from Feb 2022?

[@l3eaver]

@@andrewbrock4636 feb 2023

[@who_is_dis]

I’m from Ukraine, left when I was 7. My main language was Russian, didn’t speak much Ukrainian so I didn’t retain much of it. Still understand way more Russian than I do Ukrainian. I’m fully for this though. Another L for Russia.

[@lilyfrenchy6971]

It used to be prestigious to speak fluently in Russian, a sign of proper education. But in reality it was purposeful elimination of Ukrainian language and culture.

[@eji2599]

I love their love for Ukraine. Putin just destroyed the internationalization of Russian language. Do you know that Russian language was being taught in Nigeria up to the late '90s as a degree course in our universities?

[@joythought]

I had no idea that Russian was taught in any African nation. But it makes sense based on the relationship between the two countries from independence to the breakup of the USSR

[@eji2599]

@@joythought It was the product of the cold war era.

[@piecia66]

Exactly, it was till today second language in northeastern Poland together with English , nowadays probably not anymore. But still I concider it more as language of Dostoyevsky than Putin's brainwashed part of society.

[@bjornbjornson2115]

Good. Russians don't need Africans going to their country.

[@Gambol_25]

@@piecia66 putin has a different opinion about the language

[@ivan200804]

So nice! Even after WW2, German was taught in USSR. a Ukraine has sizable Russian population and as many of you know, Kiev is considered Mother of all Russian cities. Nationalism is not going to solve any problems and I'd say it will create problems in the future. It's really a shortsighted policy.

[@HellStr82]

Well Ivan perhaps you orcs shouldn't invaded and kill Ukraineans. How about that?

[@Gambol_25]

You have no idea what are u talking about ...

[@andremacko5408]

Old stupid typical Russo Soviet argument. So heres the typical Ukrainian response I'm tired of giving back to you. And how many Ukrainians are in Russia? Of course millions and you know that the Russian census is so propagandistic that you can quadruple those numbers and the obvious corollary is how many Ukrainian schools are there in Russia? And as you know but will not answer it's zero. Including in the soon to be liberated Crimea where the numbers will no doubt jump dramatically after the bridge is destroyed when the last Russian mordva, chud, karellian Chechen, kalmyk, bashkir, buryat....withdraws and the harmonious, respectful of all people, Ukrainian state can flourish. Before playing the fascist- race card against Ukraine remember the president of Ukraine is Jewish and overwhelming democratically elected. Not like that little thug in the Kremlin who probably can't even spell the words democratically elected.

[@maeva7949]

Exactly, Russian nationalism and supremacy aspirations are not acceptable. One man in the interview said "what, do we have to now learn Ukraine?" Somehow Russians presume that all other (former Soviet countries) nations should speak Russian, but Russians themselves do not have to learn the local language.

[@0-Templar-0]

As a nationalist, i can say this: Nationalism is a two edged sword. When used right it can create nations, pull people together, like it did to my country, Romania. But when used wrong, it can destroy them, separate the people, like it did to Yugoslavia. Frankly, i don't want to see a new Yugoslavia but if the Russian people don't pull themselves together i'm afraid that they're gonna be next. Then... who knows, maybe Spain? Turkey? France? Probably we're gonna see a hundred Germanys too...

[@russward2612]

A few years ago, I volunteered at a food pantry where an older lady from Ukraine was a client. After she got her food, I would help her to a nearby bus stop and make sure she got it onboard. She had been a child during WW2 and knew what horrors humans could inflict on each other. She passed shortly after I moved away from the area. She hated Vladimir Putin then and would be heartbroken to see what is happening now. My own late mother was quite an artistic soul and learned to make Pysyankey (I hope I spelled it right) eggs in her later years. She got pretty good at it but her eyes and hands got bad enough she had to stop. I've had a soft spot for Ukrainian folk for years. I'm heartbroken for them all. Refugees are welcome where I live in the mountain west US (Utah), truthfully, the whole culture here is based on refugees, unless you ask a Native American. They would say we stole the land from them, and they have a point. 🇺🇦💪✌️🖖

[@yuliia-san5609]

❤️🫂

[@wildwoodsgirl1706]

Russ, very close, it's Pysanky. One is a Pysanka. It comes from the Ukrainian word for "to inscribe," btw. I'm surrounded by Natives of many tribes in my life, from across the continent, and half my ancestry is Algonquian. The first thing Natives did on Feb 25th was to start posting pictures of what we call kokum scarves, but are of Ukrainian (and Slavic) origin, the flowered scarves that Ukrainian people traded with us that they call khustkas, or hustkas & you may have heard called babushka scarves, the floral and geometric beadwork designs they taught us when trading seed beads, in the knowledge that none of the Eastern European people who came to trade ever massacred, stole land or did anything but sing with us, laugh, share craft ideas, and that many of the traditional beliefs and values are exactly the same or very similar. They traded and travelled, they didn't colonize. They'd been colonized. They understood. We had made floral and geometric designs too, in moosehair embroidery or quillwork, paint or stain, or appliqued drilled shell beads, weaving, etc. They taught us how to do it in their materials & all were amazed at the similarity of designs, so this in common plus a love of singing and dancing in the evening, storytelling, and cultural beliefs in harmony with each other's, our ancestors made fast friends. Since 2008 younger Natives have been avidly wearing the floral scarves. We pay attention to who is invading whom, all over the world, and google geological info to see what mining opportunities the invader is not admitting to while they blame the invaded country with some propaganda spin excuse. (Uranium, titanium, iron ore, etc in this case & a wish to avoid paying pipeline fees for crossing SE Ukraine in this case, among other reasons like paranoia and a pillaging raiding legacy from the century+ of "Russia's" they stole that name from Kyivan Rús in Peter I 's time & have no Rús roots actually 😉) khanate, as in Golden Horde and following Khan regimes' behaviors still in practice, as we see now plainly, though abominably archaic & barbaric. So we get to chatting with indigenous people in far northern Europe, Murmansk Oblast and Siberia, and the NE corner of the RF, and we look up something they say & the web shows us there's an invasion going on that really isn't on the news.... We're used to that. Only some gets mainstream air. But the tribes in northern Russia can't blast it like in other countries so we check international news. They have to be careful what they say, & we do, back. I just thought I'd point out the solidarity. Irish sent reservations food money and tribes sent Ireland food money during the famine, too. Irish & Eastern European immigrants like Ukrainians and Romanians rioted over massacres here & refused to shut up, sought office, became journalists, effected an end to it and many Slavs joined them & so did some Russians, then lots of other folks learned truth and joined in. Not all immigrants are colonizers. A colonizer is a greedy oppressive land grabber &/or outright genocider. It does not mean non-Native. It means wasicu, takes the fat literally but greedy pillaging murderous bastid being the connotation, in Lakota. 😁 In some areas some rez tribes haven't met many who aren't racist, but colonizer isn't a skin color but an attitude. Good people are "good relatives." Ukraine is a good relative. When we like & trust people we adopt them as cousins, lol, often spelled cuzzins to denote a choice rather than by birth. They're fam.

[@Magdal9347]

That’s right I think they don’t need to learn Russian. I come from Poland and I left Poland when I was 18 years old. Poland was done under communist rule. We had I repeat we had to learn Russian from grade 5 to grade 12.Everybody hated that rule so we only learn enough to pass the grade.

[@MacXcode]

For Ukrainians - The First and Foremost Ukrainian Language Must Be Taught and Learned in Ukraine! The secondary Language is English if needed Period! No Enemy of the World like Russian language should ever be considered!

[@vitapavacllp999]

Yeah lets ban german language as well the language of nazists ..... you are idiot !

[@dwl3006]

Maybe English is the enemy of the world? Look at the British empire.

[@alsuu19]

Any additional language is an advantage for the future. I hope those who want to learn Russian will still have an opportunity to do so

[@ukraine_tbic]

“Russian language must be eradicated from our country”. It’s best not to assume, but I didn’t see one soldier in that video, what do they think? I’m a foreign soldier and volunteer in Ukraine. Russian is the language of the majority of the Ukrainian Army. What is the opinion of the fighters who defend Ukraine? This from my experience is a very cosmopolitan academic viewpoint.

[@Alec72HD]

The goal for Western "powers at be" is to kill as many Russian speakers as possible, doesn't matter on what side they are on. Doesn't matter if they happen to be civilians with Ukrainian passports. If they speak Russian, they need to be exterminated.

[@radex__]

People are just angry and bitter. For a good reason, but still their answers simply can't be open minded and tolerant against Russians. It's a sad fact, to me at least, considering I love both languages equally but that's war for you. I'm sure after the war things will become more civil again.

[@lukapreloznik7123]

Why don't you ask people in Crimea how do they feel about it? Or maybe Donbas, Luhansk etc...

[@naomix7738]

The interview was conducted in russian and the replies were in russian.....well done. Strong game.

[@criticaldan8579]

Lol, I know.

[@markjan_5]

Exactly, in Soviet Union Ukrainian was frowned upon so the older generation don’t know it

[@LaurelCanyon1969]

The Finns' first language used to be Swedish, because of their occupation by Sweden. But, after it gained independence, now Finland's language is Finnish. It's the same situation in Ukraine.

[@naomix7738]

@@LaurelCanyon1969 I cant fully understand your comment as I dont know the differences between Finnish and Swedish, so I just trust you on that)) What seems very ridiculous to me is the whole exaggeration of fake problems by the politics and media. In Ukraine most people just speak russian (which is quite different from ua), so there is no need to discuss it so such extent. Ukrainian is being used in some regions and taught as well and thats perfect too. What I know for sure is that Zelensky speaks russian to his family when no media is present, i could bet quite the money on it. I have a country to compare the situation to: i study in Belgium and it has 3 official languages. With the anmount of minorities in Ukraine they could do the same and move on. Its "european and democratic"and there's nothing wrong with using several languages throughout the country. To me, it would be a sight of education and acceptance. Sorry for the long comment) Edit: there are Hungarian speaking provinces, polish speaking, and (how surprising) russian speaking ones. This issue is not only political but also simply geographic.

[@LaurelCanyon1969]

@@naomix7738 The Finnish language is completely different from Swedish and the other Nordic languages. Its alphabet has 29 letters and it's actually of Turkish origin. I'm surprised you didn't know this if you have such a strong opinion about European languages. My point is - the language of the Finns is Finnish, they only switched to Swedish because of their country's occupation by Sweden. And the language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian, not Russian which they inherited from their occupation by Russia (before the 1990s). And finally how you can know anything 'for sure' about what language Zelensky speaks at home, in private. Unless you have the magical ability to transform yourself into a fly and sit on his living room wall?

[@FancyJones]

That's the most funny thing about the Russian invasion, it actually promotes Ukrainian language.

[@Javo69689]

Imagine if Catalunya becomes independent and in 30 years bans Spanish. This is just crazy 😂

[@user-xr3up5cc5t]

Sounds like a realistic scenario, if Catalunya really becomes independent

[@stevebowman421]

Why would you teach the language of a natiom, and culture that wants to erase your own. Slava Ukraine

[@jimmyc974]

Then explain why German is taught in many countries, bellend!

[@MsThePrettiest]

80% of them are answering in Russian. It's a first language for many in Ukraine. How can it be removed from schools when it's so common and spoaken by so many people?

[@andremacko5408]

Because it's a language of the agressor and it was a language forced upon the people of Ukraine. The Russian language creates divisions in the world. Why do you think all the former Warsaw pact countries got rid of the Russian language? Because It's the language of a primitive, brutal and barbaric people.

[@MsThePrettiest]

@@andremacko5408 lol, you sound like a nazi. And Russian wasn't forced upon these people, many of them are ethnically Russian just like many "Russians" are ethnically Ukrainians if not to mention people who's got both: Russian and Ukrainian blood. The most famous example is btw Korolev - the founding father of Soviet space program.

[@dimitrieke3]

It s the main language in Eastern and Southern Ukraine since 100s of years. Actually before the Russians conquered Crimea and Odesa it was Turkish and people spoke Turkish not Ukrainian.

[@staropramen478]

@Свободное время Yes the reasons he brought up is ridiculous especially since many people not only in Russia speak it. However getting rid of compulsory languages makes sense in some cases if the language is in decline and no longer widely used, but I think it's too early for Ukraine to completely get rid of Russian. Just make Ukrainian the priority language to begin with.

[@andremacko5408]

@Свободное время I would like nothing more than to see a civilized Russian Federation and it seemed so hopeful in the early 90s. But internally Chechnya and then Georgia, Moldova, Syria and Ukraine especially has soured many on Russia. Respectfully, even imprisoned Navalny, even though he disapproved of the way Crimea was occupied, does not dispute the Kremlin line on Crimea. People in Ukraine have been killed for speaking Ukrainian with alleged perpetrators escaping to Russia. So, of course a language intrinsically isn't evil but since Putin made it an issue, including ridiculous theories like Ukraine and Ukrainians and the Ukrainian language ( an austro-hungarian fabrication) aren't real I think some leeway in ones anger to the carrier's of the Russian language is understandable. I know there's no threat to your language and you have no need to investigate Russia's history of linguicide against the Ukrainian language but a quick search will provide more than enough data to understand Ukrainians' anger of the discrimination against their language. I've been confronted by that kind of Russian chauvinism in the west from supposedly run of the mill, average Russians (not gopniks) who feel the Russian Federation owns Ukraine. As to the barbarity, I don't know how much of this war is getting back to your media, probably none, but believe me Russians of all stripes are hated be they Russian, Chechen, Bashkir, Buryat, Kalmyk, , Udmurts... What possible threat is Ukraine to someone thousands of miles away? Ukraine even gave up her nukes after the Budapest Accord in the early 90s which your country abrogated. So, forgive my emotions but it seems like apathy is winning out in your country over any kind of liberal progress. I sincerely wish you well but till that time comes the barbarism, pillaging and rape in Ukraine coming from Russia is not making you're people any more likeable.

[@Physco219]

The old guy not liking it is pretty par for the course.

[@wokeaf1337]

yeah at his age learning the language of the state in which he spend his entire life is tough.

[@wthomas5697]

Yeah, old people in the US are a big problem as well. We call them trumptards.

[@dav2ry7]

He is Russian, he speaks Russian really well. Ukraine has many Russian, just like other former USSR countries, not a surprise. Such people in Ukraine usually help Putin and give him information. :)

[@swagedelic]

"The Russian language is an old relic of the Soviet Union" - Russians in a nutshell.

[@casimirkylian3703]

And Russian patriots claiming all the time: U.S treating other countries like colonies, Europeans bowing down to Hegemon (🇺🇸), using the term anglo-saxon world ( they like to compare it to their Russkyj mir). Behind it all it’s just envy and inferiority complex they’re projecting at the U.S. Still bitter they’ve lost Cold War, tragically went broke twice. Deep down inside, they believe they’re not enough

[@swagedelic]

@@casimirkylian3703 Ironically, it's the Russians colonizing territories, most of Russia is made up of different ethnic nations, the real Russia is tiny. Tragically, a lot of Russian sentiments are shared by traitors that belong to the trump MAGA cult. MAGA and Russians love each other.

[@bulletsizednuke1100]

Your comment makes little sense. Clarify it

[@seagreenmoon13]

@@bulletsizednuke1100 they answer in russian while being citizens of a country where russian language is not required anywhere for almost 30 years. his mother was not required to learn russian at school.

[@ponyridingirl]

Ukrainian should be taught as primary language in Ukraine. It is after all Ukraine. period. any other language..optional. Its thier right. Just like in any other country that countries native tongue taught is primary, NOT a neighboring countries language. Anything else from outside Ukraines borders is subjugation and tyranny. Russia doesnt have the right. They never did. 🇺🇲❤️🇺🇦🌻🌻🌻

[@carelx7029]

I am Dutch and I have been in Russia 30 years ago. I have always tried to learn and read a little bit Russian since. Now I am trying to forget it. What answer do you expect from the Ukrainian people?

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

Same, I started learning Russian a decade and a half ago and opted for Ukrainian soon after instead before I became intermediate in Russian. It does help me understand Surzhik better, on the bright side!

[@gta1kev]

What do you mean? A language is a language and could be useful no matter what language it is. Laat je haat niet het mooie van Rusland beïnvloeden.

[@daniboi4067]

🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺✌️

[@duncansmith7562]

I expect Russian and Ukrainian to be recognized as both official and equal languages. Just as Belgium recognizes Dutch and French. It's called "European values", "tolerance".

[@natasa8266]

What has language got to do with any of this? IT'S A LANGUAGE! This is like those trying to cancel Dostoyevski courses at universities, or Russian composers and athletes. Geez people you're all pathetic! There's politics and there's culture of certain country. You should learn to make a difference between those two. Otherwise how many times we should've canceled American culture or the culture and language of their allies after military invasions of other countries in the last few decades? This is becoming flipping hilarious 🤣

[@peterdeans4635]

They should never forget, lots of westerners speak Russian. I don't think Ukrainian will be taught in western schools any time soon and if they really want to be part of western society , they should think this through and don't cut off their nose to spite their face.

[@georgefitzhugh5408]

To terminate all dialogue what better way than to ban a neighbor's language from the classroom? It would be like America banning Spanish instruction, or Japan banning Chinese instruction.

[@Silveirias]

They're not banning it, they've just taken away the special status of the Russian language so that it's no longer a compulsory subject.

[@funkervogt47]

The average Ukrainian is calmer, more articulate, and healthier-looking than the average American.

[@whitezombie10]

You know Ukraine is in the middle of a war against Russia and that Kiev was under bombing by the Russians a few months ago, right? Asking this is silly, why would people want to learn Russian??

[@Oneshot8242]

Like cutting off your own nose to spite your face. Language is power. Plus, like it or not, they're neighbors. I've seen people bend over backwards to avoid learning languages, and I feel that it's equal parts lousy teaching and plain laziness. The two languages are closely related, like the Scandinavian languages. Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians can usually get the gist of what is being said, for example. I think not teaching Russian is a mistake.

[@whitezombie10]

You know Russia is invading Ukraine, don't you?

[@cm3004]

Well, in this case, Ukraine having a Russian speaking minority is what Russia used as an excuse to invade Ukraine (sorry, I meant "liberating the Russian minority") so maybe it's best not to teach Russian in school.

[@Cringer77]

What are you taking about? All Ukrainians already understand russian, because our country is bilingual. When we are talking about learning russian at school, for the most part, we just talk about improving our writing, cause talking and understanding is something that everyone can already do. But nobody actually needs to improve russian writing, because in important situations we always use Ukrainian. When we have option for our children to learn some foreign language, why would we waste our time on russian, when we can choose some other european language, like german or french? If you think we have to learn it, just cause we are neighbors, then you are mistaken, cause when this war is over, Ukrainians would like to stop interacting with russia in any way. 😤

[@Potjenjks2988]

Too bad this one neighbour has been harassing Ukraine for the past 30 years. Can you blame the Ukrainians for their feelings of hostility towards the people that are currently shelling their nation?

[@VB-bs6wm]

stupid and its as different as Spanish and Portuguese. Funny how this happens after the people from the language you want them to learn are killing and ra**ing women and children. and nobody cares about your ignorant opinion; its very logically easy to cut off your nose if its CANCEROUS and better for your well being.

[@joeferreira657]

Great properganda for Putin, russian should also be spoken as second language. Yes, Ukraine must be first language, but coming at this time adds fuel for Putin's fire, to his war.

[@branimirgenev8019]

If there's a positive side to this terrible war, it's that it impulsed the Ukrainian people to turn towards their own culture instead of a foreign one. They're on the path to become one of the great European nations. Great nations are forged in the fire of great tragedies and we have the proof in this video. Much respect from Bulgaria!

[@withoutwords8136]

true

[@f0kes32]

Ukraine was a greater nation than Bulgaria the day it was born. Bulgaria is a retirement place for the English. Any young and prosperous Bulgarian is in (true) Europe. All your buildings are built by either Ancient Romans, Turks, Imperial Russia, Soviet Union, or EU. Don't look down to Ukraine.

[@craigalex8860]

If Russia never started this unjust war there wouldn’t be this divide. Russia has itself to blame

[@vikoccult7494]

This Divide already began in 2014 long before Russia attacked. You see how these people want to remove russian in kyiv and west ukraine. People in East Ukraine often barely speak ukrainian and russians is their mother tongue and now the government wants to remove their language. No wonder separatism started in these eastern oblasts

[@craigalex8860]

@@vikoccult7494 get your facts correct no Russia started this conflict in 2014 trying to taken Ukraine land and control of their government try to Ukraine freedom and independence 🤬 Russia 🖕

[@vikoccult7494]

@@craigalex8860 learn the facts before speaking dumb American. Google lwiw ban of russian language and kyiv ban of importing russian Books all prior to 2022.

[@andremacko5408]

The divide was there long before the war and thank God it was. Russia wants to destroy the divide by destroying Ukraine.

[@IongliveIsrael]

Before or after the war it doesn’t matter, in Ukraine there is Ukranian language, culture & history, and that’s what children need to learn. Now it’s just much clearer.

[@cryptomonkey6142]

Stay proud and strong people of Ukraine, strengthen your independence through study of the Ukrainian language and culture and let the language of the aggressor wither and die. Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

[@Wendy____]

My great grandparents came from Western Ukraine just before WWI. They could speak Ukrainian, Polish, and German. These are the languages my grandmother also spoke, but primarily Ukrainian which was passed to my Mom. Russia was the enemy. My Mom learned Russian during her university studies as a requirement, but always fell back into Ukrainian. I learned some Ukrainian, but the family felt English was better for me, because they worked so hard to come to the US. I hope to learn it on my own someday. I already share the traditions and meals with my husband and son. 🇺🇦❤🇺🇸

[@lyn.267]

I've noticed that all Ukrainian are beautiful and handsome. God bless Ukraine 🙏 ❤️ 🙌

[@howardrsims]

I am curious, was the interview conducted in Russian or Ukrainian?

[@iamoo]

The interviewer asked her questions in russian. Some people answered in russian (woman in pink, woman in white shirt with stripes, woman in white, older man in black, boy in green), some in Ukrainian (girl in a blue vyshyvanka, older woman in pink, girl in blue, woman from Mariupol, man in white shirt, second to las girl, last man). The full interview on YT channel "Настоящее Время. Сюжеты" is more interesting, cause it shows that almost all people who answered in russian say that they've already switched to Ukrainian or are in the process of switching. And explain why it's important to them.

[@Todsor]

Doesn't matter which. They are the same slavic language with minor differences, comparable to American vs British english.

[@iamoo]

@@Todsor Say that to russians. They can't understand Ukrainian. Maybe it's time to log off YT and do something else than trolling?

[@howardrsims]

@@iamoo I checked out the channel but the interviews do not have English subtitles. Pity.

[@puraLusa]

@@Todsor bad comparisson. Its more like italian and spanish: same root diferent languages.

[@andrewgorelik4792]

Um... Russian hasn't been taught in Ukrainian schools since 2005. I remember how we only learnt it in the 5th grade. Don't really understand what this is about now

[@happines3511]

нет, в Виннице до сих пор был русский

[@withoutwords8136]

There is a big difference between learning the Russian language and learning in the Russian language. We get rid of the second one

[@vgnxjhd3447]

I am surprised at how calm they all were when responding, until the lady at 0:48 I thought this video was recorded long before the invasion

[@qvintuse.urvind7002]

It's a good thing for the unification of the country, I think, if every Ukranian primarily learns and speaks Ukrainian. However, knowing and speaking other languages as well, including Russian, should never be regarded as a disadvantage. There's a huge problem with the ruzzian politics and war. The Russian language is not really the problem though.

[@teyviso5278]

Exactly. What a beauty of reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Goethe’s Faust or Dreizer’s American Tragedy in their original languages. So many key things can be lost in translation. Knowledge of any languages is good for one’s cultural background. As scientists say, learning any language has positive effects on one’s memory and mental health as well.

[@ofelia8884]

but russian language IS a problem. a lot of ukrainians speak russian instead of ukrainian. because it's more convenient for them. and that is a problem. because why would it be inconvenient for a person to speak their own language? bruh its because for many years russian language and russian culture tried to occupy us, by making our language and our culture seem less important, less beautiful and less cool. so the russian language is a problem and im happy that people finally decided to kick it off from our heads

[@qvintuse.urvind7002]

@@ofelia8884 Refusing to speak the language of the occupiers is understandable. Still, the problem is ruzzian imperialism and entitlement, not the (Russian) language itself, but how it is used by some people.

[@teyviso5278]

@@ofelia8884 It is possible to be economically and socially advanced country if some of its citizens know Russian (or any other) language(s) but it is impossible to become a wealthy state if the government won’t tackle problems like enemy’s military presence, corruption, income inequality, low quality of public education and poor health care. These problems are far more evident and should be addressed first and foremost.

[@ofelia8884]

@@teyviso5278 and also it is impossible for culture and language to rise and shine while it's being "poisoned" so much by enemy's one. i believe we take care of the problems you mentioned as much as we can during such times. and as i said before people will still know russian, we just won't study it that deep in our schools. that's it. i had russian language as a subject in my school for one year. and it was horrible to be honest. cuz i felt uncomfortable studying russian considering what they've done in 2014, and it annoyed me that we had to learn their author's poems, their language with the same respect as we learn ours. it felt wrong even then. and i was a child. now, after they've done on february 24, i do not want to have this language in my school/university ever again. i, and many other ukrainians, really hate how this language was forced during Soviet Union and how it spoiled our culture. as a result: families which ancestors used to speak ukrainian, now speak russian and have problems switching to ukrainian. and many more. that's wrong. and the only way we can stop it now is by making ukrainian language our number one priority, and making russian language used less. and of course it should not be studied at schools. our children should speak ukrainian more (half of the children i met in my life speak mostly russian or russian+ukrainian mix) and the majority now want to speak ukrainian themselves, so we definitely know better what language to study and what not

[@zolandia5262]

Just so we all know, could a Ukrainian speaker please confirm whether these interviewees are all answering in Ukrainian? I noticed the use of mova instead of yazik, but with my limited knowledge of Russian I wasn't quite sure about all the responses. Naturally this war will accelerate the decline of Russian cultural influence in Ukraine, people won't want to associate with the language of the state that is attacking them. That said, Russia will still be a large neighbouring country so the language will still have some use.

[@antons5302]

They are not actually. "Current Time" is a Russian media outlet and the interviewer herself was asking her question in Russian. Most Ukrainians are competent in both, so many people (especially, Ukrainian-speaking) have a habit of switching to the language in which the question is asked. The answers at 0:09 0:28 1:04 1:59 and 2:02 were in Russian, some with Ukrainian words, probably because they assumed the interviewer also understands Ukrainian

[@zolandia5262]

@@antons5302 Thanks

[@KC-nd7nt]

Loss of communication with your neighbor is not smart long term

[@andyyygane4713]

If Ukrainians in Kyiv want this, I support them. But they shouldn't then expect us to support Ukraine's reconquest of Crimea, the Donbas, and the other Russian-speaking areas. They can't have it both ways. Either Ukraine is a bilingual country or it's a monolingual but smaller country.

[@drsnova7313]

In principle, I think banning any language from being taught anywhere is wrong. Wanting to promote Ukrainian is perfectly understandable, but barring people from learning their native tongue - IF they still so choose with current events - is not a good idea. And it very much plays into the Russian narrative. Even if most people won't be able to coldly think that far ahead - eventually, there will be peace, eventually, Russia may be a destination for travel, education and culture again, even if it takes a while. So at the very least, it should be possible to learn it as a "foreign language" like any other. Like German or Polish - both languages of people that have been the aggressor once.

[@sytnikakim]

In Ukraine we have free education, people studying important skills and in the most schools there has only English as a foreign language, anybody still can take a private lessons

[@andremacko5408]

Ukraine's education system fully complies with the European charter on languages. Russian isn't outlawed ( although personally I wish it was), it's just not going to be used as a language of instruction in the school system of Ukraine as is the case for any other official language in the world and their respective school system. Russian is NOT an official language in Ukraine. Russian can be taught in Ukraine just as Chinese can be taught in Ukraine or German but as a foreign language.

[@silverkitty2503]

they are not banning it nor banning the teaching of it they are simply not putting it in state schools if parents choose to teach it or sent kids to lessons they still can.

[@dunbar9finger]

The phrasing of the story is poor. It's not that it's no longer being taught at all, ever. It's that it's no longer being taught as part of the national standardized curriculum. It's being downgraded from required to elective, so it becomes like any other foreign language class.

[@Nidvard]

I don't know this story or it's context, but from what I saw in the video, there was nothing about banning, it, just not teaching it. vastly different things. Don't take me wrong, I agree with what you say

[@kristinadatashvili6050]

Больше половины ответила на русском😁🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

[@87Jama]

When hatred enters the game, that’s when you lose your way

[@taitslong3417]

Kazakhs in Kazakhstan speak Kazakh, Georgians in Georgia speak their own.... Why did the Ukrainians stick with Russian, that might have been one is the reason to invade.... At least from 1991, Ukrainian academicians should promote their own language.

[@ruger6049]

I just love the positive attitudes of Ukrainians. Glory to Ukraine.