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Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931 at The Ukrainian Museum thru May 2, 2012
Posted by Ihor Solovey on March 28, 2000 at 19:39:12:
In Reply to: Re: Language posted by Nikolai on March 28, 2000 at 16:38:59:
: The fact of the matter is that it just doesn't work. Take Quebec as an example. Quebec tries to enforce "French before English" and it is stifling their economy and their ability to prosper socially.
: Besides, not to offend, but we are dealing with essentially a dead language here amongst all but the nationalists and the elderly (ie. my grandparents.)
You haven't been in Lviv or Kyiv lately, have you? Well, you may be surprised to hear that about 50% of language on streets in Ukrainian, compared to virtually 0% in Soviet times. And calling all people that speak the language you don't like "nationalists", which Russians absolutely mistakenly associate with nazism is wrong. If you call every young Ukrainian-speaking person a nationalist, why not call all Russian-speaking people Russian nationalists? I lived in Russian-speaking environment for a long time and I KNOW that's not true.
: And while I support the idea of maintaining our cultural heritage, and indeed the language, I think that making it the only official language is silly.
Why? Can you please tell me why Ukrainians in Ukraine should learn how to speak Russian (since you want to make it official, you understand that this will happen, don't you?)??? Minority cannot dictate majority what to do or what to speak for that matter. That's quite natural. And your comparisons between Ukraine and Quebec are irrelevant, because remember, not Ukrainians immigrated to Ukraine, Russians did. As of Quebec, Quebecois settlers arrived in St. Lawrence Lowlands and Acadie long before English.
: Perhaps the best thing to do would be to keep Ukrainian as an official language. Enforce its use in parliament and on item identification/signs, but by all means, it shouldn't be the only official language
I just don't understand your reasoning.