THE LINGUISTIC SPLIT OF UKRAINE IS A FANTASY

Many who have an agenda to turn Ukrainians against themselves would have you believe that there is deep chasm separating Ukrainian speakers from Russian speakers here. It is a shame that so many news organizations have bought into this lie. What’s a bigger shame are the Ukrainians who have bought into this ridiculous theory despite evidence in daily life to the contrary.

The news reporting has been so crazy that anyone not familiar with life here might think that there is stark language line running down the center of the country.

First let’s get some rough information out on the table (these are rough numbers):

1) About 1 out of 5 citizens of Ukrainian are ethnically Russian
2) About 4 out of 5 citizens of Ukrainian are ethnically Ukrainian
3) About 1 out of 3 children are taught in Russian at school.
4) About 2 out of 3 children are taught in Ukrainian at school.
5) The Russian and Ukrainian languages are mutually intelligible languages.
By this I mean that basic communication is possible.
6) 70 to 80% of Ukrainian citizens are fully or effectively bilingual.
7) Ethnic Russians and Ukrainians intermarry freely.
8) Ukrainians, regardless of language or ethnicity, are patriotic and love their country.

The Russian language has a very important place here in Ukraine. Not only due to the ethnic Russians, but because of the long association with the Soviet Union and with Russia. You might conclude from the information listed above that Ukrainian is used almost exclusively here. But it is not. If I were to take you for a long walk around Kiev you might be surprised. If we ate in restaurants, went shopping and listened in on conversations among the citizens of Kiev, you would hear Russian. Russian everywhere! Almost exclusively Russian!

And remember, Kiev voted about 75% in favor of Yushchenko. (85% if you eliminate the fraudulent ballots.)

When I go shopping, I use my limited Ukrainian. What is interesting about these conversations is that I will ask a question in Ukrainian and the person I am talking to will then answer me in Russian. We communicate just fine and there are smiles all around.

Ukrainians don’t segregate themselves on the basis of language. At any gathering that I attend I only see Ukrainians! Not Ukrainian speakers on one side of the room and Russian speakers on the other.

I know the Ukrainian people won’t let this fantasy get in the way of their building a great nation. I just wish the media would get this right.

Please check out the archives of November 30, 2004 to see three maps that show how the east west divide has been misrepresented in the media.