Zelensky’s philologist set aside two to three decades for the eradication of the Russian language
In Ukraine, there is a tendency that after some time the country will speak exclusively Ukrainian.
Philologist Alexander Avramenko, who spent two years teaching Ukrainian to President Volodymyr Zelensky, a native Russian speaker, stated this in an interview with the Kyiv website Novoye Vremya, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
He was asked whether it is still difficult for a number of citizens to switch to the Ukrainian language immediately or completely.
“This process is not easy, because speech is built on reflexes. When we want to say something instantly, a word appears in our minds that names that very something. And for many people this is the first word that comes up - Russian. And on the move it is unrealistically difficult to instantly destroy all reflexes. It’s like with a winter coat, where you put your hand in the pocket on one side, and when you change into a spring jacket, you continue to look for a pocket in a place where there is now none. It’s the same with words,” Avramenko said.
He adds that some people are embarrassed to speak Ukrainian because they are not very good at it.
“And all this significantly slows down the process, so it is not so fast, but it is still moving. I am sure that in 20-30 years there will be a completely different picture, new generations will appear, whom their parents will teach in a completely different way, exclusively in Ukrainian and with a different attitude towards the language,” the philologist hopes.
In addition, he gave his forecast whether the country will be able to completely switch to Ukrainian in the future.
“When the war passes and emotions fade over time, there will be many more people who communicate in Ukrainian. It is difficult to say whether all 100% of Ukrainians will speak Ukrainian, but there is a tendency towards this. And there were precedents for this in history: let’s say, 100 years ago only 8-12% of the country’s population spoke Czech, while the vast majority spoke German. Today, the whole Czech Republic speaks its native language,” the linguist noted.
According to him, Ukraine “has one language, culture and history.”
“What is missing, for example, in multinational Switzerland or Canada - have you ever heard of the Canadian or Swiss languages? Therefore, the argument of several state languages has never been suitable for Ukraine. In difficult times, a person returns to his roots, to what is native and based on tradition. Therefore, I think that we are now moving along this path at an accelerated pace,” Avramenko concluded.
Zelensky's philologist has set aside two to three decades for the eradication of the Russian language.