Ukraine Flag
At Covenant, there are currently four full-time students from Ukraine. We all speak positively about our experience at Covenant, yet there are a few things said to us that bring frustration. The purpose of this article is not to critique Americans but to improve communication and explain our reaction to seemingly harmless questions. In fact, despite being frustrated, we often choose to ignore the way a question is formulated and look at the good, curious motivation behind it. This article is intended to raise awareness of misguided questions which are easily preventable once explained. So, here is the list of particular comments and explanations as to why we don’t like hearing them:
1. “Do you all speak Russian in Ukraine? Ukrainian? Hmm, never heard of that language. But, if you know Ukrainian then you know Russian too because they are almost the same languages, aren’t they?”
No, they are not. Ukrainian and Russian have only 62% of the same vocabulary, which is about the same percentage that English and German (60%) have in common. The Ukrainian language belongs to the Slavic language family, which has many languages with lots of linguistic diversity.
For further comparison, the lexical similarity of Ukrainian and Belorussian has been estimated at 84%, followed by Polish – 70%, Slovak – 68%, and then Russian – 62%. According to Duolingo, “Even though most Russians don't know or understand Ukrainian because it's a different language, most Ukrainians know and understand Russian. This isn't because of linguistics but because of politics and history: because the Russian-speaking Soviet Union occupied Ukraine for almost 70 years, Russian was the only official language of Ukraine. Government, schools, and businesses were all required to only use Russian, so even though most families continued using Ukrainian at home, much of their public lives required Russian.”
Although a lot of people don’t realize it, language/culture comparisons have become very controversial and painful for many Ukrainians since the full-scale invasion in 2022. This is because Russia has historically minimized Ukraine’s language as a means to diminish Ukraine's nationhood. It is important for Ukrainians to clarify that we and Russians are different nations with distinct languages and cultures.
2. “Do you personally know Russian? Yes? That’s really cool! By the way, I know some Russian words… Can you tutor me in Russian?”
When meeting a Ukrainian for the first time, it’s a bad idea to start by saying hello in Russian. I appreciate the willingness to connect, but it just puts Ukrainians in an awkward situation of not knowing in what language we should reply, especially when a language comes from a country that is waging war against our nation and loved ones.
Russian tutoring is a very insensitive thing for people to ask. Many Ukrainians have become victims of Russian aggression. For them, Russian is seen as a language of aggression, and every time it’s spoken, it brings up traumatic memories. Although they know Russian, they not only don’t want to teach it and spread Russian influence, but often intentionally refuse to speak or listen to it. Moreover, almost immediately after the full-scale invasion, many Ukrainians who used Russian as their first language switched to Ukrainian in response to Russian aggression and in protest of Ukraine becoming a part of Russia.
3. Saying “the Ukraine.”
It is incorrect to say “the Ukraine” both grammatically and politically. I understand that since Americans are so used to saying “the United States,” they automatically apply it to names of other countries. But, on the other hand, I’ve never heard anyone say “the Germany” or “the Poland.” This is a little detail that I often ignore but which has a complex historical and political meaning behind it. The article ‘the’ creates the impression that Ukraine is a region, part of some larger whole, like another country. Yet, Ukraine is a country of its own and doesn’t want to be a part of another country, especially Russia.
4. Using the Soviet Union and Russia interchangeably.
While a lot of older Americans tend to use the Soviet Union and Russia interchangeably, this is incorrect. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, not everybody was Russian, and that’s one of the reasons it fell apart in 1991. Various countries weren’t created because of the USSR’s collapse; they were behind the “Iron Curtain” for a long time even before the USSR was established. Despite the persecution of cultural leaders and the Soviet propaganda that all Slavic languages are dialects of Russian, many nations, including Ukraine, managed to preserve a lot of their culture and language and fight back to gain its independence.
5. “So, you are from Ukraine. I’ve been wondering whether everything that has been on the news about Ukraine is truly happening or is just exaggerated by the media or made up by untrustworthy news sources.”
The war against Ukraine is not a rumor; it is a reality that many Ukrainians, including my family, live in. And, yes, news is not an infallible source of information, and of course “sensational” information should be double-checked, but if thousands of media platforms say the same thing, it is highly likely that thing is true, especially when there is photographic proof.
To avoid leaving you on a negative note, here are questions Ukrainians love to be asked: Could you tell me what your culture is like? Can you show me what area of Ukraine you are from? Can you teach me Ukrainian? Can we make a Ukrainian dish together (like borscht)? How are your family and friends in Ukraine doing? How can I help? How can I pray for Ukraine and your family?
I do want to point out that not saying anything and ignoring our origin or things happening in our home country is definitely worse than being curious and making mistakes. In fact, we love sharing about our home and answering questions from genuinely curious friends, but it’s important for us that they are willing to put their biases away by asking us open-ended questions.