Language Research

6. Language in everyday life: The use of language in everyday life, e.g. education, broadcasting, and other

According to the Law on the languages in Ukraine, in judicial proceedings the Ukrainian language is to be used. In territories, in which the minority language is traditionally used by the substantial part of the local population, judicial proceedings may be conducted in the minority language.

According to the State Program on revival and development of the national minorities education in Ukraine, for the period through the year 2000 the following national minority languages are taught in Ukraine: Russian, Jewish, Moldavian, Crimean Tatar, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Greek, Armenian, German, Tatar, Korean, Czech, modern Greek, Turkish-Meshkhetian.

The Law on Education guarantees that all persons in Ukraine have the right for education free of charge in all state educational institutions irrespective of their sex, race or national belonging.

National minorities in Ukraine in the territories where they represent the majority of the population will be allowed access on public electronic media channels. State support is given to the newspapers that are being issued in Armenian, Romanian, Jewish, Bulgarian, Polish, Crimean Tatar. 

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Updated (April 2002)

Updated (April 2002)

EDUCATION (Decline in the number of Russian language schools (in percents))

In the areas of Ukraine where the percentage of ethnic Russians is higher the decrease is slower.

In the school year 2000/2001 2,057 pre-schools (252,797 children) used national minority languages and out of them 1,936 (248,600 children) used the Russian language.

Out of total 21,258 general schools (6,650,900 pupils) 2,402 (1,148,500) taught in national minority languages. This figure includes 2,215 schools teaching in Russian (1,098,300 pupils).

2,236 schools taught in two languages – Ukrainian and Russian (1,917,200 pupils). Moreover, 1,829,400 pupils studied Russian as a subject at school and 103,777 studied it optionally.

MEDIA

The fact that between 1995-1997 the number of Russian language journals increased from 101 to 118 and the number of newspapers from 721 to 746 proves that the Russian language still has a strong position in the society. While the Ukrainian language predominated strongly in state radio and TV broadcasting time, it is estimated that almost two thirds of total radio and television broadcasting time was in Russian. In 1994 survey, 43.5% of Ukrainians opted for Russian as their language of convenience and in 1999 that figure had risen to 50.9%.

RUSYNS

In Ukraine Rusyns are not recognized as a national minority. They are officially treated as a Ukrainian ethnic group with some special regional, cultural and linguistic characteristics. Ukrainian official Rusyn policy is influenced by fears of Rusyn political separatism in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine.

The Association of Subcarpathian Rusyns in Ukraine was established in 1990 and has formulated its two main demands to the Ukrainian government: to recognize Rusyns as a national minority and to provide territorial autonomy for the Transcarpathian Region under its historical name Subcarpathian Rus'. The Ukrainian government rejected these claims, but again it does not mean that the problem has been solved.

SLOVAKS

According to the last Soviet census of 1989, the number of ethnic Slovaks living in Ukraine was 7,900 (0.02% the total Ukrainian population), of whom 94% lived in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. The national culture and consciousness of Transcarpathian Slovaks has become more active since the early 1990's. The first primary school teaching Slovak was set up in Storoznica in 1993, while Slovak (as an optional subject) is taught at primary schools in Velyky Berezny, Seredne and Uzhgorod. Slovak language and literature have been introduced as a new section at Uzhgorod University with the aim of preparing new primary school teachers. In late 1992, the cultural organization “Slovak Matica” was established in Uzhgorod, while a “Ludovit Stur's Association of Slovaks in Transcarpathia” was set up in Storoznica. These organizations, which became centers of national life for Slovaks in Transcarpathia, are supported by Slovak non-governmental organizations, such as Slovak Matica, the House of Foreign Slovaks and the Slovak government. An official framework for these cultural links is provided in agreements between the Slovak and Ukrainian governments.

The different official treatment and also status of Rusyns in Slovakia and Ukraine became a point of certain misunderstanding in Slovak-Ukrainian relations in the first half of the 1990's. The Ukrainian government addressed its Slovak counterpart in 1994 with the proposition to establish a common Committee on Minority Issues. Its main interest was to influence the Slovak government to reduce its support of the Rusyn minority in Slovakia because it indirectly increased Rusyn separatism in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine. After the October 1994 elections, a new Slovak government stopped supporting any ethnic minorities in Slovakia, so the issue was not so hot. In any event, Slovakia has officially recognized Rusyns as a national minority, while Ukraine did not. The minorities' policy of the new Slovak government elected in 1998 is positive and liberal, granting minority rights and supporting minority community activities.

The bilateral Ukrainian-Slovak Committee for National Minorities, Education and Cultural Affairs held its first session in Kyiv in February 1995. Both sides agreed that the committee would meet regularly at least once a year. At the second meeting in Bratislava in 1996, both sides stressed that any demand for territorial, administrative or other forms of autonomy based on ethnic principles is unacceptable and they refused any ethnic separatism which could destabilize this region of Central and Eastern Europe. They also demanded that representatives of the two minorities profess loyalty to the respective states in which they live. According to the Protocol of the Fourth Committee Session in 1998, both sides agreed to include representatives of two minority organizations, the Association of Rusyns-Ukrainians in Slovakia (ZRUS) and Slovak Matica in Uzhgorod, in the Committee.

Source: Alexander Duleba, Rusyn Question and Minorities in Slovak-Ukrainian Relations, Research Center director of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association in Bratislava, http://wwics.si.edu/kennan/ukraine/briefs/duleba.htm 

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Updated (September 2006)

CRIMEAN TATARS LAUNCH TV CHANNEL 

The first Tatar-language television channel started broadcasting in the Crimea on 1 September 2006. It currently covers about 80 percent of the territory and broadcasts in the Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian, and Russian languages, but primarily works for the Crimean Tatar community. Rydvan Khalilov, director of the channel, said that it is meant to help promote the Crimean Tatar language, culture, and history on the peninsula. 

Source: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 10, No. 163, Part II, September 5, 2006 http://www.rferl.org/newsline/

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Updated (August 2008)

PUBLIC SERVANTS SHOULD SPEAK UKRAINIAN

Reacting to the speech of the State Tax Administration Chairman Sergiy Buryak delivered in Russian at the “Power and Bussiness-partner Forum” in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Yushchenko demands that all public servants speak the Ukrainian language.

Viktor Yushchenko noted that the representatives of the state power should follow the Law on the State Language; adding that the public servants have additional payments for knowledge of the state language.

Source: UNIAN.NET, News, July 4, 2008 http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-259804.html

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