From the Other Shore

I read with great interest Ms. Gudzyk’s article “In the Mirror of the Census” (The Day, December 25, 2001) about the recently-held census in Ukraine. Of particular interest to me were her observations of her experience speaking Ukrainian in Donetsk. I am writing to say that I concur with her findings, and to thank her for expressing them in print.

I am the local Director of the Community Connections (CC) Program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. I have received 19 groups from Ukraine through this program. Eighteen of them have come from Donetsk, which in late 1999/early 2000 became Pittsburgh’s ninth official sister city, and one from Zaporizhzhia. I became the President of the Pittsburgh-Donetsk Sister Cities Committee, and in mid-1999 traveled to Ukraine with a delegation whose mission was to become better acquainted with the city of Donetsk and to obtain official approval of the relationship with the Mayor of Donetsk. Upon our return, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy signed the document, and it was registered with Sister Cities International. On February 15, 2000, the flag of Ukraine was placed in the Pittsburgh City Council Chambers alongside the flags of other countries in which Pittsburgh has sister cities. In total, I have visited Ukraine five times in the last five years, spending most of my time in Donetsk.

I am an American of Ukrainian heritage. I speak only Ukrainian, and never studied Russian. Thus when my first group from Donetsk arrived in December 1996, I had difficulty understanding what they were saying. I wondered why: after all, Ukrainian and Russian are so similar. I learned very quickly how different the two languages are, especially to the ear of one who had never previously been exposed to the Russian language. As a professional charged with the task of acquainting Ukrainians with the operation of democracy and open markets in the US, I always felt it was very important to use the official language of Ukraine in all written translations and oral interpretation. Many “experts” told me that people from Donetsk wouldn’t understand and would even protest angrily the use of the Ukrainian language. It was to my distinct pleasure to learn that most of our friends from Donetsk spoke Ukrainian quite well, though I cannot say that it was easy for all of them. What is even more pleasurable for me to report is that I have been thanked sincerely for using Ukrainian by program participants. Residents of Donetsk have told me that they surprised themselves at how well they could speak Ukrainian; that they would return to Ukraine and continue to speak in Ukrainian as often as they could; that they understand how important the use of Ukrainian is to the development of the country; that the reason they don’t speak Ukrainian better is lack of practice. Yes, instead of provoking hostility, our use of the Ukrainian language produced smiles and expressions of gratitude!

In short, I believe that it is very important to approach the so-called language question with circumspection. It is not advantageous to affix blame to anyone for the language they use. Force begets resistance. Demonstrations of pride in and love for the Ukrainian language, however, are met with acceptance and cooperation. We Ukrainians are in this together, those of us from Ukraine, who by historical habit speak Russian as their first language and those of us from the USA, who by historical habit speak English as our first language. A search for common ground, by which to support each other in our expression of our Ukrainian identity will transcend the dry figures of a census. It will also help Ukrainians find out who we really are and who we think we are.