Children start total cleansing of the language

Last Tuesday the Kyiv Teacher’s House received experts on the Ukrainian language, winners of the Petro Jacyk Contest who occupied places from four to nine (prizewinners will be greeted on May 15). The admirers of the beauty of the native tongue did not spare elevated words about the euphony, tenderness, and precision of the Ukrainian language, while the organizers did everything possible to saturate the festive atmosphere with the meaningfulness of the event. The winners, 62 schoolchildren and ten students, appeared onstage one by one. They came from various parts of Ukraine, united, in addition to their love for the native language and creativity, by their immense diligence. The children devote virtually all their spare time to self-improvement: studying additional literature, painting, dancing, writing poetry, and giving their help to those around them in mastering the subtleties of the Ukrainian language. Third-grader of Kyiv School No. 39 Myroslava Maslova found an interesting method to fight for the purity of the language. She started a vocabulary listing common mistakes of her family members and sees to their observing the correct language standards. Olha Hrosh, pupil of the Novy Buh Gymnasium (Mykolayiv oblast), also involved her whole family in promoting language purity. Olha says that, though surzhyk [mixed languages] is inherent in all languages and peoples, the Ukrainian version has especially deep historical roots. It is difficult to renew in its primeval purity something that had been polluted by many generations and then transmitted to children through their mothers’ speech. Today Olha’s mother, Ukrainian many generations back, has to consult with the dictionary time and again to look up some word of her native language and revive it in communication with her near and dear ones. Olha is certain that, in order to make Ukraine sound Ukrainian, it is not enough to love the beauty of its language and stop being shy about speaking it; one has to overcome one’s own laziness and work hard.

The contest’s special feature is awarding the winners with not only presents but also money prizes. The sums depend on the age and the place taken, amounting from 400 to 7000 hryvnias. The contest’s mass character is also worth mentioning. This year over fifteen million people participated in its four rounds, with the first nine becoming winners. Unlike in school Olympiads, here creativity is the major criterion.

Meritorious Teacher of Ukraine Antonina Movchun, who teaches philology to future teachers at a pedagogical college, has trained more than one winner of the contest, her own granddaughter included. She draws attention to the lack of quality national children’s fairytales in the bookstores, which should be a basis in raising children. The winners’ parents, as well as the boys and girls themselves, name only Ukrainian classics as models to follow. Academician Zhulynsky said bitterly that he never imagined that the independent Ukraine would have to fight for the prestige of the Ukrainian language. However, young language experts, unburdened by the complexes of the past and already setting an example for some adults with their profound patriotism, give one hope for the positive solution of this problem.