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James Meek on Ukraine

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Saturday, 28 Oct 2023, 11:04

I am fascinated by the language situation in Ukraine and the recent article by James Meek in the London Review of Books  ( https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n16/james-meek/every-field-every-yard) helps to feed this interest.

Meek refers to those who have changed from using Russian to using Ukrainian and gives the example of a singer, Ruslan Kuznetsov, who used to sing in Russian but now uses Ukrainian.  He surprised Ukrainian speakers by using it so well but for many Russian speakers, this change will be a challenge.

Meek also refers to the way that English is playing a more important role and how it might be more sensitive to try English in Ukraine first rather than Russian if a person only knows English and Russian, which is the case for him.

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Wednesday, 13 Nov 2024, 12:24)
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