NY Times - "The Retreat of the Tongue of the Czars"
Alina Israeli
aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU
Sun Sep 13 19:50:56 UTC 2009
Quote:
The books are classics — by Oscar Wilde, Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, and
Shakespeare — that have been translated into Ukrainian, in editions
aimed at teenagers. A Harry Potter who casts spells in Ukrainian also
inhabits the shelves.
Two decades ago, there would have been little if any demand for such
works, given that most people in this region are ethnic Russians. But
the Ukrainian government is increasingly requiring that the Ukrainian
language be used in all facets of society, especially schools, as it
seeks to ensure that the next generation is oriented toward Kiev, not
Moscow.
Children can even read Pushkin, Russia’s most revered author, in
translation. (This tends to bother Russians in the way that “The Star-
Spangled Banner” sung in Spanish can touch off cross-cultural
crankiness in the United States.)
They can, but do they? They can even read Gogol in Ukrainian
translation.
A recent (July 2009) anecdote from Nemtsov:
НЕМЦОВ: Так вот я должен сказать, что я хотел ее [свою книгу]
перевести на украинский, но мне книгоиздатели украинские сказали –
Боря, не парься, 85% книг, продаваемых в нашей стране – русские
книги. Интернет украинский на 85% русский. Знаете, когда насилием
начинают выбивать, то у людей дух противоречия возникает. (http://
www.echo.msk.ru/programs/opponent/612946-echo/)
I can attest it with my own anecdote: a few (probably three) years
ago I had a heritage speaker student in my upper language class, one
of the best, he was from Ukraine. I assumed he had studied Russian at
school and was taking my course (500, so he would be allowed even
after a Russian high school) for an easy A. Only after the semester
ended he told me than he never even spoke Russian until he came to
America. I was flabbergasted. He explained that he read all the
classics — Dumas, Dickens etc. in Russian.
Alina
On Sep 13, 2009, at 1:42 PM, Max Pyziur wrote:
> The Retreat of the Tongue of the Czars
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/weekinreview/13levy.html
>
>
> Russia's shrinking linguistic empire
> http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/09/12/weekinreview/
> 13levy_graphic.html
>
> fyi,
>
> MP
> pyz at brama.com
>
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Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu
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