28/06/2022
🇺🇦 🇫🇷 Today, there will be a screening of the Соловей співає documentary in Paris. We were really looking forward to it and grateful that the film agreed to be shown here as part of Дні української етнічної культури. We worked on the subtitles of the movie to make it accessible to a French-speaking audience (there are english ones on YT - link in comments below). The film speaks of how deeply rooted in history is the extermination of the Ukrainian nation on the example of the linguicide of the Ukrainian language. And in particular, how russification cultivated our perception of ourselves and our culture as something of inferior, provincial, and small.
We grew against the background of Russian expansion: linguistic, cultural, political. At one time, when we were still interested in foreign authors as teenagers, all available translations were only in Russian. Thus, over the years, I gradually developed a strong idea that Ukrainian is a language for everyday use, while Russian is the language of literature. Eventually, Russian, a foreign, forcibly imposed language, became a constant mediator through which I interacted and perceived images, ideas, feelings. I convinced myself that there are not even such words in the Ukrainian language to express everything so accurately and subtly. And it's not about cultural exchange or choice, - it is about the cultural expansion and dominance of one language over another, the imposition of one's way and form of thinking on the whole people.
For many, the transition from Russian to Ukrainian is a difficult or even unnecessary process. I think it is so difficult for us to make changes because we have forgotten how brutally the Ukrainian language and those who spoke it were exterminated. And now the attempt to return to our space the native language of this territory is often perceived with a grin. We have a bitter and painful memory of the murders and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from our territories in the past. But today, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, the Russians have deported about 1,200,000 Ukrainians.
However, we also have a memory of warmth and light. The memory of traditions, holidays, songs, parties and everything that unites people and makes them happy to be together in one community. All this is hidden in the words that our ancestors invented to convey what they felt, how they lived and acquired, and we have a unique key to their experience and perception of the world. This is our common space and heritage, we were just made to forget about it. And it's time to remind yourself of everything.
Link to the movie with english subtitles in the comments. Enjoy your viewing!
