« »

Kateryna Yushchenko Takes Part in Language as a World: Poetics and Grammar International Scholarly Conference

December 7, 2009, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Kateryna Yushchenko took part in the Language as a World: Poetics and Grammar International Scholarly Conference. The event, organized by the Philology Institute at the Shevchenko Kyiv National University, was held December 7-8. Over 200 representatives of Ukrainian and foreign academia, professors, and students took part in the conference.

“We can say that language is the driving force of the human progress,” Mrs. Yushchenko said in her speech. “By mastering the language, we perfect our mind, since language and thinking are inseparable. Absorbing the knowledge reflected in speech, people build up their own inner world, forming their own personalities. (…) We feel the importance of our native language, the utmost medium of the national spirit, most acutely when we are far from our native land. Language is what helps us not to dissolve into the multinational community but preserve our national identity.”

Kateryna Yushchenko described the efforts of Ukrainian organizations abroad aimed at preserving the language and culture. “Our Ukrainian diaspora around the world is well-organized and active.” she said. “They preserve and disseminate the Ukrainian language, expressed first and foremost through the language, among the younger generations and all those willing to accept it. (…) For many years, while our non-Ukrainian school friends had a day off, every Saturday we would go to the church, to the center of our Ukrainian life, where there was a Ukrainian school. This is why for me the notions, school, language, and spirit are inseparable.”

Mrs. Yushchenko spoke about the state’s moves aimed at creating a national language policy and increasing the role of the Ukrainian language. She also described the Ukraine 3000 Foundation’s programs and projects to develop Ukrainian language, culture, and traditions.

“I remember when in the early 1990s I addressed people in Ukrainian on public transport, they would ask me whether I was from the village or from Poland.” Mrs. Kateryna said. “At that time, the Ukrainian language was broadly associated with things rural and primitive. People who lived in Ukraine, whose ancestors had been Ukrainians, were unwilling to speak their native language for the fear to look like countrymen. I am very happy that today the attitude toward the Ukrainian language has undergone dramatic changes. Today speaking Ukrainian means being intelligent, well-educated, and well-bred.”

“The Ukrainian language is more than just a means of communication. It is our historical memory, inexhaustible spiritual and cultural treasure trove. It is a living connection to the thousands of years of the past, present, and future of the great nation,” Mrs. Yushchenko said.

On behalf of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation, Mrs. Yushchenko presented the Philology Institute at the Shevchenko Kyiv National University with a set of books, CDs, and an old map of Ukraine. Mrs. Yushchenko also donated dictionaries and encyclopedias to the Modern Ukrainian Language Department of the Philology Institute.

Among other speakers were Director of the Philology Institute Hryhory Semeniuk, Director of the A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA Publishers Ivan Malkovych, Head of the Language Stylistics and Culture Dept. at the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the NAS of Ukraine Svitlana Yermolenko, Head of the Ukrainian Language Stylistics Dept. at the National Drahomanov Pedagogical Institute Liubov Matsko, Head of the Modern Ukrainian Language Department of the Philology Institute at the Shevchenko Kyiv National University Anatoly Moysiyenko, Head of the Theory and Practice of German Translations Dept. at the Philology Institute Taras Kyyak, and Assistant Professor at the Modern Ukrainian Language Department of the Philology Institute Viktoriya Kolomiytseva.