From Yahoo:
"Teach English, not Russian in Ukraine schools: president"
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday risked further angering the Kremlin by suggesting that English lessons replace Russian ones in schools to improve the country's standard of living "English should become the second language to be taught in schools," Poroshenko said on a visit to Lviv, a nationalist bastion of political support for the new pro-Western leader where Russian speakers make up a minority. "There is a connection between people's standard of living and their level of knowledge of English," he said. "The more Ukrainians speak English, the better off Ukraine will be."
^ If Russia wants to isolate itself from the international community the way it continues to do then there's no real need for the Ukraine to teach Russian. English is the sole international language (used in: travel, aviation, commerce, diplomacy, international organizations, music, trade, commercialism, etc) and every non-English speaker in the world is at a huge disadvantage for not knowing the language. Russians are not know for their linguistic skills (the same way Americans and the Brits aren't) the only difference is that the Americans and Brits have the "luxury" not to speak another language since English is known the world over. It's a double standard, but it's the reality we live in. With regards to the Ukraine in particular teaching Russian while Russia supports the ethnic Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine as well as annexing the Crimea is the same as the Nazis forcing people in the countries they occupied to learn German. If Russia leaves the Crimea and eastern Ukraine then maybe Russian should be the second foreign language Ukrainians learn, but English needs to be the first if the Ukraine wants to open ties up with the world around them whether it's with the US, EU or China. I remember when I was in Kyiv and every restaurant had an English menu but no one could understand English and so you would still have to order in Russian or Ukrainian (I was told many times that the one person who knew English was off that day.) Of course had they been smart they would have printed the English version of the menu in the same exact way as the Ukrainian and Russian menus so that you could put to item #3 in the English menu and the server could look at line #3 in the Ukrainian menu and know what you were ordering. ^
http://news.yahoo.com/teach-english-not-russian-ukraine-schools-president-211803598.html
"Teach English, not Russian in Ukraine schools: president"
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday risked further angering the Kremlin by suggesting that English lessons replace Russian ones in schools to improve the country's standard of living "English should become the second language to be taught in schools," Poroshenko said on a visit to Lviv, a nationalist bastion of political support for the new pro-Western leader where Russian speakers make up a minority. "There is a connection between people's standard of living and their level of knowledge of English," he said. "The more Ukrainians speak English, the better off Ukraine will be."
Russian has historically been the second language in Ukraine, a country linguistically split into the Ukrainian-speaking west and Russian-speaking east, where pro-Moscow separatists have declared independence in two regions. The ousted Kremlin-backed leader, Viktor Yanukovych, signed a law in 2012 that ensured that Russian could be spoken freely in the east, a decision that angered nationalist politicians. Despite calls to repeal the law after a pro-EU uprising established new leadership in Kiev in February, the new leadership has decided to preserve Russian language rights in the east. Moscow has accused Kiev of "genocide" against Russian speakers in the industrial rustbelt, where a five-month insurgency has cost more than 3,200 lives. The Ukrainian government says that Russia has masterminded the violence in an attempt to prevent Ukraine from integrating with the West.
^ If Russia wants to isolate itself from the international community the way it continues to do then there's no real need for the Ukraine to teach Russian. English is the sole international language (used in: travel, aviation, commerce, diplomacy, international organizations, music, trade, commercialism, etc) and every non-English speaker in the world is at a huge disadvantage for not knowing the language. Russians are not know for their linguistic skills (the same way Americans and the Brits aren't) the only difference is that the Americans and Brits have the "luxury" not to speak another language since English is known the world over. It's a double standard, but it's the reality we live in. With regards to the Ukraine in particular teaching Russian while Russia supports the ethnic Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine as well as annexing the Crimea is the same as the Nazis forcing people in the countries they occupied to learn German. If Russia leaves the Crimea and eastern Ukraine then maybe Russian should be the second foreign language Ukrainians learn, but English needs to be the first if the Ukraine wants to open ties up with the world around them whether it's with the US, EU or China. I remember when I was in Kyiv and every restaurant had an English menu but no one could understand English and so you would still have to order in Russian or Ukrainian (I was told many times that the one person who knew English was off that day.) Of course had they been smart they would have printed the English version of the menu in the same exact way as the Ukrainian and Russian menus so that you could put to item #3 in the English menu and the server could look at line #3 in the Ukrainian menu and know what you were ordering. ^
http://news.yahoo.com/teach-english-not-russian-ukraine-schools-president-211803598.html
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