Russian as the official language everywhere there are Russians

Basically people should speak whatever language they want to speak at home or work.  I believe in freedom, but to make a foreign language an official language of your country is a huge stretch.

Lets look at some examples:

• If this is the case, Polish should be the official language of the UK.  Why not?
• Why not German the official language of Poland as there are many people in Śląsk with German roots.
• There are Russians that live in Boston, but does that mean this should be the official language of Boston?  There are millions of Chinese that live in Russia, does that mean Chinese should be the official language of Russia?
• Ukrainian needs to be the official language of Ukraine to reverse the forced Russification of Eastern Europe.
• The Russians even had Poland as part of Russia and made it the official language there.  Maybe because there were so many Russian speakers in Poland, Poland should not have made Polish the language of the land of the Poles, and not try to bring back their culture from Russian domination.  And Poles should elect a Russian speaking president that wants out of NATO and EU and look to Moscow for making themselves free.

Ukrainian history and Russian history

It might surprise you that I am very pro Russian. Yes I love the culture and history of this great country and people, including the language.

But the Russia that I am for is a free Russia that supports free press and human rights.  Not the Russia that wants rules over the CIS like it is the old Soviet Union.

I have 1000 years of Russian and Ukrainian history to tell me otherwise, that Russian interests in Ukraine are not to promote humanity.  People wake up. Until I see evidence otherwise like a free press in Russia then I do not trust Russian influence in Ukraine. Lack of free press makes the Russian people suffer as well as the Ukrainians.  Moscow distorts reality.  Look at Gary Kasparov’s ‘theotherrussia.org’.  I think he is a true Russian who love his country not just what the government does for him.

Being loyal to your country is about being loyal to ideal like freedom and liberty and respecting the rights of other people.

If you are Ukrainian and reading this wake up and be real. Kievan Oligarchs rule, not the common Ukrainian from the Ternopil countryside.  These are supported by Moscow.

Russian language in Lviv, than Ukrainian in Moscow

If Russian speaking people want their language as an official language in the land of Lviv and Ternopil then I want Ukrainian and maybe Chinese spoken as the official language in Moscow.

I want Chinese taught in Moscow schools as well as Ukrainian as a required course.  I mean only 70 something percent of Russia is Russian people and the population is falling fast.  So lets get some more official languages in there and have Moscow start leaning towards Peking or Kiev.

However, most of the Russian speaking Ukrainian are in the Autonomous region republic of Crimea. About 50% of the people in this area are ethnic Russians and about 75% speak Russian.  However, this is only one region.  The rest of Ukraine does not have these percentages.

In New Mexico Spanish speakers are about 50% and in Puerto Rico 95% percent of the people speak Spanish,  does that mean the USA should go Spanish?

Most everyone in Ukraine speaks Ukrainian, not Russian.  A minority speaks Russian, but a large minority of people in the UK speak Arabic, therefore, should the UK have Arabic as the official language?

Ukrainian should remain the official language of Ukraine.  If people want to speak Russian they can, but Ukraine is Ukraine, not a state of Russia. Therefore, The Russian language should not be official in Ukraine.

In Kiev region only 7% of the people speak Russian compared to 90% Ukrainian.

Ukrainian is spoken by 71% percent of Ukrainians in Ukraine.

Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine.  However, Russian is required.  I think for a people, in this case Ukrainians,  to define themselves as a nation it is important to keep the Ukrainian language not Russian as the official language.

In Western Ukraine, like Ternopil oblast (where my family is from) and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast the percentage of Russian language speakers is only about 1%.

Why is the Russian language in Ukraine?

Because Russia is an Empire and always was. This percentage is because Ukraine went under a forced Russification and colonization program by Moscow.  Ukrainian was not a legal language.  Now Ukrainian is the language of Ukraine, however, Moscow is trying to change that and bring Russia back to its official language status.

The whole objective of Moscow is to try to disrupt and weaken Ukraine so it can further extend its empire.

I have studied Russian history and for 1000 years they do nothing but try to exploit and extract wealth for the elite in Moscow. The tragedy is, the Russian people suffer the most.  Russian language speakers and Russians in Ukraine and Russia could be wealthy if they simply voted out these pro-Moscow oligarchs. However, it is not as easy as it seems as Moscow cheats in the Ukrainian elections.

Ukrainian elections

Moscow always tries to buy vote, poison Ukrainian politicians, bribe officials and rig the Ukrainian elections.  Mean while the West is too afraid to say anything. Germany needs gas from Russia, the US needs Russia to support its Oil policies in the Middle East.  This is all foolishness.  Ukraine is a rich country in terms of people and potential and if Ukraine was integrated in the EU and NATO then Russia’s position would be weakened and eventually Russia would be free from it’s Moscow Oligarchs.

Yulia Tymoshenko Russian and Ukrainian

Yulia is a great leader and would support a Ukrainian language, rather than a Russian language Ukraine.  She would help Ukraine bring Kiev into the EU rather than like Belorussia simply a puppet of Moscow.

Kvass is a medieval drink which means ‘leaven’.  It is basically non-alcoholic drink fermented from rye and mixed with herbs or fruits like mint and strawberry.  If you have never tasted it your missing something.  It is popular in Ukraine and Russia and goes back 5000 years plus. It is also known as a monk’s drink. In Ukraine and Russian in the 17th and 18th and 19th century it was the most popular drink in town.  I put up a quick recipes here Kvas recipe.  It taste great cold in the summer. Below is me next to a Ukrainian Kvass truck when I was in Crimea.  I drank Kvas morning, noon and night.

Kvass truck

A funny Kvass story

Last summer I was sitting in a field behind my flat in Kraków with my Kaisa. I was eating salami and drinking Kvass and reading a book.  At that point two Polish police officers proceeded to write me out a ticket for drinking in a public place.  Of course I tried to explain to them it was Kvas and for some reason they did not know what I was talking about.  Kasia explained to me that Kvass is really a Ukrainian Russian drink and not popular in Poland.  When I gave them a whiff of the Kvass  bottle, they said aha and made some comment about me being an American health food guy and walked off.

Second Kvas story

I had secured a great supplier of Kvass at one of the local shops and was walking down the street with my stash.  I had so many bottles of kvass that one of the bottles broke though the cheap plastic bag I was carrying them in. My kvass broke open and sprayed a girl walking by all dressed up for her Saturday night date.  It was almost as if my kvass followed her as she tried to get out of the way.  The end result is she was covered with my kvass.  I tried to apologized but she said ‘great, now my boyfriend will think I was drinking’  – I said ‘its kvass!’ .

Wake up!

• Russia is a Empire. It always has been and they are not going to change soon.  I am an American in Poland and see that Russia has been an Empire for at least 500 years and why would they change.
• Putin is a Czar. Does anyone really think Russia is a democracy? Come on.  Why does Gary Kasparov get arrested all the time.  If Russia really had a free market the people of Russia would be better off.
• Ukraine wants to be NATO and EU. However Europe and the US are afraid of Russia so tip toe around the issue.

The Ukrainian Russian gas dispute reality

In a time of falling prices Russia wants next year gas to Ukraine to be 300 percent more in one year.  Is this fair?  Russia makes many lies against Ukraine and is trying to keep it from joining the west.  If the Russian government had its way it would annex Ukrainian territory and bring back the old Union.   Do not be so naive.  It is mid January and the Russian government cut off gas to the Ukrainian pipelines.  The Russian government will always be this way, unless Ukraine can join NATO and EU.  Why do you think Russia invaded Georgia? To keep its Empire from falling. The Russians are great, the Russian government is cruel.

I am an American who has live in Krakow for five years.  I grew up in America as did my parents. But my grandparents were from Lublin, Poland and Ternopil, Ukraine.  I love Polish cooking. I love Ukrainian cooking. Living in America I often had Polish and Ukrainian cooking but never enough.  I moved to Poland and go to Ukraine and Russia. I love to try new recipes.

How many Polish, Ukrainian and Russian recipes are there?

Millions. Really.  Many people think Polish cooking is perogies and kielbasa. and Ukrainian cooking is borscht.  Therefore you can get bored fast. This is so untrue. Millions of recipes. Everything you can imagine.

I started a Ukrainian, Russian and Polish recipes site to prove it.

My goal is to have 1/4 million Polish, Russian and Ukrainian recipes on this site. It might take some time but I think I can do it.  The site looks kind of lame right now but with time I will try to organizes it. Here it is.

Polish Recipes Russian and Ukrainian recipes

If you have any recipes you want to add please write me at markbiernat@op.pl or comment on the recipes site.

Russian, Ukrainian and Polish recipes are the best in the world.

Which is the dominant language in Kiev, Russian or Ukrainian?  Ten years ago I would have said Russian without blinking an eye. But now with twenty years of linguistic revival in Ukrainian I would definitely learn Ukrainian if I was going to Ukraine. Ukrainian is not only the official language but much more welcome then Russian.

How Kiev is being transformed to a Ukrainian city

How is Ukrainian reviving in Ukraine? See all the countryside people from Ukraine, who speak Ukrainian and learned Ukrainian in school (the official language) are now working in Kiev.  Kiev is transforming not only legally but on a day to day level to a Ukrainian language city.  In the East, many uneducated still speak Russian also in Ukraine and parts of Crimea there are areas of Russification hold out.

Why is Ukrainian important for Ukraine

I hope this will go away and Ukraine will fully reclaim its linguistic heritage. I mean do the French want to speak German?  This is why Ukrainians want to speak Ukrainian and why, when in Kiev do as the Ukrainians and speak Ukrainian.

My parents spoke Polish and Ukrainian. However, they did not teach these languages to me when I grew up. In the 1960s it was not in vogue to be anything than a WASP. I and my parents have often regretted the fact that I did not simply acquire these languages when I was a child, I would have been a native speaker in 3 languages and could have bridged this to other languages.

Years latter I learned Polish and my next language will be Ukrainian of course. Even though I do not speak Polish perfectly without an accent like a native, I speak Polish. Further I moved to Poland.

Now here is the advantage of learning a language instead of having it bestowed upon you as a child (my children I hope will be bilingual). When I moved to Poland I was special. I was a foreigner who spoke Polish. If I was a native people would treat me just like they treat any other guy on the street.
But now a complete American (I am very American), experienced what I would call the hollywood effect. Think of how women in the States or UK often go for some exotic guy with an accent. Accents can be sexy. And apparently in Polish I have one.

I was a star. I foreigner who did not simply assume the whole world spoke English. Of course it was hard to learn the language, but it was good for my brain.

What if you are already bilingual? No problem, learn a third or forth language.

Russia wants Crimea to be part of Russia not Ukraine. Why? Oil. Read my comment at the bottom, its really about oil. What does Russian say is the reason? There are many Russians that live in Ukrainian Crimea.   Why is this crazy that Russia wants Crimea? Because there are many Polish people that live in Chicago so that means this should be part of Poland? Or Florida should go to Cuba? Or Quebec should go to France? Hong Kong should go back to the English? If Putin, um I mean Russia was consistent in its logic then half of Russia would break apart.

Ukrainian not Russian Crimea

Crimea is and has been part of Ukraine not Russia. International boundaries were agreed on. It is contiguous part of Ukraine. Russia wants to take it over and I think because the USA is so focused on saving Iraqi oil, um I mean people, they turn their backs on the politics in Eastern Europe, except Moscow, um I mean Russia. They always have. Russian wants to occupy Crimea with warships etc,  like it holds all these countless other republics that are of economic or military interest to them. The Russian fleet is already in Crimea and the Ukrainian president wants it out. The major of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov (a Putin puppet), has public declare that Crimea belongs to Russia. Russia is an imperialistic Czardom.

Russian people

I love the Russian people. I love Russia. I love Russian culture. I am 100% Slavic in blood and live in Eastern Europe and travel to Russian, Moscow and Ukraine. But I am just telling it like I see it. Gary Kasparov one of the brightest minds in the world sees it this way too, that Russia is no democracy. And the Russian people are suffering because of this.  Muscovite’s who have power get rich, while the Russian citizens get marginally better lives, just enough so they do not complain to much, however, if Russia had true democracy and free movement of labor and capital and gave up its imperialism it could be an extremely dynamic place, not just Moscow.

Crimea is Ukrainian not Russian

Crimea is part of Ukraine and Russia should not try to take it over.

In Polish like in Russian, ‘Chef’ means ‘boss’. Many times Russian and Polish people will refer to their boss as their chief. Further it will be hard for them to distinguish the sound of ‘chef’ -someone who works as a cook and ‘chief’ – someone who is a leader. So if you here Polish or Russians call people chief it means boss. In English you can call someone your chief as a boss but it sounds more slangy than serious.

Polish for ‘boss’ is szef (pronounced chef)
Polish for ‘chef’ is szef kuchni (that is boss of the kitchen).
Polish for the head of a Native American tribe (chief) is wódz plemienia (leader of the tribe)
The Russian word for boss is шеф (also pronounced chef).

I think this is all very funny when English and Polish or Russian communicate about their boss often times confusion ensues.