PRESENTATION OF V. KULYK’S BOOK “LANGUAGE POLICY IN MULTILINGUAL COUNTRIES. FOREIGN EXPERIENCE AND ITS SUITABILITY FOR UKRAINE ”
On June 10, 2021, under the auspices of Shevchenko Scientific Society in America, an online presentation of the newly published book by our colleague – Chief Research Scientist of the Department of Ethno-political Studies Volodymyr Kulyk “Language Policy in Multilingual Countries. Foreign experience and its suitability for Ukraine” was held. Shevchenko Scientific Society in America together with the Ukrainian Fulbright Circle financially supported the publication of the book by the publishing house “Spirit and Letter”. In addition to the author, Leading Research Scientist of the Department of Ethno-political Science Mykola Ryabchuk and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA) Lada Bilaniuk took part in the presentation.
Volodymyr Kulyk told about the idea and tasks of the book and the main conclusions from the analysis conducted in it. He stressed the inadequacy of the common ideas in Ukraine about the language policy of different multilingual countries and the possibility of transferring their approaches into Ukrainian practice. He explained that he aimed to tell the Ukrainian readers about the peculiarities of language policy in different countries and to find out the main factors of its success or failure. As for the possibility of applying the experience of other countries in Ukraine, the author of the book was guided by the instruction that you can borrow only those samples that have become hasty in very similar social conditions. Therefore, in the last chapter of the book, he analyzes the degree of similarity of Ukraine to certain countries and concludes that the limited application of their experience, although it indicates several aspects that should be taken into account in Ukrainian language policy.
Lada Bilaniuk and Mykola Ryabchuk noted the analytical depth of Volodymyr Kulyk’s book and its importance for a better understanding of the experience of different countries in Ukraine and overcoming simplistic ideas about the possibility of borrowing it. They also asked the author several questions, which the moderator of the discussion Vasyl Makhno supplemented with questions from the audience. The presentation ended with a short discussion between the participants on these issues.
You can order the book on the website of the publishing house “Spirit and Letter”