Saints Cyril and Methodius' Day

May 24, 2018

May 24th is a day when all Slavic countries annually join in honoring the memory of Cyril and Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Enlighteners, preachers of Christianity and the creators of the Slavic alphabet.

In Ukraine, the event has been celebrated at the official level since 2004. In the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, the tradition of commemorating the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture has a long tradition. However, our program of celebration is especially rich in every region of the Motherland. Various scientific forums, festivals, exhibitions, book fairs, poetry readings and other cultural events take place on May 24. It is quite symbolical that exactly today schoolchildren from all over Ukraine have their External independent testing on Ukrainian language.

To the commemoration of the Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Ostroh Academy has not joined for the first time.

Who can say more about writing, development of language and changes in it or in their own speech than philologists and historians?

We interviewed the students of various years of Ukrainian Language and Literature and found out how their attitude to the language has changed from the moment of getting accepted into the university, what they have discovered new for themselves and the influence of alma mater on them.

“My attitude to the language has radically changed. If earlier I perceived the language as a mode of communication, then now I put into this concept a much greater sense. When I was asked earlier about why I had chosen Ukrainian philology, my answer was simple – knowledge of the native language would not be needless. Now I understand that studying Ukrainian language is not only a necessary thing. It reigns everywhere, and it opens up new perspectives for me in the future,” comments a student of the first year of the specialty "Ukrainian Language and Literature" Marianna Shkrabii.

“While studying at school, I could afford a lot during speech (within the reasonable measures, of course). We almost did not pay attention to the usage of surzhyk, rules of pronunciation were sidestepped (we knew only the usage of vYpadok chornOzem fOlha, and other elementary words). But, having become a student of Literary Work, I got that not everything was as simple as it seemed. After the first practical lesson when a lecturer showed the list of our mistakes and started to take off points for it, we realized that we were "sticking in". During this year we have significantly improved our knowledge. Now no one will say "diisno " or "analohichno," but we still have something to work on, of course. And when at first we immediately rushed to fix all we had heard said wrong (we already knew how it was correctly), now we just roll our eyes and try to stay silent,” jokingly says Marichka Budnik, a student of the first year of “Literary Work”.

“My attitude to the Ukrainian language has not changed radically, but rather it has become more meticulous and pedantic. Before having got accepted into the Ostroh Academy, I used to speak exclusively in Ukrainian, however, as it turned out I did a lot of mistakes. Today mistakes have disappeared. Studying on the specialty "Ukrainian Philology" helps me to learn how to identify linguistic mistakes, to avoid them and to constantly notice them in TV and radio broadcasts (and it is often so annoying), etc. In general, I try to improve my speech with the help of such courses as modern Ukrainian literary language, practical lessons on expressive reading and rhetoric,” shares her impressions a second-year student of Ukrainian philology Yuliia Halapach.

”When you get into some kind of environment, you start to change, whether you like it or not. Having got accepted into the OA, I felt it by myself. I cannot say that at school I did not like studying language, but right here I opened it from the other side. When you talk about the same thing from different perspectives every day, you begin to realize that you are part of that whole thing. Personally, I try to educate myself with the help of a culture of speech. Even somehow my friend and I have made up the quest: one linguistic mistake is equal to 5 squats. That is how I have started to filter what I say. And in general I understand that there is a difference between the way I used to speak before entering the university and the way I speak now, but there is still an opportunity to get better. The main thing is to understand in time that I do not make nervous anybody around me by my correctness,” frankly says a third-year student of the specialty "Ukrainian Language and Literature" Viktoriia Kukharska.

“Obviously, the OA did not have a radical effect on my attitude to the language, because I entered the specialty of the Literary Work following my heart and used to always love the language. My speech certainly did not change after the entering. Perhaps, now I use much less dialect, but this is due to the influence of Ostroh, and not the Academy in particular. In Ostroh people just do not communicate in such a way. Therefore, I do not feel a sense of difference "before getting accepted into the OA and after that," shares the details through the prism of her own experience a graduate student Khrystyna Semeryn.

“A lot of my friends know how hard it was for me to get accepted into the OA. The point is that I come from Southeast Ukraine, and my native language is Russian. One of my groupmates has admitted only recently that at first she sometimes did not understand my fast speaking in Russian (and I did not even suspect it). Instead, I am now fluent in Ukrainian and use it in all spheres of life. In terms of "writing", for example, in the scientific sphere it is much easier to express my opinion in Ukrainian. If you want to know what the OA has given to me, this is, of course, a practice, practice and practice again, and besides, many "stereotype breakings" regarding the proper use of those lexemes, accents, lexical reverse, etc,” comments a third-year student of “Literary Work” Violeta Nemykina.