Irina Serdyuk

studied in Nishnij Nowgorod (Russia) and in Jena (Germany) German literature and languages. She worked as translator and interpreter for the Berlin Film Festival, organized cultural events, and travelled as dancer and manager of a dance group around the world. Since 2015 she is coordinator of the Ukraine reporting at die tageszeitung in Berlin.

Articles

Cover for: A tale of at least two languages

A tale of at least two languages

... in a city halfway between Kyiv and Lviv

Russian speakers in Ukraine are part of the “Russian World”, Vladimir Putin repeatedly claims; which is how he legitimizes Russia’s intervention in the country. That said, every third Ukrainian speaks Russian. According to current surveys, 15 per cent indicate Russian exclusively as their native language, and 22 per cent both Russian and Ukrainian. But what is the real significance of language? In order to find out, Irina Serdyuk made her way to Khmelnytskyi, a city of 300,000 residents halfway between Kyiv and Lviv.