Does Zelensky want to ban the Ukrainian language in movie distribution?
This is exactly what the presidential bill “On the Use of English in Ukraine” submitted to the parliament yesterday says in black and white, writes Volodymyr Viatrovych.
Zelenskyy proposes to pass a law banning the Ukrainian language in film distribution and eliminating Ukrainian dubbing.
It’s hard to believe. But this is exactly what is written in black and white in the presidential draft law “On the Use of English in Ukraine” submitted to the parliament yesterday.
The goal declared by the President – to increase the level of proficiency of Ukrainians in English as the main international language of the modern world – is correct and important.
The path chosen by the authorities to achieve this goal – the adoption of a special law on the English language – is debatable. Similar laws exist in countries in Africa and Asia that were once British colonies, but not in European countries.
“But even if the Ukrainian government wants to pass a separate law on English for some reason, it cannot contain norms that narrow the scope of the Ukrainian language.”
And the presidential draft has such provisions.
For example, the draft law de facto reduces the minimum share of Ukrainian-language TV programs established by law at the expense of English-language programs.
But the most dangerous provision is the ban on screening films dubbed into Ukrainian in cinemas if the film is made in English. Such films – which account for almost 90 percent of the total film distribution! – if the bill is passed, will have to be shown exclusively in English with Ukrainian subtitles.
In fact, it is about the destruction of Ukrainian film dubbing as an industry, including the loss of jobs for numerous industry professionals.
While cinemas used to be the place where Ukrainian was fashionable and popular for millions of people, now Ukrainians can only hear their native language in movies in domestic productions.
Not even Yanukovych and Tabachnyk together managed to destroy Ukrainian dubbing and remove the Ukrainian language from film distribution. Even they didn’t think of banning Hollywood characters from speaking Ukrainian. The authors of the presidential project (mis)thought.
I don’t know if Volodymyr Zelenskyy realizes what he signed up for. However, these norms are anti-Ukrainian and unconstitutional, as they drastically narrow the scope of the Ukrainian language.
It is important to learn English, and displacing Ukrainian will not help.
The draft law needs to be thoroughly revised, and the Verkhovna Rada has no right to vote for it in this form, even in the first reading.
For example, in almost all European countries, English is spoken many times more than in Ukraine. But this has nothing to do with the language of dubbing in cinemas. Perhaps our government wants to finally deal with the Ukrainian language, which some characters in power still have a problem with?
