The journalist asked the Ombudsman how she relates to Surzhik – as to clogging the tongue or as a way to the transition to Ukrainian.
“As an objective reality, which, unfortunately, is in today's speech practice of Ukrainians. Surzhik and a pasta language is a difficult theoretical question. If this is the first step to master the Ukrainian with the subsequent prospect of getting rid of it, then such people should not be poisoned. They should be encouraged to improve linguistic skills,” Ivanovskaya answered.
She emphasizes that “not tolerant” to Surzhik.
“I understand that our language is a sign of the level of our culture. The state should create conditions for increasing literacy and culture of speech. Reading the Ukrainian book, watching our cinema is the way to increase tastes, aesthetics and linguistic culture,” the linguistic Ombudsman believes.
According to Ivanovskaya, Ukraine needs time to overcome the situation with Surzhik.
