I Wonder Why I See No Nightmare After Her Look.

Do Europeans (and do Ukrainians) criticize for low foreign language skills?

Today, I found a post of a non-European who complained about how the Spanish criticized foreigners for nor speaking Spanish. It reminds me of posts about how Europeans hate when Americans are not bilingual or are not speaking their mother tongue.

As an Eastern European, specifically, as a Ukrainian, I personally give no sheesh whether you speak Ukrainian or not. However...

First, not all Ukrainians speak English/Spanish/French/German etc.

You cannot simply come here and expect us to speak English fluently. Elder generations speak English badly, my generation (um...actually, I am not gen Z according to our generation theory...I am Y...uummmm...however!) also refuses to speak (but learns), the youngest gen Alpha cannot speak English yet. Why? Because we cannot practice it, we have no extra money to travel all around the world (even before the war, ye know), and as an English language teacher, I have to say the methods of teaching English in Ukraine are...particularly ineffective. Same situations with less spreaded languages.

Second, we want you to speak Ukrainian.

It is a common situation (especially before the war) when a foreigner surely learns French or German but thinks English will be enough in Ukraine. You may say that is because Slavic languages are hard to (at least) speak, but many of you choose russian to learn. Moreover, there are absolutely brainless and somehow pragmatic people (yeah, Chinese, I am speaking about you) thinking it is enough to speak russian in Ukraine, the mother language of Ukrainians does not matter.

We want you to speak Ukrainian. We do not really care how bad you speak. We will surely (try to) understand you and correct if it is necessary. Our language is unique, and we want not only all the Ukrainians to speak it but also foreigners to learn.

btw how did I learn English...? well...I am a philologist of English and Chinese languages, and I have a bachelor degree (yet).

теє-то, кулєги, поширюйте допис, я пітнів і без перекладача писав, як справжній профі!

oh, this lad draws Takizawa, that is nice!

wait, this fella IS Takizawa.💀

um... wanna some bingo?

cmon, I tried my best to make it!!!

aye aye!

wise words, fellas, I dare you to read it all.

more of my yapping about the fandom-given hetalia Ukraine name

I don't like the Katyusha Ukraine because in my opinion it doesn't suit her, and people constantly use the name incorrectly. basically, Katyusha is like a playful version of "Kateryna/Katya", but people write it like a formal first name pretty often (Katyusha Chernenko), no blame since it comes from a place of unfamiliarity with slavic languages, it's just a bit annoying. plus the word is associated with that one russian song that became popular during World War II god it just doesn't suit her at all in my opinion 😭

"Katyusha" is a diminutive form of the name Kateryna, except it's of russian origin; in Ukrainian the diminutive forms of the name are "Katrusya", "Katerynka", or less commonly "Katrunya"

historically, the russian empire and later the soviet union promoted russian at the expense of Ukrainian, leading to the suppression of Ukrainian culture and language. of course, some Ukrainians use Katyush/Katyusha as playful nicknames, because the blending of Ukrainian and russian, that's been caused by reoccurring russification, migration, and political influence, lead to mixed usage in everyday speech – it's a normal thing (surzhyk). it's not a crime to use this word or anything, I just find it ironic that the character that represents a nation constantly oppressed by russian imperialism, in hetalia only exists as a dependant and less important character to give russia more endearing relationships and make him more interesting, and then the Japanese fandom coincidentally has also chosen the russian word for her name (I assume it's after that popular soviet song)

really I feel there's not much Ukrainian about canon hetalia Ukraine, which seems to be a very common feeling among many of my Ukrainian friends who know about the character :/ they think she's cute and pretty, but when it comes to national identity and culture, she is not relatable even on a stereotypical level, and has little depth as a character

anyway, if you want some Ukrainian first names, here's a list of the ones I think sound fitting (SUBJECTIVE OPINION 😡)

🇺🇦🔱🌻🍲🇺🇦🌾🌻🍞🇺🇦🍲🌾

Myroslava (love this one) - slavic origin, a combination of мир and слава, meaning peace and glory. it suits resilient and strong people

Olha/Olya (ОЛЯ UA!!!!!!!) - scandinavian origin (ukr. variant of Hélga). yea it's a really old and really common name that associates with the Kyivan Rus era, anyway I use it because of a meme and due to every Olya I've met building this collective Olya in my head that's literally how I also see Ukraine. she's such an Olya. it's hard to explain

Olena (not Olyena) - greek origin (ukr. variant of Helénē) came to Ukrainian through Church Slavic "Yelena" (not Yelyena)

Lesya - Ukrainian name deriving from "Olesya" which in turn derives from "Oleksandra". I'm very biased about it because it's one of my favourite female names, and also many Ukrainians associate it with Lesya Ukrayinka, which is the self-given title of an outstanding Ukrainian writer, translator and cultural figure

Halyna - likely greek origin and comes from "galēnē". I like it because I get to call her Halynka/Halya, I think it sounds cute

Tetyana - common slavic name, likely of roman origin, it just has a tender and pretty sound to it

these names are common in some or all other slavic languages, differing in varied phonetics

😑 I am NOT gatekeeping people from calling her "Kateryna", I just personally dislike Katyusha or russian Yekatyerina for her, and in my opinion the old russian-speaking fandom did a better job naming her Olha, even if that popularized the russian transcription for this same name (Olga)

my Ukraine is named Olha Tkachenko. I just like it the most and I've kind of grown used to it. whateva

I will kiss you.

I was inspired by memes about boy in pants (UK MEANING OF PANTS OK???) and Icelandic film named Fúsi (eng. Virgin Mountain). (highly recommend you all to watch it.🌚)

I changed my mind and tried to STICK Hetalia to the pen drawing.

I also added several artworks from 2021 (exceptin the third, it's also a current work) for you to compare.🌞

yes. me. people around. and a bag. lovely one.

а в моєму атб такого нема. :с

At the beginning of the war, I migrated to Kyiv region from Kyiv city. There I heard (probably Chechens') weapons shooting every day and every night. If two important bridges were not destroyed by Ukrainian militarizes (it was necessary to NOT let r*ssian murderers move further), me and my family could be killed by those awful terrorists.

Behind my back, people had been dying until all the region and city were finally freed. I slept peacefully while innocent citizens from many regions of the country (including CHILDREN and TEENAGERS) died at the hands of these bastards.

I still can die in any moment. Everyone in Ukraine can die in a few minutes. I know Tumbler is full of American, Australian, British, European and Chinese users. Trust us and believe in us. We are people, who have been crying for help for centuries. We were wasted and almost yielded. We were r*ssified for generations and terrorized by communists from r*ssia, they kept and keep many countries under control and in fear. They threaten the Baltic countries, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Poland and even Finland. Remember what happened to Finland when the US and Britain refused to help them in the Finnish war: the Finns were forced to give a tenth of the country to a bastard named Stalin. Have a look at Moldova! The separatist region "Transnistria" was formed there. They eat p*tin's gas, BUT Moldova has to pay (so yeah, there is no separate state, it is just a scam and separatism). Northern Kazakhstan also causes unrest in the people due to the risk of separatism. Look what they did to Georgia! I have a Georgian neighbor, she suffered this with her family from monsters from r*ssia. r*ssians are directly involved in all eastern wars, crises in Africa, and enough separatist regions are caused by them.

Now, we will not be keeping silence and the terrorists cannot keep our mouths shut anymore. Do not let Ukraine yield. If Ukraine loses the war, r*ssian cattle will start wars in other European countries. Stop being polite, tolerant and respectful to those, who hate you. I understand r*ssian language very good, and I often see what kind of shit they spread about US, UK, Europe and even China. "Stupid capitalistic Americans who will be destroyed by their duce", "Anglo-Saxons" (YES, they call ye, my British pals, ANGLO-SAXONS), "ever freezing poor stinky Europe" and "ching cheng kan chi hahaha stupid Chinese" - that is what they think about ye all. But I still see pure idiots from these very states, which still tolerate "good brutal beautiful r*ssians".

I beg you, foreigners, come to your senses.

Wanna see how Russians hunted civilian cars in Kyiv region in March 2022?

Surreal now that it was all happening some 15 km from where I lived and I followed the local chats crying that "People, don't evacuate by the road leading to Zhytomyrska highway! Russians are hiding among trees off road there and shooting down civilian cars!!" in real time - and now I can actually see it happening on recovered footage from street cameras. Surreal.