Ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and France recorded videos in support of Ukraine’s European integration.
Each of the video features one of the ambassadors
talking about Ukraine’s EU perspective in the language of the country he
represents. The videos were published on Nov. 15 as a reaction to anti-EU
propaganda commercials that were publicized by the Communist Party of Ukraine
in recent months.
The original videos featured men speaking in European
languages without translation for less than a minute, followed by a motto
“Didn’t understand a word? Strange language – strange union.” After that, a log
of the Kremlin-led Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan pops up.
When the videos were seen in the British Embassy, the
idea of making a response came up.
“We obviously disagree with the messages that they
were trying to put out. So we decided to use a similar medium to deliver
positive messages about Ukraine’s European integration,” says Martin Day, the deputy
British ambassador to Ukraine. “We discussed this idea with other embassies and
they signed up.”
Kyiv Mohyla School of Journalism helped to produce the
videos. YuriyPanin, an instructor of Mohyla School of Journalism, remembers
that the only difficulty in the production of the videos was the unwillingness
of German Ambassador Christof Weil to make additional takes.
“But all of the other [ambassadors] were great to work
with. They were like good actors,” Panin says.
In each video, a speech from ambassador is followed by
a translation made by a student of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, a detail that
demonstrates that Ukrainian young people understand European languages.
Day says that the three languages of the Communists’
“Didn’t Understanda Word” videos are the most widely studied foreign languages
among Ukrainian young people.
“We wanted to show that even though there are many
languages in the EU, its member states and many Ukrainians have a shared
understanding that European integration is good for Ukraine,” explains Day.
“Secondly, we wanted to show that actually Ukrainians can understand and speak
many foreign languages.”
Those are not the first reactions to the Communist
Party’s propaganda videos. Blogger and journalist from Donetsk Denis Kazansky
published his own versions of the Customs Union propaganda commercials
One features a street fight with shouts in Russian,
followed by Customs Union logo. A second spoof includes a man speaking Kazakh
language (Kazakhstan is in Customs Union with Russia and Belarus), followed by
the original “Strange language – strange union.”
Kyiv Post lifestyle editor Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected]
