News Ukraine: Heated discussion on switching to Latin alphabet

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has called for a discussion on the introduction of the Latin alphabet in parallel lines with the traditional Cyrillic one in the country.

The minister raised the question on his Facebook after Polish historian Ziemowit Szczerek had asked him:

“Why not introduce the Latin alphabet along with the Cyrillic one?”

There are over 500 comments below his post; according to the majority, Ukraine has more urgent needs and important issues than the transition to the Latin alphabet. Most Ukrainian Mps share this opinion.

“You know, I think, this is not an issue today,” the Committee’s first deputy chair Oleksandr Spivakovsky told BBC News Ukraine. According to him, the transition to the Latin alphabet entails a large amount of work in the educational sphere.

“It is necessary to rewrite all textbooks, manuals, all educational material, and software. It is hard to imagine what efforts and resources are needed in order to realize this idea,” says Spivakovsky.

Professor Oleksandr Ponomariv, who is a PhD in philology, doubts that full transition to Latin will benefit Ukraine. At the same time, he did not rule out the parallel use of two alphabet and cited Serbia as an example.

In 2017, Kazakhstan announced the country’s transition to the Latin alphabet.

Belsat, following UNIAN