Producer Akim Galimov shared his experience of switching to the Ukrainian language
Akim Galimov, a Ukrainian producer and screenwriter of Crimean Tatar descent, spoke in an interview with “Glavkom” about his journey to fluency in Ukrainian and offered practical advice to those who want to stop using Russian in their daily communication. The producer emphasized that this transition should be viewed as “restoring historical justice and returning to one’s roots.”
Galimov was born in Russia in the town of Pogranichny (Primorsky Krai, Russia). His maternal grandfather, a Crimean Tatar, was deported by the Soviet authorities to Uzbekistan without the right to return to his homeland. When Akim was nine, the family returned to Crimea, which in the 1990s was in a completely Russified environment. His transition to Ukrainian was gradual and lengthy—from first encountering the language in ninth grade to completely abandoning Russian 15 years later. Ukrainian television and translated TV series served as the impetus for his understanding of the language during his school years. Later, after moving to Kyiv in the mid-2000s to work in journalism, he began actively practicing the language “in the field” without tutors, and his marriage to Olga Chepil, a native of Lviv, helped him make the final switch to Ukrainian.
Among his tips for those who want to switch to Ukrainian, the producer recommends starting by studying history, listening to music, watching movies, and taking small steps in daily life: “Start small. If your family is Russian-speaking, you can designate a certain day as a Ukrainian-speaking day, when you speak only Ukrainian at home. In this playful way, gradually incorporate the language into your daily life, because if you don’t speak Ukrainian at home, the transition will be very difficult.”
Source: “Glavkom”
October 27 is Ukrainian Writing and Language Day in Ukraine. Over the years of full-scale war, Ukrainian has become more prominent in everyday communication, education, the media, and the digital sphere. At the same time, language habits are changing unevenly: while there is more Ukrainian-language content on social media, the transition to the official language in family communication and in certain regions is happening gradually.
On Tuesday, October 27, the All-Ukrainian Radio Dictation for National Unity took place to mark Ukrainian Writing and Language Day. Well-known Ukrainian actors, singers, TV hosts, and other figures from the worlds of culture and show business joined the language flash mob. The celebrities shared photos and videos showing how they wrote the dictation.
