I found this Ukrainian situation hard to understand at first and even now because it is so insane. In my knowledge of history I usually found rational reasons for going to war. Romans, WWII Germans, WWII Japan are easy to understand. Maybe 500K Ukr in the Kiev faction are dead for the most insane reasons. Insanity is not usually a valid reason.
The Romans set the gold standard as I see it. They left the locals alone to speak their funny languages and worship their silly gods. It made the most sense. Some times they would adopt a god if they liked him or her. The Romans adopted the Celtic goddess Epona, protector of horses and cavalry.
Georgia used to teach Georgian and Russian in schools. After USSR Georgian and English. Teaching empire languages open lots of doors. Some remote mountain Georgians grow up speaking Svan but then are taught Georgian in schools. I just met a Georgian at the U of MN St. Paul ag campus with perfect English.
Youtuber Eli from Russia grew up speaking tatar in Perm. Not an official language there. She learned Russian in school and English well enough to go to U of WV for a year and even ran track. After that she taught English in Vietnam. Her mom is upset that she let her Tatar skills lapse. IMO Tatar is not discriminated against but people gravitate to empire languages due to the benefits.
When Mexico broke free from Spain they kept the language of Spanish empire. Very few people speak an indigenous language there and they are screwed.
I recall the language of the Russian court for hundreds of years was French. If you wanted books in literature, math, science, it was not going to be Russian. German would work also.
Some Ukr you tube guy born in 1971 said his parents were native Ukr speakers but different dialects as they came from different villages. They moved to Kiev and he said he he never heard Ukr spoken there but rather Russian. Ukr language was more rural and RU more urban. He learned English and later moved to US. He returned some time after the coup and could not help relatives with HW because the Kiev authorities kept changing the Ukr language and still are.
Soon after the 2014 coup Kiev enacted anti RU language laws. In 2019 Kiev created their own sect of the Orthodox church and later persecuted priests in the orthodox church and seized churches. The Romans were never that stupid.
One language for hearth and home and another for commerce and science seems to be very common. see Singapore below. Imagine if they banned Tamil or Malay? Civil war.
In summary, Singapore's official language has been primarily English since independence, with Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil as official languages reflecting the country’s ethnic diversity.
According to some Turk German born prof who taught in Lvov, things did not start getting crazy until 2005.
There was a big patch of dirt that Lenin drew lines around and named it Ukraine SRI around 1922. After the coup one Kiev faction decided that meant they should force all others out or kill them. Hard to believe such insanity.
