In Dnipro, on November 4, a conflict occurred between a taxi driver and a female passenger. She demanded that the driver speak to her in Russian, and when he asked her to get out of the car, she began to swear at him.
The 29-year-old driver, Ihor Talalai, says that after surviving captivity, he made a personal decision to speak only Ukrainian. Lawyer Yuliia Seheda notes that the driver did not break any laws, and that swearing in a public place carries administrative liability.
The taxi driver from Dnipro says the passenger began to curse at him during the ride because he spoke Ukrainian.
“I commented on the traffic situation, and she didn’t catch a word I said – then started going on like, ‘I don’t understand Ukrainian.’ She began asking me whether the trip was paid for. I told her, ‘I don’t understand what you’re saying to me,’” the man recalls.
He had to ask the woman to get out of the car because she was acting aggressively. He shares that after experiencing Russian captivity, he now speaks only Ukrainian as a matter of principle.
“At the start of the full-scale invasion, I went on an evacuation mission to Mariupol. I wasn’t let through at a checkpoint and ended up in captivity. In captivity, they offered me an interpreter. The ‘interpreter’ was a man who just enjoyed beating and torturing people,” Ihor recalls.
He remembers that in captivity, the Russians mocked the Ukrainian language and forbade him and other prisoners from speaking it. – “They beat us with rifle butts.”- he shared.
After captivity, I made it my principle not to speak Russian,” Ihor says.
The journalists from *Suspilne* spoke to the passenger by phone. The woman said she snapped at the driver in the heat of the moment.
“We’re all stressed out right now. It’s just more comfortable for me to speak Russian. I have a good attitude toward Ukrainian,” she said.
If she is telling the truth, which I doubt, it’s still damned insensitive of her.
About 15 years ago I made friends with a couple Czech people. They’d serious hatred for Russians and the Russian langauge. It’s of course because of the Prague Spring and other attrocities maybe 1-2 generations earlier, but also just because of the Russian tourists.
Not to respect a fellow Ukrainian’s refusal to speak Russian seems incomprehensible. What a brazen, insensitive person.
Side note: I did not realize swearing in public was a civil infraction. I will be careful to watch my language when visiting.
I understand his trauma, and I understand that she may only speak rudimentary Ukrainian after a lifetime of speaking Russian. And I understand that the older a person ages, the more difficult it is to learn new languages to the point of fluency.
It seems a translation app on either of their phones would have resolved the conflict easily.
She will be so much happier in some small Russian city. Send her home to Mother.
Even if it weren’t for his experiences, he’s allowed to want to speak the language of his country. She can find a different taxi driver if she doesn’t like it
– Russians can complain that Ukrainian isn’t really a separate language.
– Or Russians can complain they don’t understand Ukrainian.
But they can’t have both.
How can I put this diplomatically, uh fuck that lady.
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In Dnipro, on November 4, a conflict occurred between a taxi driver and a female passenger. She demanded that the driver speak to her in Russian, and when he asked her to get out of the car, she began to swear at him.
The 29-year-old driver, Ihor Talalai, says that after surviving captivity, he made a personal decision to speak only Ukrainian. Lawyer Yuliia Seheda notes that the driver did not break any laws, and that swearing in a public place carries administrative liability.
The taxi driver from Dnipro says the passenger began to curse at him during the ride because he spoke Ukrainian.
“I commented on the traffic situation, and she didn’t catch a word I said – then started going on like, ‘I don’t understand Ukrainian.’ She began asking me whether the trip was paid for. I told her, ‘I don’t understand what you’re saying to me,’” the man recalls.
He had to ask the woman to get out of the car because she was acting aggressively. He shares that after experiencing Russian captivity, he now speaks only Ukrainian as a matter of principle.
“At the start of the full-scale invasion, I went on an evacuation mission to Mariupol. I wasn’t let through at a checkpoint and ended up in captivity. In captivity, they offered me an interpreter. The ‘interpreter’ was a man who just enjoyed beating and torturing people,” Ihor recalls.
He remembers that in captivity, the Russians mocked the Ukrainian language and forbade him and other prisoners from speaking it. – “They beat us with rifle butts.”- he shared.
After captivity, I made it my principle not to speak Russian,” Ihor says.
The journalists from *Suspilne* spoke to the passenger by phone. The woman said she snapped at the driver in the heat of the moment.
“We’re all stressed out right now. It’s just more comfortable for me to speak Russian. I have a good attitude toward Ukrainian,” she said.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svCVb4UM4hE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svCVb4UM4hE)
If she is telling the truth, which I doubt, it’s still damned insensitive of her.
About 15 years ago I made friends with a couple Czech people. They’d serious hatred for Russians and the Russian langauge. It’s of course because of the Prague Spring and other attrocities maybe 1-2 generations earlier, but also just because of the Russian tourists.
Not to respect a fellow Ukrainian’s refusal to speak Russian seems incomprehensible. What a brazen, insensitive person.
Side note: I did not realize swearing in public was a civil infraction. I will be careful to watch my language when visiting.
I understand his trauma, and I understand that she may only speak rudimentary Ukrainian after a lifetime of speaking Russian. And I understand that the older a person ages, the more difficult it is to learn new languages to the point of fluency.
It seems a translation app on either of their phones would have resolved the conflict easily.
She will be so much happier in some small Russian city. Send her home to Mother.
Even if it weren’t for his experiences, he’s allowed to want to speak the language of his country. She can find a different taxi driver if she doesn’t like it
– Russians can complain that Ukrainian isn’t really a separate language.
– Or Russians can complain they don’t understand Ukrainian.
But they can’t have both.
How can I put this diplomatically, uh fuck that lady.
Three days after [a Kharkiv taxi driver was fined](https://zmina.info/news/u-harkovi-vodiya-taksi-oshtrafuvaly-za-vidmovu-govoryty-z-pasazhyrkoyu-ukrayinskoyu/) for refusing to speak in Ukrainian to a passenger. Interesting symmetry.
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