Members of the Sich have contacted Rosetta Stone asking for them to develop a program for Ukrainian.
However, the reply was that Ukrainian is on the “Endangered Language List”, and not commercially viable.
Hmm. This seems odd given that Ukraine is the largest country in Europe – and that Ukrainian predates Russian which is widely available from Rosetta Stone – and that Ukrainian Schools have sprouted up in every major city in the US.
Contact the Media Rep for Rosetta Stone,
Megan Richter mrichter@rosettastone.com
and explain how Ukrainian is not dead yet, and in fact enjoying a resounding comeback in every major city in the US.
Also, see if your Ukrainian community would like to help develop and “own” a Ukrainian Language Program from Rosetta Stone. The details are here and it sounds like a way for a Sich with some retired professionals to force the issue.
It will definitely be on the endangered list if Yanukovych wins.
Either the personnel at RS are full of horse manore or just flat ignorant. A third of the languages offered have fewer speakers than those of the Ukrainian language. So, Ukrainian is on the “endangered language list”, but apparently Welsh, Irish, and Latin are not?!? What a joke! Its a shame too because we shouldn’t be begging them to come out with software for our beautiful language. At over $400 a pop, this software is definitely designed for pure profit, not to educate the people of the world. They should want to do business with us. If not, their loss – I’m sure there are a handful of other software manufacturers that have a program for Ukrainian.
Also posted it on http://vplyv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=539
Thank you!
Yanukovych has won…
If he tries to make Russian official, I hope that Ukraine will be ready to combat him in any way necessary. Ours is the second biggest Slavic language and needs to be recognised for it.
Our Orthodox Church and our language have taken a beating, but I pray that they can survive the oppression of foreign countries which has been so brutal and lasted for so long.
@ Taras M. Laszyn
You say that “a third of the languages offered [by Rosetta Stone] have fewer speakers than those of the Ukrainian language.”
The issue, however, is not about the number of speakers a language has, but the number who desire to learn a language.
The people in Ukraine already know the language or would not be able to spend $400 on the software, and the demand for the language elsewhere is not great enough to outweigh the profits Rosetta Stone would make from sales to people who want to learn the languages of countries that have fewer people than Ukraine.
Because of Russification and ethnic cleansing, nearly a plurality of Ukrainians do NOT speak Ukrainian. This is a wrong that needs to be corrected and progressive language companies like Rosetta should be at the forefront.