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I just translate the parts touched (aka the minimum but effective part) into Taioanese (Taiwanese Tâigí), well I still feel some kind of odd for him to come to Taiwan just because "the apology" and study the language policy, he must knows it's another colonial situation to most of the Taiwanese not only to Paiwan, Pangcah, Amis, Bunun and so on but to most of the people he could see on the street and that even makes it worse than Ukraine.

I kinda want to do the POJ translation only but aware of the current situation, nah, I got it.

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I don’t think I would have been able to reflect on this even a few years ago. It took me a long time to understand that a problem was even there. As I told you, my family is Russian-speaking; when I started going to school, a Ukrainian classmate who didn’t speak Russian told me that the Ukrainian language was undeveloped, a language of villagers. I didn’t question that, I just said, “Okay.”

講著這 幾ā年前 我是想無,久長以來我無意識講這有問題,我 bat 講過--mah,阮厝--lih 講露語--ê ah 我細漢 tú 讀冊有一位講 U語 無講露語--ê 同學伊 kā 我講 U語是 paikha--lah、庄腳人 chiah 會用 ê 話,hit陣 我無 kā thuh tio̍h 順伊應--ah。

And until then, the Korean community lived separate from the rest of Ukrainian society. We didn’t live in the villages. We built our own huts—well, they weren’t exactly huts, but sort of. For me and my family, it was normal to have the perception that Ukrainian was an undeveloped language. And it took me a long time to even speak it in public in Ukrainian cities. I had this constant feeling that someone might say, “Why are you trying so hard to be Ukrainian?”

若代誌無到這陣 阮高麗--ê(註1)猶原會一款觀念 正常去想講 U語 是無 siásì--ê ah 這愛講 tio̍h 阮高麗--ê kah U國社會 有一 ê 界,阮高麗--ê 無 tòa 仝庄,阮 tio̍h 有起一 ê 寮--mah,tio̍h 一 ê 箍仔--lah m̄sī 講 chiâⁿsi̍t ê 寮 tī--leh,chia--ê 經驗 hō͘ 我 U語 kài 久 chiah 敢講,公開 leh 講--neh,免講我人是 leh U國,tio̍h ánne 我直直想像人凡勢會 kā 我 chhiàng 講「做 U人?創siàⁿ hiah 拚--hàⁿ?」tio̍h 這款人會來 kā 我 thuh ê 壓力--lah。

作者是韓國獨立前,祖先 1930年代 受蘇聯政策 kā in ùi 東部強制 sóa kah 中亞出身 ê 家庭,訪問話字稿 英文攏寫 Korean,事實 in 無 kah 韓國,北韓無可能--ah,kah 南韓 ia̍h 無 hiah 親,講露語已經是正常,我 tio̍h 參考這 頭篇 訪問中文版有用「高麗」來 kah 韓國分,若用朝鮮會去想著中國朝鮮族等,ah in 高麗語 原底是少少會曉講,讀寫免講--lah,ah 咱辭典有收 Kolê 高麗,親像,Kolêhê 高麗蝦,用蝦仔、鴨卵、麵粉、豬油 siàⁿ 做材料 ê 料理。

I think Ukraine and Belarus had a similar path in this regard. But the situation in Belarus right now is very severe. Speaking Belarusian in public is akin to being a member of the opposition. By the way, I wrote my bachelor’s thesis on Belarusian language policy.

我想 U國 kah 白國 ê 狀況是真接近,白國今閣卡害真--ê,in 白國 公開講白語 tio̍h 代表你是反政府--ê--neh,SSK (sūnsoah kóng) 白國語言政策 tō 我學士畢業論文--lah。

I told you last time that not many people call the Russian-Ukrainian relationship a colonial one. For most Ukrainians, when they hear the word colony, they think about Britain or France—they have a typical high-school understanding of colonial regimes. They don’t necessarily see that there are parallels between Russia, Ukraine, and those former colonies. So I think it only makes sense that people who have more conceptual tools would be able to communicate this idea better.

頂改我 kā 你講 露U關係 阮真chē人 袂 講是殖民,阮大部份人若講著殖民,in 頭先會想--ê 是英國--ah 法國--ah 彼款古板、中學 o̍h--ê 殖民--mah,in 無一定會看著講 露國 ia̍hsī leh kā U國 閣有 hia 前蘇聯--ê 牽 tiâutiâu, 這 tio̍h 是講有讀冊有觀念,頭殼有家私--ê beh 講 chia--ê 聽卡有卡好對話--lah。

Olek: Belarusian and Ukrainian are close languages—they have a 95 percent lexical similarity. We can understand Belarusian—I used to read literature in Belarusian—and Belarusians can understand Ukrainians when they speak. But our policies after the collapse of the Soviet Union were very different. In Ukraine, because of the rise of nationalism and a more pro-European orientation, Ukrainian became the main state language. In Belarus, Russian became the official language immediately after independence. Nationalists were labeled as oppositional.

白語 kah U語是真 óa ê 語言,詞是 95% 相siâng,阮白語聽有,in 白語文學我閣 bat 定讀,ah 白--ê(註2)U人 講話 mā 聽有--lah,蘇聯解體阮語言政策 tio̍h 差 kài 大--ah,U國 國民主義興--ah 親歐 mā 有影,U語 升 kah 國政語言,ah 白國無 ánne--leh,一 ê 獨立,露語 tio̍h 官方語言,國民主義者 in 是會 hông 當做反政府--ê。

註2:寫 白人 親像 ē 誤會,tio̍h 白--ê 講 白語人族群,ah 著,in 進前有講過 in 是白國、白露西,in m̄是 白露西亞。

註2.5:Nation 這無好翻做民族,國民是有無分族群有認同起造(新)現代國家 ê 觀念,當然民族這詞一開始是日譯,後來 in 譯國民,尾仔放棄直接音譯 Nation--lah。

Politically, our paths diverged. In Ukraine, we also had a president and a successful transitions of power. In Belarus you have a dictatorship, with Alexander Lukashenko being in power for the past twenty-six years. And the Belarusian language has really become marginalized. Most people there just speak Russian; very few speak Belarusian on a daily basis. And there’s a massive stigma about speaking it in public.

政治來看阮 mā 相閃,U國阮出總統政權成功交替,白國 tio̍h 出一位 Alexander Lukashenko(註3)獨裁者 la̍k權 到今 26年--neh,免講白語變 kah 真稀微,in hia 大部份 tio̍h 講露語,日常講白語--ê 真少--lah,he 白語 beh 公開用 boah屎 汙名 是大 kah siáⁿ款--leh。

註3:免變調 À-lē-sian-chō-lū-khà-siàn-tà,這 Google 露語唸--ê。

But back to Belarus. Belarus is assisting Russia, right? But you don’t see as much hatred towards Belarus in Ukraine. Ukrainians feel for Belarus and the Belarusian people. We understand that, yes, their offensive regime is aiding Putin, and many people in Belarus support that. But we also realize that we share another fight. Not only a fight against Russia, but also the fight of reclaiming our language, reclaiming our self-identification, reclaiming the right to be considered “normal” and standard in our own country, not a mental or cultural minority just because we speak our native language. We share the process of trying to reclaim what’s ours.

咱白國閣講--lah,白國 thīn 露國--m̄,ah 世界 soah 無看著 U國 對 白國 有 gōa gîn,這是講 U國 有影 kā 白國、白--ê in 同情--lah,in 敵意滿滿 ê 政權 hām 人 真chē kā Putin(註4) thīn 到底 che 阮當然 mā 是知影,ah 阮閣知影 阮一場戰是 khiā 仝陣--ê m̄nā 抗露--lah ,親像語言、身分認同 chia 自然做人 ê 權利 阮是 beh kā toa̍t tńg--lâi,阮愛正常有尊嚴 活--leh ê 權利,阮無愛閣因為講母語(註5)變做一款心神文化愛受束縛、糟蹋 ê 少數--ah,in 搶去--ê 阮攏愛討,khiā 仝陣--ah--m̄。

註4:免變調 Phu-thìn。

註5:我有 leh 想 在來語、在語 chia--ê 詞 kám 好用?親像咱進前講--ê 老父免負責--sī--m̄。

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Taiwan is also in the ongoing colonial situation and not everyone aware of that, that is the colonial by roCHINA, as the way of the interview point out, most of the people here talk about colonial would probably think about the Japanese and that is not only the colonial stuff you should notice, the ongoing one is the one you should worry and be raged at, but, yeh, Taiwan is changing for the better.

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