Our Language Proficiency Goals
“What I am calling a 'genuine' reading must always resort to the original language of the work, however awkward and time-consuming this process may be and however much it may go against the powerful ideology of journals and of university and commercial presses. A thematic reading assumes that every-thing can be translated without loss into English. But recourse to the original language is necessary, because the force of the original work, its occurrence as a cultural event that to some extent exceeded the social context from which it arose, lies in its unique use of its own vernacular or idiom.”
J. Hillis Miller, “Cultural Studies and Reading," ADE Bulletin (vol. 117, 1997)
The Ukrainian Culture, Language and Literature Program, like many Departments of Slavic Languages and Literatures on the North American continent, relies heavily on the Proficiency Guidelines formulated by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. These guidelines pertain to the four skills: Listening, Writing, Reading and Speaking.
The following pages in this section describe each level of proficiency according to the ACTFL and identify the courses in our program that endeavour to develop its corresponding skills.
For skills required to enter our graduate programs, please click on Ukrainian Language Skills. For an approximate equivalence between the ACTFL and Common European Frame of Reference (CEFR) Proficiency Scales, click on this chart, which also shows the hours devoted to Ukrainian-language courses within our BA programs.
Reading is a favourite pastime among members of Vakhtang Kipiani's family, who have gathered here to show their favourite books by A-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha Press. (Photograph by Olena Vedmid'.) Mr. Kipiani is a well-known journalist and editor of the Internet publication Istorychna Pravda.
