Vitaly Mahknanon: Immigration, Ukraine, Language, Friendship,
Title
Vitaly Mahknanon: Immigration, Ukraine, Language, Friendship,
Subject
Life History; Ukraine; Ireland;
Description
Vitaly is from the Ukraine. He compares his home culture to that of Ireland, and he talks about his experiences as an immigrant in Cork.
Vitaly was born in the city of Lviv, Ukraine. Although he was heavily involved in boxing, he opted to become a journalist.
He came to Cork in 2002, and felt isolated until he met friends who taught him some English. He worked with immigrant support centre NASC. He describes some cultural differences between Ukrainians and Irish people, such as how they use language, and their concepts of friendship.
Note; This interview was conducted as part of the Cork 2005 Project
Vitaly was born in the city of Lviv, Ukraine. Although he was heavily involved in boxing, he opted to become a journalist.
He came to Cork in 2002, and felt isolated until he met friends who taught him some English. He worked with immigrant support centre NASC. He describes some cultural differences between Ukrainians and Irish people, such as how they use language, and their concepts of friendship.
Note; This interview was conducted as part of the Cork 2005 Project
Date
3 December 2004
Identifier
CFP_SR00353_mahknanov_2004
Coverage
Cork; Ireland; Ukraine; 2000s;
Relation
Cork 2005 Collection Catalogue Numbers:
CFP_SR00329_mccarthy_2004;
CFP_SR00330_odriscoll_2004;
CFP_SR00331_claffey_2004;
CFP_SR00332_hanover_2004;
CFP_SR00333_desplanques_2004;
CFP_SR00334_bale_2004;
CFP_SR00335_sheridan_1996;
CFP_SR00336_steiner-scott_2004;
CFP_SR00337_rot_2004;
CFP_SR00338_stafford_2004;
CFP_SR00339_odonoghue_2004;
CFP_SR00340_hawkins_2004;
CFP_SR00341_ocarroll_2004;
CFP_SR00342_ikebuasi_2004;
CFP_SR00343_ogeallabhain_2004;
CFP_SR00344_geaney_2004;
CFP_SR00345_wulff_2004;
CFP_SR00346_abdoulbaneeva_2004;
CFP_SR00347_gunes_2004;
CFP_SR00348_fourie_2004;
CFP_SR00349_henderson_2004;
CFP_SR00350_valdman_2004;
CFP_SR00351_carmody_2004;
CFP_SR00352_osullivan_2004;
CFP_SR00354_oflynn_2004;
CFP_SR00355_akhter_2004;
CFP_SR00356_walker_2004;
CFP_SR00357_kelleher_2004;
CFP_SR00358_manresa_2004;
CFP_SR00359_wimpenny_2005;
CFP_SR00360_skotarczak_2005;
CFP_SR00361_vermeulen_2005;
CFP_SR00362_owen_2005;
CFP_SR00363_dsouza_2005;
CFP_SR00364_setter_2005;
CFP_SR00365_obrien_2005;
CFP_SR00366_botan_2005:
CFP_SR00329_mccarthy_2004;
CFP_SR00330_odriscoll_2004;
CFP_SR00331_claffey_2004;
CFP_SR00332_hanover_2004;
CFP_SR00333_desplanques_2004;
CFP_SR00334_bale_2004;
CFP_SR00335_sheridan_1996;
CFP_SR00336_steiner-scott_2004;
CFP_SR00337_rot_2004;
CFP_SR00338_stafford_2004;
CFP_SR00339_odonoghue_2004;
CFP_SR00340_hawkins_2004;
CFP_SR00341_ocarroll_2004;
CFP_SR00342_ikebuasi_2004;
CFP_SR00343_ogeallabhain_2004;
CFP_SR00344_geaney_2004;
CFP_SR00345_wulff_2004;
CFP_SR00346_abdoulbaneeva_2004;
CFP_SR00347_gunes_2004;
CFP_SR00348_fourie_2004;
CFP_SR00349_henderson_2004;
CFP_SR00350_valdman_2004;
CFP_SR00351_carmody_2004;
CFP_SR00352_osullivan_2004;
CFP_SR00354_oflynn_2004;
CFP_SR00355_akhter_2004;
CFP_SR00356_walker_2004;
CFP_SR00357_kelleher_2004;
CFP_SR00358_manresa_2004;
CFP_SR00359_wimpenny_2005;
CFP_SR00360_skotarczak_2005;
CFP_SR00361_vermeulen_2005;
CFP_SR00362_owen_2005;
CFP_SR00363_dsouza_2005;
CFP_SR00364_setter_2005;
CFP_SR00365_obrien_2005;
CFP_SR00366_botan_2005:
Published Material:
‘How’s it Goin’, Boy? radio series (six thirty-minute episodes, broadcast 2005 and available on the Cork Folklore Project website)
O'Carroll, Clíona for the Cork Northside Folklore Project (2006) How's it goin', boy? Dublin: Nonsuch Publishing.
Source
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Language
English
Type
Sound
Format
1.wav File
Interviewee
Interviewer
Duration
55m 28s
Location
Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
Original Format
MiniDisc
Bit Rate/Frequency
16bit / 44.1kHz
Transcription
The following is a short extract from the interview transcript, copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com
J.M.: Very good, okay. That’s a nice touch. Okay, so Vitaliy, do you have any stories about misunderstandings that might have occurred because of the difference in language or because people do things differently here?
V.M.: Oh yes… it’s eh… I would say, eh… not only from my experience but from experience of other people because I’m involved as a part of eh, integrating support centre in Cork organisation name… named NASC. So, f… I’m come across lots of situation and not all of them quite funny, some of them s… would be much dramatic… dramatic situation, but I want to come back about my own experience. Eh, first thing eh which I found for myself was eh, difference in culture, when you greeting each other. In Ireland you say, “Hello, how are you?” and that’s it and people turn up and go away and you later on stayin’ and watching what’s wrong with me? Am I ugly? Am I smelly? And just feeling your self frustrated. But I mean when I grew up in the eh… environment where every single word has a meaning and now I try to explain you; we have one proverb eh… eh… word… eh… the word is like a bird, if it flew away, you won’t be able to catch it and bring it back, even if you say sorry. And I mean by this, in… in our culture, when you say to somebody “Hello,” and later ask, “How are you?”, you really expect an answer, and person might say you, “Oh, I’m good today”, and person become to telling you most eh deeply the story, for example, today I met new girlfriend, and she so nice, so on… and you tell him, “Okay, let’s take a drink and you tell me more about this thing,” and person, “no bother, let’s go.” You take sit… eh you take in the pub with him, we don’t have pubs, café, take tea or beer and person just sharing his mood and experience what he done today and you feel yourself eh… happy and you learn from that person what he done in life, you get some, eh, how do you say, benefit to yourself. Or opposite thing happen, person might tell you “Oh, awful thing happen today, I was sack from job”, or something like that, “I lost my friend”, or what ever, you say “No worries, come with me, I buy you drink”, I call all my friends, we sit together maybe you tell us your story, and maybe you’ll bring some solution. Maybe somebody come across similar situation, or somebody was in your shoes, maybe people can tell their own experience and you can learn something from those. Another story you became eh feel yourself more eh needed person, then somebody need you. Eh, but compare here to Ireland, “Hello, how are you?”, and, “Bye, bye”, and you just okay, what’s wrong. Later on my friends, Zara and Fran, just explain me this only formal greeting, don’t pay too much attention about those things, I said “fine”. Another thing which can came across again, eh in Slavic language we use words eh, thank you, please, eh but the same in a… I mean ordinary way, we use an intonation to say something. I mean if you say something like, “Ahh”, it mean eh request or please. If you say the same sentence with eh plain into… intonation like, “Ahh”, it mean like statement or you bored. If you say maybe more eh high tone like, “Arh”, would be mean like you’re angry, just leave me alone. And by intonation it can just show what you mean. Eh but here in English language you have to put everywhere this small word, ‘please’, unless you don’t do this people treat you different way. I mean if you go to the shop and say, “Can I have this?”, and forget to say “Please,” people watching you very strangely, throw you on table, take it, and so on. But later on you presume what’s wrong with me, what I did wrong? Try to rewind your sentence back a sec… ah, sorry, I forgotten to say the word, ‘Please’. And, next time when you start to learn from this thing, okay, please, please, and you start to say it in beginning, “Please can you tell me, or give me something?” Rather in our language because we do everything by intonation. I mean, m… mostly in th… situations. Or another thing about detonation eh of word, friend. Here in Ireland you call friend everybody, but in our country it’s more sacramental, more… eh more… it’s… it’s word has a more eh deep meaning. We don’t call friend everybody, in our country we have different condition, maybe I tell you my own gradation of relation between people, you can have the top of hierarchy would be the friend, eh… below the friend would be mate, or eh, colleague. After them would be person you know, eh, some fella who maybe neighbourhood living near by, or your class eh mate from long time ago, forever, forever. And this hierarchy building up by relations with people. If you just try to come eh see from perspective of philosophy, Aristotle, if I’m not mistaken, he said, “Who’s a friend is second me,” like mirror reflections. Only one or two people could be eh… thinking the same way, to treat the same way in situation like you are and his word was eh… eh proved by another eh… Iranian eh poet, about twelfth century… century, twas’ Saadi, he said, “If you had eh… if you have one friend you are happy person, if you have a two friend, everybody jealous you, if you have three or more friends you the sad person.” An explanation would be of this like that, human being has only two arms, if somebody going by the bridge, somebody eh… eh your friend suddenly be… become eh sink, you can save only two and give two of your hands, and lift them up. If there are more than two friends, you have a make a choice, who can you have save. That’s a big eh… eh, decision to have to be done. But… and that’s why I mean in our culture, the word friend has more eh, deep meaning, and we don’t call everybody friends, compare in Ireland if it’s a friend you say, “Okay, I’m friend”, but later on you become stuck in situation, and hold on why somebody call me friend, if I maybe quite opposite perspective of eh understanding reality. Maybe I’m quite different person somebody telling me friend and you become to be more, feel yourself uncomfortable because it’s big responsibility to be a friend in perspective of my understanding. You have to be eh, everywhere when your friend needs you. And not always friend have to call you and tell you, “okay, I need your help”. Sometime you have to offer this thing. Somebody telling you oh, call friend, you presume then you have to be wakey, wakey and just to expect something happen, have to be eh, give some hand to help the… the… the people. And a lot of eh, different stories like that, which would be, show in a difference eh… eh… cultures, aspects.
J.M.: Very good, okay. That’s a nice touch. Okay, so Vitaliy, do you have any stories about misunderstandings that might have occurred because of the difference in language or because people do things differently here?
V.M.: Oh yes… it’s eh… I would say, eh… not only from my experience but from experience of other people because I’m involved as a part of eh, integrating support centre in Cork organisation name… named NASC. So, f… I’m come across lots of situation and not all of them quite funny, some of them s… would be much dramatic… dramatic situation, but I want to come back about my own experience. Eh, first thing eh which I found for myself was eh, difference in culture, when you greeting each other. In Ireland you say, “Hello, how are you?” and that’s it and people turn up and go away and you later on stayin’ and watching what’s wrong with me? Am I ugly? Am I smelly? And just feeling your self frustrated. But I mean when I grew up in the eh… environment where every single word has a meaning and now I try to explain you; we have one proverb eh… eh… word… eh… the word is like a bird, if it flew away, you won’t be able to catch it and bring it back, even if you say sorry. And I mean by this, in… in our culture, when you say to somebody “Hello,” and later ask, “How are you?”, you really expect an answer, and person might say you, “Oh, I’m good today”, and person become to telling you most eh deeply the story, for example, today I met new girlfriend, and she so nice, so on… and you tell him, “Okay, let’s take a drink and you tell me more about this thing,” and person, “no bother, let’s go.” You take sit… eh you take in the pub with him, we don’t have pubs, café, take tea or beer and person just sharing his mood and experience what he done today and you feel yourself eh… happy and you learn from that person what he done in life, you get some, eh, how do you say, benefit to yourself. Or opposite thing happen, person might tell you “Oh, awful thing happen today, I was sack from job”, or something like that, “I lost my friend”, or what ever, you say “No worries, come with me, I buy you drink”, I call all my friends, we sit together maybe you tell us your story, and maybe you’ll bring some solution. Maybe somebody come across similar situation, or somebody was in your shoes, maybe people can tell their own experience and you can learn something from those. Another story you became eh feel yourself more eh needed person, then somebody need you. Eh, but compare here to Ireland, “Hello, how are you?”, and, “Bye, bye”, and you just okay, what’s wrong. Later on my friends, Zara and Fran, just explain me this only formal greeting, don’t pay too much attention about those things, I said “fine”. Another thing which can came across again, eh in Slavic language we use words eh, thank you, please, eh but the same in a… I mean ordinary way, we use an intonation to say something. I mean if you say something like, “Ahh”, it mean eh request or please. If you say the same sentence with eh plain into… intonation like, “Ahh”, it mean like statement or you bored. If you say maybe more eh high tone like, “Arh”, would be mean like you’re angry, just leave me alone. And by intonation it can just show what you mean. Eh but here in English language you have to put everywhere this small word, ‘please’, unless you don’t do this people treat you different way. I mean if you go to the shop and say, “Can I have this?”, and forget to say “Please,” people watching you very strangely, throw you on table, take it, and so on. But later on you presume what’s wrong with me, what I did wrong? Try to rewind your sentence back a sec… ah, sorry, I forgotten to say the word, ‘Please’. And, next time when you start to learn from this thing, okay, please, please, and you start to say it in beginning, “Please can you tell me, or give me something?” Rather in our language because we do everything by intonation. I mean, m… mostly in th… situations. Or another thing about detonation eh of word, friend. Here in Ireland you call friend everybody, but in our country it’s more sacramental, more… eh more… it’s… it’s word has a more eh deep meaning. We don’t call friend everybody, in our country we have different condition, maybe I tell you my own gradation of relation between people, you can have the top of hierarchy would be the friend, eh… below the friend would be mate, or eh, colleague. After them would be person you know, eh, some fella who maybe neighbourhood living near by, or your class eh mate from long time ago, forever, forever. And this hierarchy building up by relations with people. If you just try to come eh see from perspective of philosophy, Aristotle, if I’m not mistaken, he said, “Who’s a friend is second me,” like mirror reflections. Only one or two people could be eh… thinking the same way, to treat the same way in situation like you are and his word was eh… eh proved by another eh… Iranian eh poet, about twelfth century… century, twas’ Saadi, he said, “If you had eh… if you have one friend you are happy person, if you have a two friend, everybody jealous you, if you have three or more friends you the sad person.” An explanation would be of this like that, human being has only two arms, if somebody going by the bridge, somebody eh… eh your friend suddenly be… become eh sink, you can save only two and give two of your hands, and lift them up. If there are more than two friends, you have a make a choice, who can you have save. That’s a big eh… eh, decision to have to be done. But… and that’s why I mean in our culture, the word friend has more eh, deep meaning, and we don’t call everybody friends, compare in Ireland if it’s a friend you say, “Okay, I’m friend”, but later on you become stuck in situation, and hold on why somebody call me friend, if I maybe quite opposite perspective of eh understanding reality. Maybe I’m quite different person somebody telling me friend and you become to be more, feel yourself uncomfortable because it’s big responsibility to be a friend in perspective of my understanding. You have to be eh, everywhere when your friend needs you. And not always friend have to call you and tell you, “okay, I need your help”. Sometime you have to offer this thing. Somebody telling you oh, call friend, you presume then you have to be wakey, wakey and just to expect something happen, have to be eh, give some hand to help the… the… the people. And a lot of eh, different stories like that, which would be, show in a difference eh… eh… cultures, aspects.
Collection
Citation
Cork Folklore Project, “Vitaly Mahknanon: Immigration, Ukraine, Language, Friendship,,” accessed April 25, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/40.