BUILDING A GOLDEN BRIDGE OF UNDERSTANDING AND SYMPATHY: IVAN FRANKO FOR NON-UKRAINIANS

Abstract

Franko in the Ukrainian culture. Creative legacy and figure of the writer are viewed in terms of various types of speech activity in the study of Ukrainian as a foreign language. Attention is drawn to the main difficulties that foreigners may experience when working with his writings and other works. It is crucial to present the author and not limit oneself solely to the use of Ivan Franko’s creative legacy in the form of written matter. Additionaly, it is worthwhile to discuss Ivan Franko at all levels and use his works as illustrations, taking into account the learning objectives and wishes of the audience. Ivan Franko’s works, which were put to music by Ukrainian artists, as well as high-quality video recordings about his life and artistic legacy, are of great help to those wishing to introduce the writer to the audience and develop their listening, speaking and writing skills. Particular attention should be brought to the 2019 film Zakhar Berkut, which is based on Ivan Franko’s novella under the same title. One of the advantages of such works is that they arouse great interest in the Ukrainian culture in general and in the figure of the writer in particular. Furthermore, dialogues in films show the use of active vocabulary and capture viewer’s attention. The most promising way of familiarizing non-Ukrainian students with Ivan Franko is by the means of his works. Creative legacy of the writer is represented by different genres and one may find the subject that might prove to be interesting for different types of readers. In the process of working with Franko’s texts, a number of difficulties may arise at the level of form and content in author’s narration. At the language level, one can name non-equivalent and culturally marked vocabulary, e.g. dialectisms, proper names, nonce words, phraseological units, obsolete words and archaisms. Clarifications on the historical and cultural context should be included in order to gain sufficient understanding of author’s works. Besides, non-Ukrainians might be interested in a graphic novel The Reluctant Hero by Kyryl Horishnii and Mikhai Tymoshenko, a two-volume graphic adaptation of Ivan Franko’s novel under the same title. Since Ivan Franko was a polyglot, he produced self-translations of his works and also originally wrote some of them in many European languages. Thus, native speakers of these languages may want to make their own translation of excerpts from Ivan Franko’s works and compare them with the author’s translation. Another way of presenting Ivan Franko is with the help of place names encountered in Lviv, the author’s city of residence. There are numerous locations that emphasize the importance of this figure to the Ukrainian history and culture. Key words: Ivan Franko, Ukrainian as a foreign language, types of speech activity, text, methodology of teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language, linguistics and country studies.