Spring
This week I have been thinking about how Ukrainians learn German. Then I saw the news from Kyiv, which followed recent attacks on Belgorod, Russia. You quickly remember "peaceful skies above".
This week I have had the luxury (because, let’s be clear, it is a luxury) of thinking about how Ukrainians learn German in a bit more detail. I was immediately reminded what a luxury this is after I saw the horrible images from Kyiv this morning. It is important to remember why so many Ukrainians are in Europe right now: to avoid a situation in which at 5am your entire apartment building can start shaking and a missile might land on or next to it. I also read in independent Russian news that attacks on Belgorod, Russia and the surrounding areas have become more frequent, civilian targets have been hit there too. Here is a translation in English by Meduza of some of their recent reporting. Yes, Ukraine is quite successfully blowing up refineries in Russia using drones (with something like a whopping 10% of Russia’s total refining capacity now offline as a result). But it has also been hitting civilian targets in Russian border areas, and I imagine Russia will, as it always does, retaliate for this. I wonder as western supplies dwindle in general (and the U.S. GOP in particular shows no signs of waking up and beginning to care about Ukraine’s fate), if the attacks will worsen, will air defence “run out”?
So, in a way, it is a bit surreal to write about how well Ukrainians are learning German, because let’s remember, they are here primarily because our skies are, for the moment, peaceful. I came to the topic because Jenia and I were invited this week to meet with representatives from ÖIF, an Austrian government agency, which was, as I understand it, founded after the 2015 refugee crisis, with the explicit goal of “integrating” (this word rubs me in German) newcomers, and one of the agency’s main responsibilities is to fund German language courses and process eligibility, test scores, etc. This being Austria, the federal umbrella has representative offices in all nine states, and has grown to take on other tasks as well, such as even advising on how to navigate the Austrian bureaucracy of having your diploma “approved” from another country. It is a work of Kafka-wonder. The process to get your diploma from another country “approved” is so complicated that the government itself sets up advisors to advise you on how to navigate its own bureaucracy. When you step back and think about it, your head kind of wants to explode.
So, in advance of our meeting (which was very friendly and very informative, although I did walk away with the natural feeling that all of us — administrators, volunteers, Ukrainians — live in our own bubbles with minimal Venn-diagram overlap), I asked the Ukrainians in my Telegram group about their own experiences with government-funded learning of German. The feedback was truly mixed. Some were extremely happy they have been able to cruise quickly through different levels of German courses, from A1 all the way to C1 (native fluency is C2), grateful that this education was provided to them free of charge, while others had a laundry list of complaints: long waits to access courses, not being able to repeat a course more than once if you fail the test the first time, inconvenient hours for mothers with children who must be brought to school at 8am and picked up at noon, not enough “online” options, etc.
The history of what happened is also rather interesting. We asked ÖIF why, when Ukrainians first arrived, in 2022, they had free choice of any German course they could find (this was reimbursed by ÖIF), but by 2023, they could only choose from ÖIF-approved courses on its list. The answer was really quite simple. Normally, at the end of each year, ÖIF is buying in bulk spots in German courses for the year ahead, based on its own prognoses of how many students it expects in each level. When the war broke out in early 2022, no one had expected a huge influx of refugees, and as such, they bent their own rules and told Ukrainians to take any classes they could find, reimbursing the cost. By 2023, they had a better idea of how many students to expect, and the rules changed back to normal. Now, as a capitalist, one could argue it is really the most cost-efficient way to manage learning German, to have one government agency do the purchasing for an entire country, with as I understand from one lawmaker whom I asked about this, limited transparency about the financial flows of tay-payer funds and to whom? You could imagine a system in which each newly arrived person to Austria would receive a set amount of money to purchase a German course(s) at his/her choosing, and then you wouldn’t need an entire government apparatus to manage this.
The Ukrainians told me other things which I have no way to verify if they are true or not. They claim (and I have heard this from multiple people), that persons from other nationalities repeat German courses over and over, because they would prefer to sit in class and receive unemployment (this may also be the minimal amount of money provided by the state to asylum-seekers whose claims have been approved and they have X years to become financially independent) rather than go work. I do not know the details, nor can I prove this is true, but I can imagine there is a way to work a system in which you pretend to be learning the language for years in order to avoid having to go work 40 hours a week. Waking up for a class from noon to 3pm is of course a lot less work. And certainly not physical labor. So I don’t know, but something smells fishy in those stories.
I naively reminded the Ukrainians in my Telegram group that one should be happy for any free education in a new language. I joked that I was pretty sure America wasn’t giving out free English classes, that nothing in America is free. And I was told, but it does! A woman wrote her friends are now in California, they have access to free English classes, the teenager even passed the driving test already, and has a part-time job for $15 an hour in a funeral parlour. Yes, I explained, I can imagine the teenager got a driving license (the Ukrainians thought it was amusing that this was “free”) and a part-time job, but free English?! This surprised me.
I think a bigger issue is the Ukrainians are really dedicated students. They want to learn quickly, to cruise through the different levels, pass the tests on the first try (the tests are hard by all reports), and qualify for better jobs based on their German skills plus professional experience from Ukraine. In the past, Austria had dealt with teaching German to people who in some cases were illiterate in their native tongues, and certainly not as motivated across the board to learn as the Ukrainians seem to be. Ukrainians (of all ages) are also super “online” and many of those in more remote or rural areas are begging for more online options to match the in person classes which are comprise most of the offerings. There are also fairly normal feedback that the quality of teaching varies, some got lucky with their teachers, some not so much. Childcare is a huge issue, same as it is for moms of young kids who wish to work part-time. The further outside of Vienna you go, the worse this situation is (for everyone, not just Ukrainians).
There is also a very Austrian problem of a lack of a single set of rules published in one place which both customer (Ukrainian) and advisor (government employee) can point to. We asked about this and were told it is not convenient to publish such rules as they could change and then you would need to republish. To which Jenia mentioned the idea of a website which could be edited. You get the idea. There is a general tendency thought all organisations which deal with refugees here to not want to publish any written rules, which leaves all “negotiations” down to the level of customer and service provider, with the power, naturally, resting in the hands of the service provider, who him/herself can often be a newly-hired junior employee suddenly given responsibility to make decisions which really impact the lives of vulnerable people. Then Ukrainians ask me “what does the law say?” and I have to explain it that everything to do with “basic care” provided by the state to recently-arrived refugees is essentially a law-less zone as only some things are written down, such as the limits on how much one can earn legally while still receiving basic payments. That differs by state, and states are hesitant to publish these rules, but in theory, they exist. And yes, they are enforced.
In short, and not just in learning German, in Austria so much, so often, depends on luck. Did you get a helpful consultant? Did you land a good teacher? Were you able to find a class time with space you could easily attend? On the other hand, I am amazed, truly, that all these classes are offered for free. I never took a single day of German lessons here. Not one. It never even occurred to me. I picked up the language slowly, over time, without opening a textbook. I make grammar mistakes, probably all the time, but I have amassed a vocabulary which allows me to understand nearly everything being said in all contexts, to watch TV and read and listen to the radio, and most importantly, to be able to say what I need to say in nearly every situation. I suppose my argument is there are several routes to get to the same destination. One can learn German through one’s job or though self-learning without attending official courses. It is possible. But you won’t have the certificates to prove it. I don’t know what “level” my German is at because I have never had to sit an exam. I think for most Ukrainians seeking to enter the labor market, the certificates will be very important.
Here is the free online portal which one can use, if you are curious what these resources look like:
Some upcoming events:
On Monday, April 15, Jenia and I have been asked to host a workshop (both in person and online) on our work with the Telegram communities. I will also talk about Cards for Ukraine. To register, please email the organisers.
Today, at 5pm Vienna time, I will be live on Mriya Report. The hosts have told me they would like to talk about reconstruction, and the role the diaspora might play. I told them I can speak a little bit to the tensions which have no arisen between those Ukrainians who left, who are in Europe, and those who remained. I will talk about what mothers of 17 year old boys tell me.
Cards for Ukraine had a great week last week, thank you all so much, as we were able to send out 50 cards to 50 families across Austria. I received one very touching message yesterday:
“Good evening, Tanja! A huge thanks for the Hofer cards, we received them today. It is a huge help for our family of four, our son is 8 and my husband is severely wounded. We came here under medical evacuation for those who are seriously wounded. Thank you for your Telegram chat, there is a lot of useful information and thanks for your work. Wishing you good health.”
Someone asked me yesterday why I continue. And the answer is simple. If we still have €50 left to send to one family, I will take the time to send it. Because for a moment in time, those €50 make a real difference for that family. I cannot change the legislation here, I cannot change how voters feel about immigrants here, I cannot change inflation and prices, nor make it easier to get a job, but I can take “help” from people who care and put it in the hands of people, who by all measures, do need our help right now. I don’t think this moment will last forever. Our donations will one day completely dry up. Many people, especially pensioners, will either die here of illness and old age, or go back to Ukraine, realising it is impossible to survive on the tiny amounts of aid they receive from the Austrian state. I really think it is a matter of time.
I saw a TikTok recently filmed just near the front lines, in Donetsk, near Avdiivka. The volunteer who was filming was handing out bread and food supplies to elderly residents, and was asking, why didn’t you leave? They told him: we did. We left and came back. They left, their homes were looted, the realised no one was waiting for them not in Europe not in other parts of Ukraine, and decided they would rather be in their own homes next to the front than somewhere else where “we are not wanted”. You see this often. Another woman was filmed, and you could see they live without running water, without electricity. She looked like she had been living in a cellar for months. She said she is in her cold apartment with a few cats and a dog, and she is fine. She has a little propane tank for warmth and cooking. “Where would I go?”.
Those lived experiences vs. Ukrainians in Europe complaining on a high level about access to language courses are like night and day. It is these tensions that I wonder about going forward. Although Ukraine was always a country with massive extremes — massive wealth in the hands of a few and massive relative poverty for many. These extremes have been exacerbated by war. I spoke with a woman this week who fled with gold, and has since been pawning it as she needs money. Money has run out faster than she expected in Europe. She expected to find a good job much faster. Reality has slapped her in the face and she is having a hard time processing that. Which is totally understandable on an emotional level.
I still meet Ukrainians who say they haven’t signed up yet for German classes because they aren’t sure how long they will stay. There are others who immediately found work and saw the whole war as an opportunity they never had before to leave. Some still travel “home” every month or so to visit husbands who could not leave, or elderly parents, or sons who are adults and could not leave. Kids are growing up here without their dads. Wives are getting used to seeing their husbands only sporadically. The war impacts every single family even those who didn’t lose anyone to bombings or army service.
I do really have the impression most Europeans do not understand, still, what is happening only a day’s drive from us. How could they?
p.s. in totally “unrelated” news — a U.S. official reportedly swooped into Vienna recently to tell Austria’s Raiffeisen NOT to sell its stake in a local construction group, Strabag, to Deripaska. Of all people. U.S. government officials reportedly had to remind the Austrians that Deripaska is sanctioned. Cannot make it up.