Main points
- A girl complained online about an ambulance dispatcher who demanded to speak Ukrainian during an emergency call.
- The Language Ombudsman confirmed that the dispatcher acted in accordance with the law, which provides for the provision of services in the state language.
The girl complained about the ambulance dispatcher, who asked her to give the address in Ukrainian / Photo viola_mc
A girl named Violeta complained on the Threads network that an ambulance dispatcher demanded that she speak Ukrainian. Many users did not share the girl's indignation. But there were also those who condemned the dispatcher's actions.
24 Channel has reached out to the language ombudsman, Olena Ivanovska, for comment.
What's the deal with calling an ambulance and knowing Ukrainian?
According to Violeta, her grandfather lost consciousness while playing with his great-grandson. The girl immediately called an ambulance. The dispatcher began to ask her a series of questions.
When I gave my address, they shouted at me in Ukrainian. When I gave my year of birth, they shouted at me: “Count how many full years,”
– tells about Violet's experiences.
Verbal incident with ambulance / Screenshot
Most users did not share the girl's indignation. For example, Ms. Natalia under the nickname os_win_win explained that it is necessary to accurately answer all the questions asked by the dispatcher. “It depends on which team will go to the call – emergency or urgent. Urgent can go at least all day, so a person's life depends on your answers as much as on the actions of the ambulance,” the woman noted.
The majority of the comments were about the language issue. Violeta emphasized in her post that she was asked to switch to Ukrainian when “her grandfather's life was hanging in the balance.”
There were users who supported the girl, and there were those who condemned her / Screenshots
Later, Violeta clarified that she spoke Ukrainian. But when she was asked to name the street, she didn't remember the new name, so she said the old one.
Violeta says she didn't remember the new street name / Screenshot
People explained to the girl that the dispatcher enters the name of the street into the database. Therefore, it was necessary to name it accurately and clearly.
In a comment to Channel 24, the language ombudsman noted that the dispatcher acted in accordance with the law. She did not violate anything. Article 30 provides for the provision of all services in the state language. By agreement of the parties, if the dispatcher knew another language, they could switch to it. By decision of the Constitutional Court, a citizen of Ukraine should not know any language of the world, except Ukrainian.
Other language scandals in Ukraine?
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A language conflict broke out at an English school in Odessa. During an online class, a teacher dubbed the material in Russian because of a child from Russia who does not understand Ukrainian. This outraged the parents of other children, since Ukrainian is the state language of education. The mother of one of the students, Viktoriya Statsenko, decided to take her daughter from Total School and spoke about the incident on social media.
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In Kyiv, an administrator at an entertainment venue refused to switch to Russian at the request of customers. A video of the incident has left social media users impressed by the employee's principled stance.
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A language scandal broke out in the fifth Chernivtsi lyceum “Oriana”. There, a geography teacher rudely insulted a student after he asked her to switch to the state language.