More than 1.3 million people around the world have started learning the Ukrainian language. It is interesting that there is a significant demand for Ukrainian in countries far from Ukraine - Argentina, Japan, and Vietnam.
This is also observed in the states that accepted Ukrainian refugees. For example, compared to last year, the number of Ukrainian learners increased by 1,651% in Germany, by 1,615% in Poland, and by 1,515% in the Czech Republic.
There are also many applicants from Canada, Australia, Great Britain, the USA... Mostly these people have family ties with relatives from Ukraine. These are children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Ukrainian emigrants who left Ukraine during the Second World War, during the Holodomor, and during Soviet repressions.
Before the full-scale war, many foreigners knew that they had Ukrainian roots, but were not particularly interested in it. Now the situation has radically changed. Foreign volunteers who host Ukrainian refugees in their homes began to learn Ukrainian. Or volunteers who help Ukrainians at the borders. These are, in particular, military veterans. Some foreigners wrote to us that they started learning Ukrainian in order to support Ukraine during the war so that the language would not disappear. Also, many foreigners who previously studied Russian have now switched to Ukrainian. They said that they do not need Russian now, because they will not go to Russia again.