This year, the Radio Dictation of National Unity will unite Ukrainians for the 25th time. Many people take part in this flash mob not to write a text without mistakes, but to feel united with everyone who also switches on the radio, TV, finds the right online resource and sits down to write. This is not just a test of knowledge, it is a symbol of a common language, culture and identity that unites us no matter where we are – in Ukraine or abroad. The radio dictation has long been a tradition that reminds us of the power of words and the importance of keeping in touch with our roots, especially at a time when the nation feels the need to be united.
According to Dmytro Khorkin, project manager, the radio dictation is a symbol of resilience, because everyone who joins in its writing, who is united by the language, shows resilience, because they write in shelters, at the front, in evacuation, and even in the occupied territories.
The texts that celebrities dictate to Ukrainians are of varying complexity. Therefore, the results of literacy tests are usually very different. For example, in 2018, 311 participants wrote the dictation without a single mistake, while in 2022, none of those who wrote the text managed to do it one hundred per cent. We have collected interesting facts about this national tradition and presented them in an infographic.
Initially, the idea of the radio dictation was not much different from the usual school practice. Texts from dictation collections were used for the dictation. These texts were read by Oleksandr Avramenko, author of school textbooks on the Ukrainian language and literature. In 2015-2019, Oleksandr Avramenko wrote the dictation text.
Gradually, the ‘school event’ turned into a colourful flash mob. In 2014, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University set a record for the largest radio dictation in Ukraine, gathering 689 participants. The event was accompanied by Cossack marches and performances by bandura players, and participants also discussed historical topics. At the time, the press noted that the radio dictation went beyond school practice. People in different regions began to come together to devote time to the Ukrainian language. Due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war that year, no gifts or prizes were given, but the number of participants increased.
In 2015, the dictation called ‘Radio Dictation of National Unity – 15 Years’ consisted of 176 words and was broadcast on television. The dictation has become international, with listeners as far away as Poland, Portugal, China, Australia and Russia. More than 6,000 people sent in their works, and 12 of them did not make a single mistake. In 2016, the dictation ‘Ukraine at the Turn of the Millennium’ had 161 words, more than 21 thousand people took part, and 60 wrote without mistakes.
In 2017, the dictation was entitled ‘Our Songs’ and consisted of 183 words. About 29,000 people took part, and 124 of them wrote without mistakes. About 320 people made only one mistake.
In 2018, the dictation topic ‘Wings of Ukraine’ (164 words) attracted about 32.8 thousand participants. Letters for verification were sent even from the occupied territories and different countries of the world, such as the USA, South Africa, Turkey, and China. 311 people wrote flawlessly, while more than a thousand made one mistake.
In 2019, the dictation ‘From birch bark to “numeral” (176 words) was the first to be written in the new spelling. About 5,000 works were submitted for review, three participants did not make a single mistake, and more than 30 made only one, for which they received second place, in particular because of the word ‘figure’ without quotation marks.
In 2020, for the first time in many years, the text for the anniversary dictation was written by Ivan Malkovych, not Oleksandr Avramenko. The topic of the dictation was ‘The Challenge of the Book Age’ (203 words). The dictation was written by well-known people, including Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and language ombudsman Taras Kremin. 15.8 thousand people sent their works for review, but only one person wrote without mistakes.
In 2021, Yuri Andrukhovych wrote a 199-word text entitled ‘Following the Memory’. Among the 14.6 thousand participants, only one person wrote without errors, and three made one mistake.
The first radio dictation during the full-scale war was called ‘Your Home’ (205 words) and was written by Iryna Tsilyk. More than 40,000 people, including those in the occupied territories and in more than 20 countries, sent their works for verification. Not a single participant wrote a dictation without mistakes, but five made only one. In 2023, Kateryna Kalitko wrote the text of the radio dictation ‘Roads of Ukraine’ (271 words). About 20,000 participants sent their work for review, and two of them were able to write the dictation without errors.
This year, Oksana Zabuzhko, known for her original style and complex sentences, was commissioned to write the text for the important event. Social media discusses the high probability of Zabuzhko’s long sentences appearing in the dictation, but the author herself denies this with a smile, stressing that she tried to follow the general grammatical rules. The topic of the text is radio. The author calls her ‘sweet’ and ‘pretty’, noting that she will be happy to share her thoughts, based on everything that Ukrainian radio has accumulated over the past century.
How do you prepare for dictation in order to impress yourself, your friends or colleagues with a text without mistakes?
- It is very important to feel the author’s style. This year’s dictation text was written by Oksana Zabuzhko, so you should read her books, including Notre Dame d’Ukraine, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets, The Tale of the Viburnum Flute, etc. Oksana is a master of complex constructions. She can have only one sentence for the whole dictation – it’s already a joke on social media.
- You also need to repeat the punctuation marks in direct speech, indirect speech, quotations, and dialogue.
- It will not be superfluous to monitor the topic. Oksana Zabuzhko devoted her text to radio, so the relevant terminology, well-known facts, personalities, and vivid events from the history of this media should appear in the writer’s text in one way or another.
- To practice writing from dictation, write down songs or poems you know by heart and then compare your writing with the original.
We remind you that the Radio Dictation of National Unity will take place on 25 October at 11.00 a.m. This is a unique Ukrainian unity event that has a historical continuity – for exactly 25 years in a row, the Radio Dictation has been broadcast on Ukrainian Radio.
The event is traditionally timed to coincide with the Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language, which falls on 27 October. The text will be read by the poet and now military man Pavlo Vyshebaba.
Are you planning to write?
You can hear the text:
- on Suspilne Kultura TV channel
- on the waves of Ukrainian Radio and Radio Kultura
- on the YouTube channel of Ukrainian Radio
- on the Facebook pages of ‘Suspilne’.
Good luck with your writing!
