Taras Shevchenko National Open University, Kyiv, Ukraine

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by engadnan, Aug 29, 2017.

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  1. mintaru

    mintaru Active Member

    Sometimes, there is no word in a language with exactly the same meaning like the foreign term. For instance, the "German" word for computer is Computer. There is also the German word Rechner, but Rechner means both, computer and calculator.
    You mean this product, right? (the right one, of course):

    chips.jpg
    That brand was introduced in West Germany in 1964, and it was renamed in 2005.
    BTW, "Zigeunerchips" may no longer exist, but there is an Austrian company which sells a different potato snack called "Zigeuner Räder": https://shop.yipbee.at/salzgeback-chips-popcorn/99912905-kellys-zigeuner-rader.html However, that one is not available in Germany.
     
  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yes - those are the ones. Good find. I recently read a German article which mentioned various "Zigeuner" foods taken as examples of "Antiziganizmus" i.e. Anti-Gypsy prejudice. There are / have been quite a few on the market, I guess.
    Zigeuner comes from the Greek "atsinganoi" - untouchables, as some called the first Gypsies in Europe (Greece) centuries ago.
     
  3. mintaru

    mintaru Active Member

    Many of these products are gone, but some still exist. A well-known example is the infamous "Zigeuner-Sauce", basically a lecsó -flavored ketchup. The main problem is that many German customers don't care.
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I get it. Happens everywhere. These days, there are Roma/Sinti groups in many countries who can get politicians to care - and do something. Perhaps in some cases, like the sauce -- I'm theorizing here - Roma/Sinti themselves don't care that awfully much. I know in some European countries, they have much more serious problems of discrimination to contend with. Maybe this sauce issue has been put on the back burner. No pun intended.

    In North America, I remember "Zoltan" and his kumpania* from the L&M cigarette commercials, back in the 70s, when tobacco could be advertised on TV. Roma groups objected to the portrayal and Zoltan & co. eventually disappeared from the ads.

    * kumpania - extended tribe-like family
     
  5. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    Open University of Taras Shevchenko
    This site is down for maintenance.
    Please check back again soon.

    Looks like their site is down for some time now.
     
  6. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    I hope it is for good. I don’t understand how a university with pedigree could have gotten caught up in this arrangement.
     
  7. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Yeah, me neither. Weird "memoranda of understanding" are probably pretty common, but this goes way too far.

    You know what it reminds me? Wisconsin International University - Ukraine (now Concordia.UA). WIU is a defunct diploma mill, however, WIUU was always a serious, if a bit quirky, school. Their fearless leader Prof. Romanovsky is a seasoned and savvy academic, and he knows the local game very well. Yet he was evidently out of depth dealing with foreign swindlers.
     
  8. mintaru

    mintaru Active Member

    It's down since at least two weeks.
    The original statement about the establishment of the "Open University of Taras Shevchenko" is gone from http://www.univ.kiev.ua (Taras Shevchenko National University's website) and it seems Google no longer finds any reference to Taras Shevchenko Open University on that site. I say "it seems" because there is this hint on Googles results page:

    That sentence is only there if something was removed. (And yes, I'm in Europe.) I think i's quite likely the Open University of Taras Shevchenko is gone.
     
  9. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Johann likes this.
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yes, I think most do. I didn't even think about the origin of "gypped" until the early 70s, when I became interested in, and read a few books about Roma, their history and culture. The term, and why it was objectionable, were two of the first things I learned.

    I stayed with the subject of Roma partly because of their excellence in several types of music, e.g. flamenco and "Gypsy Jazz." Amazing, interesting people.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2018
  11. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    Up until then you got off Scot free.
     
  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Perhaps. Incidentally, "Scot free" has nothing to do with Scots or Scotland.

    " The word scot in this sense has nothing to do with Scotland or Scotsmen, however. Scot is believed to be a word of old Germanic origin that is related to the words shot and shoot. In medieval England the scot was a tax levied on the members of a village or town which all the inhabitants had to pay in proportion to the size of their property or the extent of their land. Some people avoided the scot, however, often because their houses were built in unfavourable places such as hills with no water or places prone to flooding. Such people were described as scot free and the term has now come to describe anyone who avoids a punishment or financial penalty that they would normally have to serve or pay."

    Info from here. http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/your-english/phrase-of-the-week/phrase-of-the-week-to-get-off-scot-free/145661.article
     
  13. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    Okay then, Pict free. ;-)

    And the following is your fault for encouraging me to look up ethnic slurs:

    Haggistani
    Race: Scottish
    Compares Scotland to a 3rd world country such as Pakistan

    http://www.rsdb.org/slur/haggistani
     
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I did? Where? I don't usually encourage that sort of thing, as I find most people seem to know quite enough of them without being encouraged to look up new ones.

    But while we're on the " 'Stani " subject, I browsed through an interesting novel, called Londonstani by Gautam Malkani. I found the language very interesting - aptly described by one critic as "an imaginative mix of English, Punjabi, Urdu, profanity, gangsta rap and mobile-phone texting." To me, it was the best "created" language I've read since A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, which I read well over 50 years ago. That was a combo of Russian roots and working-or-unemployed lower-class Brit. English.

    More about Londonstani here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londonstani

    And yes - a bit about A Clockwork Orange, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange_(novel). There was also a movie, but I successfully avoided it - didn't want to spoil my appreciation of the book.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2018
  15. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

  16. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Just joking.
     
  17. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    ...So anyhow, it appears "Open University of Taras Shevchenko" is dead. Long live Roma people, Londonstani and Clockwork Orange...
     
  18. Greg89

    Greg89 New Member

    Yeah, it is dead now because they have received a good amount of money and have closed it to run out from the police and the consequences.
    But of course they are a big gang and have opened a new website, so watch out!!!!! If anyone is thinking of studying in their university, my advice is: DON'T EVEN START WITH THEM.
    I just hope they at one point they will have some consequences.
     
  19. Johann766

    Johann766 Active Member

    In contrast to what some members write in this forum the collaboration between ous and Taras S. University seems to be alive and active. I recently received an email with advertisement and a link the following page:

    https://www.knu.edu.eu/

    Personally I don't trust these Ous folks, I bet that once you started paying they will try to get more money out of you than you planned and they promised before the enrollment.
     
  20. Asymptote

    Asymptote Active Member

    I do not want this to be a political issue, so please use prudence in responding to this question: has the recent tension in the Ukrainian region affected the colleges and universities there?

    Again, no politics. I’m curious about enrollment, course offering, staffing issues - things like that.
     

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