The paper examines the impact of Russification and Ukrainization policies on the attitude of Ukrainians towards foreign (English) language learning. The hypothesis is that people who had a negative experience with instruction in their non-native language are likely to experience the same reaction when learning another foreign language. To test this hypothesis, 96 participants filled in questionnaires to evaluate their experiences with studying in non-native languages and with English language learning. Results indicate that there is a strong correlation between experiences with instruction in non-native language and with learning foreign languages.