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Browse: Home / People and Language

How is the Ukrainian different from the Russian language?

Question by AriS: How is the Ukrainian language different from Russian?
Will knowing Russian enable me to communicate easily in Ukraine?

Answers and Views:

Answer by sashka_78
Yes. Most Ukrainians speak and understand Russian. Of course, the knowledge of Ukrainian will be a bonus, since people from Western Ukraine are more nationally conscious and will display better attitude if you speak Ukrainian to them.
As for differences, a non-native Russian speaker would be able to understand up to half of what people are saying in Ukrainian but bear this in mind:
* there are words that sound very close but have different meanings in these languages; ‘злодей’ (R, villain) and ‘злодій’ (U, robber);
* pronunciation is slightly different, esp. for letters like ч, щ, г;
* unlike in Russian, Ukrainian words are pronounced the same way as they are spelled;
* there are few differences in grammar;
* despite similarities you cannot use word-for-word translation for these two Slavic languages. Well, a reader would understand the translation but it would sound somewhat unnatural.
And last but not least: try not to speak a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian, it sounds horrible.

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Comments ( 1 )

  1. Taivo says

    Sashka is right except for the last point. Most Ukrainians, especially the younger generation, actually mix a lot of Russian into their speech. They've actually got a word for mixing Russian and Ukrainian, but I can't remember it.

    If you're going to western Ukraine, you can speak Russian, but try to learn at least a few politeness phrases in Ukrainian. That will show the locals that you know that Russian and Ukrainian are different languages and they won't be so resentful of your use of Russian.

    Learn (my transliteration is not perfect because I only speak these things, I don't know how to write them): "Thank you" — dyakuyu; "Please / You're Welcome" — bud laska; "Yes" — tak; "Goodbye" do po bachinya

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