Ukrainian versus Russian

[EARL]

I noticed that the Ukrainians are getting more nationalistic and Ukrainian rather than Russian is being spoken now more and more, although Russian is still dominate in business situations. Which just begs the question should one be learning Russian or Ukrainian if you are going to marry a Ukrainian woman. The language is a lot different than Russian and maybe makes more sense to learn. Anybody have any thoughts about this??

[Johninm]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

Almost all would understand russian in Ukraine ( Soviet Union upbringing ). Yes, western part of Ukraine ( in general ) is more nationalistic than any other part of the country. Sometimes they even refuse to speak Russian. (Baltics are actually the worse, they were giving me hard time while doing business with them  ..I mean goverment/custom  officials who couldn`t speak English or German LOL..and I knew they speak Russian ) . Western Ukrainians sometime call Eastern Ukrainians : "Moscalye" - ( has to do with Moscow/Russia strong influence, historically ).As RW said, Ukrainian language is more towards Polish or Slovak. Alphabet is different though. Ukrainians use cyrylic, Poles and Slovaks latin symbols . As mentioned below, Russian is closer to Bulgarian and ( if `m not mistaken ) to Serbo-Croatish. There are even parts of Ukraine , especially close to Hungarian, Moldavian border where local people speak their own dialects of Ukrainian . Russian differs also in Southern dialect , Northern dialect , Moscovite dialect and few others in between.  just moyi dvye kopyeyki    Johny

[RW]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

Historically Eastern Ukrain has been more pro-Russian. Western Ukrain was under Poland for a long time and that's why you find more Catholic churches there and less people wanting to speak Russian. Eastern Ukrain was the first to unite with Russia long-long time ago.

Ukranian language IS different from Russian. It is close to Slovak, Polish and other Slavic languages. But for a Russian who never was exposed to it, it would be difficult to understand it. Some words are completely different. I would recommend you to learn Russian. Everybody in Ukraine knows Russian and you will be better off. There are also many more resources on learning Russian as well.

Plus, you never know - you might consider travelling to Russia in the future as well.

Russian Wife

[Bobby Orr]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

russian - the majority east of Kiev want to be Russian.

[Charles]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

I think DR's advice to "ask the girl" is right on the money.  My wife is from Crimea which is 70% Russian and they resent being taught the Ukrainian language, so in her case you must learn Russian, althoughs she can speak Ukrainian.  On the other hand, western Ukraine is historically anti-Russian so if your lady is from Lvov or somewhere near there you are probably better off with Ukrainian.  But in any case, ask the girl first!  It could save you an argument and money!

[Jimmy]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

There is language schools here in Ukraine where I work sponsered by my company and we all learn Russian.  The official two international languages on my project are English and Russian.

Jimmy
Ukraine, Kiev Oblast

[snowwego]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

NO matter which language you learn if you are a little off with dialect and what not they are somewhat able to understand. My girlfriend always try to teach me on the phone but, if you ever called someone over there you would know that is a useless cause.

[snowwego]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

As far as the the language goes, the people of the ukraine are trying to format more english in there schooling. They to want to westernize thier country and the way to do it is through english

[DR]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

...best to ask your love-interest.  My wife is Ukrainian by birth (Russian by descent) yet she, and all of her friends and family, present themselves as 'Russian' and speak only Russian.  

Hmm...as an aside, maybe this should be an official Planet-Love Rule-of-Thumb: "Don't ask the board, ask your girlfriend."  Now, I don't want to hear any wrangling from those guys out there who don't have Ukie/Ruskie girlfriends yet.  This is a rule so you gotta follow it; find the girl, ask her the questions.    Seriously, best of luck to you!

Cheers...
DR

[Zink]

... in response to If my experience means anything..., posted by DR on Dec 21, 2001

You know it's surprising how many guys will ask everyone around them for advice but never ask their girlfriend. I mean after all the cultural stuff helps but you really need to know what makes that one special lady tick. And only she can give you that sort of info.

[BarryM]

... in response to Ukrainian versus Russian, posted by EARL on Dec 20, 2001

Ukrainian is not that much different from Russian. They both share the same root language, Slavonic, and most of the vocabulary only slightly differs. The biggest differences are with pronunciations, stresses, word usage, and phrasing of sentances. Ukrainian has a slightly different alphabet and more letters than Russian.

You should study Russian first simply because there are more references and language tools available for it. Ukrainian may be slightly easier to learn, but you're going to have a hard time finding good grammar books and lessons. Bulgarian is probably the easiest Slavonic language to learn and is closer to Ukrainian than Russian. I'm currently studying Ukrainian and I have the Pimsleur Ukrainian language course. Like all of the Pimsleur courses, it's limited to audio memorization techniques that are not the best way to learn.

Next year, I'll try to find some good Ukrainian textbooks and childrens reading books. I'll post whatever information I come across when I get it.

-blm