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Lossow
Just Starting
Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Posts: 2
Location: South-East England
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 Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: Russian vs. Ukrainian |
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Ok, I will start this by saying my knowledge of Rissian is non existant, I am limited to using online translators and hoping for the best!
I know Russian and Ukrainian are similar, and it seems most Ukrainians I have spoken to (admitedly only a few) seem to be fluent in Russian. Are the two languages very different, or are they more like dialects of the same language?
In particular, would translations into Russian using the online translators be easy to understand for a Ukrainian?
And I know both languages use cyrillic alphabet, but are there differences between Ukrainian and Russian alphabet?
Thanks for any help you can give on this.
Lossow |
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xxatti
Frequent Guest
Joined: 17 Sep 2005
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| They are different languages, but of a similar family. Like Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese are all similar... so are Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian. There's also Polish, Czech, Bulgarian and a few others that are also similar... but my knowledge of the various slavic languages isn't good enough to compare and contrast them for you. |
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Varrah
Frequent Guest
Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 61
Location: St.-Petersburg, Russia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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Ukranian has letter "i" (in this exact writing) wich (as in old Russian) means the same that RUssian letter "и". In the same moment Ukranian letter "и" (in this exact writing) has the meaning of Russian letter "ы". Ukranian doesn't have "ы" letter.
Ukranian seems a bit childish, sometimes funny to Russians:
Ukranian "Будь ласка" (please) is understood by Russians as "Be gentle" (even "Be tender").
Many Ukranian words are closer to Polish/Czech than to Russian:
"Дьякою" = "thanks" in Ukranian
"Djikou" (not sure about spelling) = "thanks" in Polish
BUT "Спасибо" = "thanks" in Russian.
an so on... |
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Lossow
Just Starting
Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Posts: 2
Location: South-East England
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the replies.
I guess I need to find e fairly reliable Ukrainian translator then, rather than relying on a Russian one.
On a coonected theme, can anyone tell me if most Ukrainians are familiar with the western alphabet? I know most Russians seem to be able to transliterate the two alphabets quite well, but not sure if this is the case with Ukrainians too.
The reason I'm asking these questions is I have a friend in Ukraine whose English is good, but not perfect so sometimes I would like to be able to put in Ukrainian translations. I guess I need to sign up fo Ukrainian classes! Does anyone know of any good Ukrainian language sites, particularly ones that will help with basic grammar?
Lossow |
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vox16
WayToRussified
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 324
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:23 am Post subject: |
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| Lossow wrote: |
On a coonected theme, can anyone tell me if most Ukrainians are familiar with the western alphabet?
I know most Russians seem to be able to transliterate the two alphabets quite well, but not sure if this is the case with Ukrainians too.
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Then it is true for Ukrainian too.
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The reason I'm asking these questions is I have a friend in Ukraine whose English is good, but not perfect so sometimes I would like to be able to put in Ukrainian translations.
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Do not do it instead_of English version. It is possible to translate ( maybe with assistance of someone else) English to Russian/Ukrainian/whatever, but it may be next to impossible to restore original meaning of a phrase, (machine) translated ( and then transliterated? ) from English to Ukrainian/Russian. |
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Paul Holmes
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 1012
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:31 am Post subject: |
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Almost all Ukrainians know Russian. The gov't is trying to get them to learn Ukrainian as the main language and Russian as secondary language. They pushing Ukrainian only channels with Russian subtitles (the movies were originally in Russian so it is like watch an English movie with a Russian voice over, then subbed back to English).
If you can translate into Russia, then you will be ok. |
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Polyglot
Just Starting
Joined: 06 Jan 2009
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:28 am Post subject: Difference between between Ukrainian and Russian is enormous |
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| Difference between Ukrainian and Russian is enormous. These are absolutely different languages, if all Ukrainians know Russian, but any Russian does not know an Ukrainian language. Besides, not each Ukrainian knows an Ukrainian language. It is the fact!!! I think an Ukrainian language it is difficult and not the necessary language, practically nobody knows it in the World. To be short saying if you want that you are understood both in Ukraine and Russia learn Russian language. |
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Ender
WayToRussified
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 340
Location: Ural mountains
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:06 am Post subject: Re: Difference between between Ukrainian and Russian is enor |
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| Polyglot wrote: | | Difference between Ukrainian and Russian is enormous. These are absolutely different languages, if all Ukrainians know Russian, but any Russian does not know an Ukrainian language. Besides, not each Ukrainian knows an Ukrainian language. It is the fact!!! I think an Ukrainian language it is difficult and not the necessary language, practically nobody knows it in the World. To be short saying if you want that you are understood both in Ukraine and Russia learn Russian language. |
For Russian it is easy to study Ukrainian. However they usually don't bother to study it. When I was 13 I spent an half of an year in Evpatoria. There were many guys and girls from all corners of Soviet Union but most of them were Ukrainian. After an half of an year with Ukrainians I was able to speak Ukrainian almost without problems. The only problem was vocabulary. |
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mister_wizzz
VIP
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 570
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I guess you can compare Ukrainian-Russian with Spanish-Italian.
I met a guy from Argentina who was working in Milano and told me that after 6 months in Italy he was able to speak italian fluently.
The same with Italians, every italian tourist I met in Cuba were fluent in spanish. |
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