Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/What-are-the-differences-between-Ukrainian-and-Russian
- See also this article: History of relations between Ukraine and Russia
In Ukraine, the two languages are spoken fluently but what are the differences between those two Slavic languages?
They belong to the same linguistic family but with grammatical differences, phonetic and alphabetic.
History
Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus have all three the same root language: the old Ruthenian who belong to the East Slavic languages. From the IX - X century, these languages were separated and began to develop independently.
- The Russian nation was formed around the Kyev and Moscow regions and expanded with the growing sphere of Russian influence. That is why today, in the Russian language, dominates the Eurasian continent and is an official language in international organizations and is spoken around the world and includes many words of non-Slavic origin.
- The Ukrainian nation is more recent having formed as a result of political changes and decisions in the traditional Russian region.
Unlike the Russian which has been in touch with many cultures and has thus been influenced linguistically, Ukrainian retained more localized roots of Ruthenian and borrowed words come mainly from other Slavic dialects.
Differences
Foreign students who come to study in Ukraine say that Ukrainian is much closer to European languages. One can find in Ukrainian many words borrowed from Indo-European languages which are considered "hidden words". Why hidden? Just because the Ukrainians think that these are purely Ukrainian words and do not know the origins of a particular word. For example, the Ukrainian word "ліжко" (which is pronounced like "lijko" and means "bed") comes from the French word "bed". Interpreters emphasize that it is easier to make the French or English-Ukrainian translation than French or English-Russian. Most of the time, it is not easy to really explain the difference between Ukrainian and Russian. Sometimes Ukrainian just mix the two languages and we have been seeing the birth of a new "language" called "Surjik", an intermediate mixture between the Russian and Ukrainian.
Today, the Ukrainian language is considered the official language of the country. It is taught in school, all official documents are in Ukrainian, 95% media disseminate information in Ukrainian.
Examples
How are you?
- Ukrainian: Як ся маєш? / Як справи?
- Russian: Как дела?
Good night!
- Ukrainian: Добраніч!
- Russian: Спокойной ночи!
Mum!
- Ukrainian: Мамо!
- Russian: Мамa!
Who are you?
- Ukrainian: Ти хто? / Хто ти?
- Russian: Ты кто? / Кто ты?
I am a student
- Ukrainian: Я студент.
- Russian: Я студент.
When is it ready?
Please note: all possible permutations are valid and have different context specific meaning.
- Ukrainian: Коли буде готово? / Коли готове буде? / Готове буде коли? / Готово коли буде? / Буде коли готово?
- Russian: Когда будет готово? / Когда готово будет? / Готово будет когда? / Готово когда будет? / Будет когда готово?
References
http://ukrainian-journal.blogspot.fr/2013/01/la-difference-entre-lukrainien-et-le.html
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/russian-ukrainian-differences.292214/
Links
Ukrainian Vocabulary
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/ukrainian.php
Ask questions
http://polyglotclub.com/language/ukrainian/question
http://polyglotclub.com/language/ukrainian/forum