Association Of Spanish Language Academies
The Instituto Cervantes is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. This organization has branches in 45 countries, with 88 centers devoted to the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures and Spanish language. The goals of the Institute are to promote universally the education, the study, and the use of Spanish as a second language, to support methods and activities that help the process of Spanish-language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures in non-Spanish-speaking countries. The institute’s 2015 report “El español, una lengua viva” estimated that there were 559 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Its latest annual report “El español en el mundo 2018” counts 577 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Among the sources cited in the report is the , which estimates that the U.S. will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.
What Languages Are Really Spoken In Ukraine
Ukraine is an incredibly linguistically diverse country and not in the way that youre thinking. The country is linguistically diverse due to its history with Russia, Hungary, Romania, Poland and the rest of its neighbors.
Over time, Russia has come to be a strong influence within Ukrainian culture due to intertwined pasts and close proximity. Not only this, but our respective languages are highly similar allowing for an even closer connection to grow.
Whether or not this connection has been cherished or despised over the years, it is undeniable. And this connection is key to understanding the linguistic culture of Ukraine.
Over The Course Of History Numerous Peoples Have Lived In What Is Modern
Like many European nations, Ukraine is a linguistically diverse country with many other languages and dialects spoken. This reflects its long history and cultural heritage that comes from numerous migrations of different peoples over centuries.
Of the nations roughly 44 million inhabitants the vast majority, just under 68 percent, consider their native language to be Ukrainian, the official national language. About 30 percent of Ukrainians consider their first language Russian, the second largest group. Russian and Ukrainian, along with Belarusian come from the East Slavic family of languages.
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De Pie Junto Al Pueblo Ucraniano
En Duolingo conocemos los idiomas, qué tan ligados a lo político pueden estar y, principalmente, pensamos en las personas que están detrás de estos. Si hablas en ucraniano u otras lenguas eslavas, puedes apoyar a los ucranianos ofreciéndote como voluntario para Traductores Sin Fronteras. Si puedes hacer donaciones económicas, UNICEF USA apoya a los niños que lo necesitan y está enfocando sus esfuerzos en ayudar a los niños ucranianos.
Para saber más sobre las lenguas eslavas disponibles en Duolingo, puedes empezar a aprender ucraniano, checo , ruso y polaco ahora mismo.
Has The Language Changed Since Independence
Of course. Slang changed, as by definition it changes every few years in all languages. There were also neologisms to denote new phenomena. In the 1990s, certain words banned or deliberately forgotten in Soviet times began to return to use.
At the same time, the rejection of Russianisms imposed on the Ukrainian language and widely used earlier began.
And, of course, since English is the dominant language in the world today, Ukrainian is replenished with Anglicisms every day. Loanwords acquire Ukrainian affixes.
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Ukrainians Often Know Russian But Russians Don’t Often Know Ukrainian
So while Ukrainian and Russian are distinct linguistically, there is an important asymmetry to be aware of: even though most Russians don’t know or understand Ukrainian because it’s a different language, most Ukrainians know and understand Russian. This isn’t because of linguistics but because of politics and history: because the Russian-speaking Soviet Union occupied Ukraine for almost 70 years, Russian was the only official language of Ukraine. Government, schools, and business were all required to only use Russian, so even though most families continued using Ukrainian at home, much of their public lives required Russian. As a result, older Ukrainians grew up around Russian, and even younger generations still see Russian in their daily life.
History Of The Russian And Ukrainian Languages
Both Russian and Ukrainian are Slavic languages from the Indo-European family. Russian is an official language of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan, while Ukrainian is the sole official national language of Ukraine. Due to a common history, Russian is widely spoken in Ukraine , Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia and many other ex-Soviet countries.
Russian is the largest native language to Europe but the modern language was formed only in the 18th century following the reforms of Peter the Great. In 1783 the first Russian dictionary appeared.
Ukrainian on the other hand has its origins in the medieval federation of Kievan Rus and after this was conquered by the Tatars, the language became known as Ruthenian, which was a mix of East Slavic languages. Modern written Ukrainian was first used in the 17th century during the heydey of the Cossack Hetmanate. At that time the first Kiev Mogila Collegium appears and it became the centre of cultural and language development of Ukraine.
Later on, Ukrainian was forbidden in the Russian Empire and refered to derogatorily as Little Russian while Russian was the official language. Ukrainian also became influenced a lot by Polish because of its geographical and political situation as western Ukraine was for a long time part of the Rzeczpospolita . So today we can see these two influences on Ukrainian as it has both Polish and Russian versions of many words.
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Should We Give Up All Words Similar To Russian
No, not at all.
Because of the previously implemented Russification policy, some people really want to give up everything that looks like Russian. So they start avoiding words similar to Russian. Actually, Ukrainian and Russian are related, and apparently, their vocabularies are similar. Self-sufficiency is not about fighting anything that sounds different, it is about speaking Ukrainian without looking at neighbouring languages.
In addition, words that do not sound similar to Russian are not always more specific to Ukrainian. For example, the Ukrainian word dakh was actually borrowed from the German word Dach. However, the Russian word for roof, krysha, which is still widely used, although generally perceived as a Russianism, is a common Slavic word derived from the root kryty . There have been dozens of processes that triggered changes in words and meanings. There are even more words that are similar to Russian, but in fact, they are not.
Russian Language In Ukrainian Politics
The Russian language in Ukraine is recognized as the “language of a national minority”. Ukrainian is the only state language every other language is declared to be the “language of a national minority” in the Constitution of Ukraine adopted by the parliament in 1996, but only Russian is explicitly named. Article 10 of the Constitution reads: “In Ukraine, the free development, use and protection of Russian, and other languages of national minorities of Ukraine, is guaranteed“. The Constitution declares Ukrainian language as the state language of the country, while other languages spoken in Ukraine are guaranteed constitutional protection, but are not in practice protected from book bans. The Ukrainian language was adopted as the state language by the Law on Languages adopted in Ukrainian SSR in 1989 Russian was specified as the language of communication with the other republics of Soviet Union. Ukraine signed the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages in 1996, but it was only partially ratified, and only in 2002 by the Parliament
In 1994, a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast, with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language to be an official language on a regional level, but it was ignored by Parliament.
Russian Language In Ukraine
Russian is the most common first language in the Donbas and Crimea regions of Ukraine and the city of Kharkiv, and the predominant language in large cities in the eastern and southern portions of the country. The usage and status of the language is the subject of political disputes. Ukrainian is the country’s only state language since the adoption of the 1996 Constitution, which prohibits an official bilingual system at state level but also guarantees the free development, use and protection of Russian and other languages of national minorities. In 2017 a new Law on Education was passed which restricted the use of Russian as a language of instruction. Nevertheless, Russian remains a widely used language in Ukraine in pop culture and in informal and business communication.
Early New High German
Modern High German begins with the period, which the influential German dates 13501650, terminating with the end of the . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in the . While these states were still part of the , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible being spoken throughout the German states the invention of the c. 1440 and the publication of in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language.
The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of German, one being gemeine tiutsch, used in the court of the , and the other being Meißner Deutsch, used in the in the .
Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers’ languages aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardization in the written form of German.
Number Of Canadian Ukrainian Speakers
| This section needs to be . Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. |
| 2001 Census | |
|---|---|
| 5,125 | 0.07% |
The interval census years 19611971 witnessed the first absolute decline in the number of individuals claiming Ukrainian as their mother tongue . The rate of decline has increased precipitously such that in 1981 there were 254,690 individuals who claimed Ukrainian as their mother tongue, while only 187,015 did so in 1991. The number of Ukrainian speakers in Canada continues to decline although less if only because of the change in the demographic structure of the Ukrainian ethnic group the last post-war wave of immigrant native Ukrainian language speakers have largely disappeared as a significant statistical category. Consequently, in 1996, a total of 162,695 individuals claimed Ukrainian as their mother tongue, while in 2001 the number dropped, albeit at a lesser rate, to 148,085.
The data on Ukrainian home language use reveals that, in terms of routine family use, Ukrainian is marginal although there are some curious recent developments. Ukrainian home language use has been consistently declining, such that, in 1996, only 49,985 individuals identified Ukrainian as the language used routinely in the home. This however would increase to 67,665 in 2001, presumably the result of the arrival of post-independence Ukrainian immigrants and their children.
So What Are These Languages
You may have guessed by now that the two main languages of Ukraine are both Ukrainian and Russian.
Though Ukrainian and Russian are spoken throughout the country in varying degrees from region to region, most Ukrainians will tell you that Ukrainian is the dominant language within the country.
The development of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life is encouraged by the Ukrainian government, whereas only the free use of the Russian language is accounted for.
This doesnt necessarily mean that the Russian language is pushed to the side as a considerable amount of people within Ukraine still speak it in their day to day lives.
On top of this, many notices and instructions will be translated into both languages.
Surveys On The Status Of The Russian Language
| 1995 | |
|---|---|
| 0.3 | 0.1 |
According to a survey by the Research and Branding Group , the majority of respondents supported the decisions of local authorities: 52% largely supported , 34% largely did not support the decisions, 9% â answered “partially support and partially not”, 5% had no opinion. According to an all-Ukrainian poll carried out in February 2008 by “Ukrainian Democratic Circle” 15% of those polled said that the language issue should be immediately solved, in November 2009 this was 14.7% in the November 2009 poll 35.8% wanted both the Russian and Ukrainian language to be state languages.
How Different Is Russian From Ukrainian
I started learning Russian while studying for my Master in International Relations. I specialized in the ex-USSR and Russian was the obvious linguistic match for this choice.
Later on, I had the opportunity to use my Russian not only in Russia but also in Ukraine, where it is spoken or understood by the majority of people.
Recently, I started learning Ukrainian to facilitate my trips to western Ukraine and it has been striking to me how much in fact Ukrainian differs from Russian.
So what differences and similarities have I noticed between Russian and Ukrainian?
The Russian Language Is Not Guilty
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the latest battle in the 500-year-long fight of Slavic nations for freedom from Russian imperialism. But even among the youth witnessing Russian aggression for the first time, the desire to distance themselves from the Russian language is strong. Roxannas daughter Alissa, 10, accompanies her to language class.
When Im older, I want to speak Ukrainian and English, she said. Not Russian. That is the language of the enemy.
For some Russian-speakers, links with Russia have been damaged irreparably. In Vyshhorod, Dora spoke for many in the class when saying that it could take generations to repair trust between the two nations. The Russian language is not guilty for what the Russians are subjecting us to, she said. But decades, even centuries, will have to pass until then we will never be brothers. The world has to understand that Russians have never hurt a country as badly as they have hurt ours. But we will win.
Yiddish Language In Ukraine
When we have Jewish clients on our tours, manyare interested in the prominence of Yiddish and Jewish culture in Ukraine whichcan be seen evidently in Odessa especially. Historically, Ukraine always had avery large Jewish population. This was particularly prevalent in WesternUkraine. Interestingly, by the late 19th century just over one-fourth of the worldsthen 10-million strong Jewish population lived in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, this largely Yiddish-speakingJewish population of Ukraine was massively reduced by emigration in the late19th and early 20th centuries that followed various Pogroms carried out againstthem. In WW2, they were further decimated and by the Holocaust. In the late1980s and early 1990s, large numbers of Ukraines remaining Jews emigrated,mainly to Israel. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Jews left inUkraine made up less than 1 percent of the Ukrainian population.
The Russian Language A Short History
Russian, known as to Russians, is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and it is also used as a second language in other former Soviet countries. Additionally, Russian is one of the six official United Nations languages and the 8th most spoken language in the world with a total of 260 million speakers.
Naturally, the origin story of the Russian language continues from where we left it off with Ukrainian in the 13th century when their divergence began. As the territory of todays Ukraine fell under Lithuanian rule, the eastern land came under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
Moscow and Novgorod, and later the growing Muscovy, were all home to Church Slavonic , which was the literary language until the Petrine era when its use was limited to biblical and liturgical texts. Then, the westernizing policies of Tsar Peter I the Great brought entire blocks of specialized vocabulary from the languages of Western Europe. By 1800, many spoke French and even German on a daily basis. This is why 19-century some Russian novels contain entire paragraphs in French with no translation given because it was believed that educated people would not need one.
Nevertheless, it was the 19th-century poet Aleksandr Pushkin who determined the further development of the Russian language we know today. His writings, in which he combined the colloquial and Church Slavonic styles, were decisive in establishing the best style for literary use.
Was Ukrainian Really Called Little Russian
In short, yes. The Ukrainian language was formerly called Little Russian, but the term is now considered pejorative. Lets see how all the events leading to this name unfolded.
First, you should know that Ukrainian, the same as Russian, is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. Its origins can be traced back to the Old East Slavic language used in Kievan Rus between the 10th and the 13th century. After the fall of the Kievan Rus, the language developed into what was called the Ruthenian language. Along with it, in the territory of modern Ukraine, the Kyiv version of Church Slavonic was also used in liturgical services.
From here on, there are several theories regarding the development of the Ukrainian language and its divergence from Russian, but whats most important is that their common ancestor, Old East Slavic, spanned a territory hundreds of kilometers wide. Considering how other languages came to be and how much migration influences the process, its obvious that the separation happened gradually.