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I see...
PS. But I still don't understand spoken Polish.. at all...
Well, here's another question for this thread: can you understand written Polish? I'm able to read Polish and Bulgarian without having studied them, and get the gist of what's being said. For some reason, I can't do that with Czech.
As a Slovak speaker Id say that any language outside of the western Slavic group (Slovak, Czech, Polish, Sorbian) is definitely not mutually intelligible with Slovak. I find it fairly easy to understand Polish, be it written or spoken, but I've met my fair share of Poles in the past. Also I think I can understand them more than they can understand me, which makes sense since Polish shares similiarities with both Czech and Slovak, and a Slovak speaker usually knows both. I would compare the difference between Slovak and southern Slavic languages to Dutch and German, and eastern Slavic languages would be as understandable as Dutch for an English speaker.
I've studied Ukrainian, and I wouldn't say it's that close to Russian. Lots of vocabulary differences. This was before the supposed "artificial" changes to make it less like Russian.
You couldn't study the original "language". Ukrainian language was created a century ago, by replacing some Russian words with Polish-like - or, more correctly, by granting official status to those words, because they were and to some extent still are in use in all of Russia.
What you've studied is a "formal Ukrainian". How many Ukrainians speak it? Most simply speak Russian, and most others a dialect of Russian - very-very similar to the peasant talk in all of Russia until recently.
Ukrainian and Belorussian are very similar. The only major difference is that nobody really speaks Belorussian. People speak a slightly modified version of Russian (that's when they decide to not speak normal Russian). As erasure has said - it's just an old Russian. All official docs in Belarus are in formal Russian.
I think it is crazy to say that Ukrainian and Belorussian languages are simply dialects of Russian just because they have the same origin and similar vocabulary. It's like saying that French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian are simply dialects of Latin.
I think it is crazy to say that Ukrainian and Belorussian languages are simply dialects of Russian just because they have the same origin and similar vocabulary. It's like saying that French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian are simply dialects of Latin.
They are dialects of Russian, because they are in fact dialects of Russian. It is crazy to say that a century ago 80% of Russians have spoken not Russian language.
They are dialects of Russian, because they are in fact dialects of Russian. It is crazy to say that a century ago 80% of Russians have spoken not Russian language.
It is irrelevant what language they were speaking a century ago. I'm talking about what language they're speaking nowadays. I know two Ukrainian families living in my hometown and when they switch to Ukrainian I can understand one out of ten words utmost if I'm in a good enough mood to even listen to this mutually unintelligible language.
P.S. Btw, those hahols would probably kick your ass if they heard you saying that their language is just a dialect of Russian.
It is irrelevant what language they were speaking a century ago. I'm talking about what language they're speaking nowadays.
They are speaking a dialect of an old Russian.
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I know two Ukrainian families living in my hometown and when they switch to Ukrainian I can understand one out of ten words utmost if I'm in a good enough mood to even listen to this mutually unintelligible language.
Hahols hints that your Russian is far from perfect.
There are many millions Ukrainians. Most speak Russian. Most others speak a dialect that Russians can understand. Some speak some Russian-Polish perversion - you may consider that an Ukrainian language, just don't associate it with all of Ukraine.
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P.S. Btw, those hahols would probably kick your ass if they heard you saying that their language is just a dialect of Russian.
The Slavic languages are more closely related to one another than the Romance languages (derived from Latin). German and English are in a different category.
When traveling in Slovakia, Slovenia, etc., my minimal Polish and Russian are intelligble to the locals.
There are many millions Ukrainians. Most speak Russian. Most others speak a dialect that Russians can understand. Some speak some Russian-Polish perversion - you may consider that an Ukrainian language, just don't associate it with all of Ukraine.
There are many Ukrainians whose native language actually is Russian(mostly Eastern Ukraine), then there are Ukrainians that mix both languages together(even Latvians very often throw some Russian lexicon in their speech but it doesn't make Latvian a dialect of Russian, does it?) and then there are Ukrainians(mostly Western Ukraine) that use the real Ukrainian, so to speak. And this 'real Ukrainian' is very hard to understand for people from, say, St.Petersburg. I watch quite a few Russian TV channels and when, for example, Yuschenko is beeing shown, translation is ALWAYS provided which brings me to question why bother if Russians could understand him anyway?
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Originally Posted by russiaonline
I don't give a damn about banderovci.
Oh, yes you do.
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Ukrainian language was created a century ago, by replacing some Russian words with Polish-like - or, more correctly, by granting official status to those words, because they were and to some extent still are in use in all of Russia.
