Ukrainian

The Ukrainian release is titled Star Trek: Retribution

We saw the new Star Trek film this weekend. Almost all incoming foreign films are dubbed into Ukrainian, not Russian, which means I usually spend 2 hours floundering along, trying to catch the odd word. This time, though, maybe because of our recent trip to Ukrainian-speaking Poltava?, it was comfortable to listen along. In fact, it felt pretty awesome... until the movie ended and my friends started talking about all these sub-plots I never caught :p At least I figured out who the bad guy was!

Every now and then I start feeling bad for not knowing much Ukrainian. Never mind the fact that any leftover non-teaching/non-blogging time is spent studying Russian or that most of my friends never use Ukrainian, there's something guilt-inducing about not learning a country's language. Locally the case could be made that Russian is just as much an "official" language as Ukrainian, but Russian is still seen as the-language-of-the-invaders in much of the country. And honestly, it's just awkward to be out of the loop when it comes to Ukrainian. The language on the street may be Russian around here, but the metro and street signs, movies, TV, advertising, and official documents are all in Ukrainian.

To those who scratch their heads and say- isn't it pretty much the same language??- you're kind of right.

And wrong.

No, this sign isn't wishing you hello! Нi is Ukrainian for no. This sticker is actually protesting a rise in transportation fare. There's a story about a NATO protest in which Ukrainian activists promoted signs reading "Нi Nato" (No to Nato), which of course looked  more like Hello Nato! to the western press.

I've noticed that people who go with Russian claim to not understand much Ukrainian. A penpal of mine came from Russia to vacation in Ukraine and felt completely linguistically lost. People I know here in Kharkov also back this up, saying their Ukrainian is bad and they can't understand everything in films, etc. Meanwhile, some friends who go with Ukrainian (and use "Kharkiv", not "Kharkov") say these claims are rubbish, that if you understand Russian you should be fine with Ukrainian. Other Ukrainian speakers, though, complain that they can't understand Russian. To my ignorant foreign mind, I'd compare the languages to Spanish and Italian. Sure, they're close enough to communicate (did this awkwardly once with a couple off a cruise ship), but without doubt not the same language.

Oh, let's not forget surzhik, a third (psuedo?)language which is actually a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian.

Russian language to Ukrainian language: Girl, move over, you're discriminating against me!

The language issue is a hot topic in Ukraine and tempers often flare so I don't want to take any sides. I just wish I knew both languages!

Don't let it burn out! Keep the flame of the mother tongue alive.

So this is me getting back on the Ukrainian horse. And when I do so, these are my theme songs, courtesy of a well-known Ukrainian rock band from Lviv- Okean Elzy. Give them a listen, see what you think!

Океан Ельзи- кiшка

Океан Ельзи- 911

Like them? Hate them? Drop me a line in the comments! (Especially if you don't understand a word of Ukrainian. It would be interesting to get your take on the songs.)

Another cool way to get in some Ukrainian practice* is by watching Великі перегони, the heavily-advertised Ukrainian version of The Amazing Race, a game show in which contestants race around the world and- if the US show is anything to go off of- scream and yell at each other most of the time. (*One note about Ukrainian reality tv though- often the host will speak Ukrainian and the contestants will speak Russian.)

Several other helpful resources are:

• Free, online Ukrainian Language for Beginners from a university in Kiev
• Short on time? Try One Minute Ukrainian from the RadioLingua Network
• 23 pages of Survival Ukrainian from the Peace Corps
• Some language background and audio files from BBC
• For cultural tips, try You Know You've Been in Ukraine Too Long When... at From Blue to Yellow
• Livemocha offers a Basic Ukrainian course. I found it a bit tedious when I last used it but they have recently made a lot of site improvements, might be worth another shot. Check out LingQ or DuoLinguo.
• Funky Ukrainian offers recordings by native speakers covering 14 different vocabulary topics!

Happy studying!! I'd better get to it as well if I want to see another movie on the big screen : )