Languages in Ukraine

Ukraine, the second largest country in the European continent

Ukraine is the second largest country in the European continent. It’s located in Eastern Europe bordering the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast.

The Russian language

Before the independence of country, the Ukrainian speakers were starting to decline bit by bit because  in the Soviet era forced the Ukrainian people to use the Russian language and learn the Russian culture; but after the independence the government instituted the Ukrainian language as the official language, and started a policy for promoting the usage of the language and many other elements of the Ukrainian culture, in various sectors such as education, publishing, government and religion. 

But beside those efforts, the diversity of its population (77.8 % Ukrainians, 17% Russians, minorities of Belarusians and Romanians) and mainly because of historical events, Russian is still considered  as the de facto official language and nowadays is widely spoken especially in eastern and southern Ukraine. Try a Russian Travel.

Ukrainian, the native language

According to a survey in 2010, 65 % of the Ukrainians declared Ukrainian as their native language and 33% declared Russian. Beside those languages there are many other languages spoken in the country for rural communities.

Although Ukrainian is the official language established in the constitution, there are many other languages different from the Russian spoken in the country that had special protection for being languages of other ethnicities.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World has declared that in Ukraine there are other 40 minority languages and dialects. The principals are:  Crimean, Krymchak, Karaim, Urum, and Yiddish.

The languages ​​used by the Ukrainians

Other survey said that the Ukrainian Population use as a language of communication: Russian 52% of the respondents, 41% use Ukrainian and 8% use a mixture of both, this poll also showed the standard of knowledge of both languages (free conversational language, writing and reading) the knowledge of Russian is higher (76%) than the standard of knowledge of the Ukrainian (69%). In preference of both languages, 46% prefer to speak Ukrainian and 38% prefer to speak Russian and 16% prefer to speak both in equal manner.