Thread by @VolodyaTretyak

Russian and Ukrainian languages. Thread
As a Ukrainian, one of the most often questions people asked me before the war was about the language. Is Russian and Ukrainian the same? How do you know Russian? Are they similar?

Before answering these questions, first, let's look at the historical background.
The Russian language arrived in Ukraine only in the middle of the 17th century (Pereiaslav Agreement). Before that, no one spoke Russian there. /1

At that time, Russian-speaking soldiers and merchants from the Moscow tsarist empire were settled in Ukraine for the first time. /2

The Ukrainian language was heavily suppressed in the Russian empire. 1720 – Peter I's decree banning printing in the Ukrainian language and the seizure of Ukrainian church books. 1804 – all Ukrainian-language schools were forbidden. This list can grow endless. /3

Western Ukraine has only spent 50 years being in one country with Russia, which helped to preserve the language. For example, the Austrian empire's language policy was more friendly towards minorities.

We know famous authors like Chekhov and Gogol. /4

They both identified themselves as "Malorussians" (Ukrainians); at that time, it didn't have adverse meaning. They both wrote in Russian, despite being able to speak Ukrainian and coming from Ukrainian governorates. /5

Unfortunately, Ukrainian literature is unpopular in the world. My guess, if these authors had written in Ukrainian, they would not be that popular. Then in Ukrainian schools, we would have learned them in "Ukrainian literature" class and not in "foreign literature." /6

But there is no way we can verify it, so it is only a guess. /7

During industrialization in larger cities, there was a more significant influx of Russian speakers in the second half of the 19th century. /8

This can be observed in today's linguistic usage: while the city of Kharkiv, for example, is majority Russian-speaking, the Ukrainian language predominates in the entire surrounding area of Kharkiv oblast. /9

The claim that Ukraine's entire south and east are Russian-speaking is nonsense. Here are the numbers from 2001. /10

Let's move further to the USSR. In Soviet times, Ukrainian was on paper equal to Russian and even promoted for some time. If a poet wrote in Ukrainian about how great Lenin was, he could survive. /11

However, Russian language teachers had a bigger salary than UA language teachers. Antiukrainian propaganda was also often the case in USSR. My grandmother told me she was called Banderite for speaking Ukrainian somewhere in the eastern part. /12

Brezhnev, for example, was from the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. He used to fill in the documents "Ukrainian" but switched to "Russian" early in his political career. Being Russian was always more promising both in the Russian empire and USSR. /13

Ukrainian playwright Mykola Kulish described that in his play "Myna Mazailo", where the main character has decided to switch his surname to Mazenin (sounds Russian) to build a successful career. /14

Since 1991 Ukrainian language has finally become enough power, although there are specific ups and downs. Since 2014 Russia has been doing everything to make us prioritize Ukrainian. These are more recent numbers I found: /15

Let's answer all the questions after the History overview. How similar are Ukrainian and Russian?
The idea that Russian and Ukrainian are almost the same languages has been coming from Russian propaganda for centuries, and the similarity has traditionally been overestimated. /16

The two languages have about as much in common as Spanish and Portuguese, or perhaps French and Italian. Russian and Ukrainian belong to the Slavic language family and thus share a common heritage. /17

Moreover, the two languages have been in contact for centuries; therefore, many Russian and Polish borrowings in Ukrainian and vice versa.
The common vocabulary with Polish is more significant than in Russian, although Russian is more closely related to Ukrainian. /18

Polish and Ukrainian speakers understand each other better than Ukrainian and Russian speakers. But this is the case only among the Ukrainian diaspora, which had no contact with Russian. Here we come to another question: /19

Do Ukrainians speak Russian?
Yes. Everyone in Ukraine can speak both, as Russian is spoken in some regions. Some might be passive speakers, it's hard for them to talk in one of these languages, but they can perfectly understand it. /20

In Ukraine, it is also customary to have a conversation in two languages. I have many Russian-speaking Ukrainian friends, and our discussion looks like that. I have been to many-many countries, but I haven't seen anything like this. /21

How do people learn Russian/Ukrainian?

Social Media, TV, environment. /22

I never spoke Russian until the age of 17-18, when I moved to Austria and met people from Russian-speaking countries like Kazachstan, Russia, Moldova, etc. But I was fluent in Russian and improved (less accent) over time. /23

Should you have any questions, please write them down, and I will answer them.
Please like, retweet, and follow! :) /24

#ukraine #ukrainian #Ukrainians #Russian #UkraineRussia /25

NEW: Small thread about the assimilation of Ukrainians inside Russia:

https://twitter.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/1560402584623620097

And also about similarities in language habits with other countries.

https://twitter.com/volodyatretyak/status/1560732921786351616