https://www.reddit.com/r/Ukrainian/comments/1ieiyen/learning_ukrainian_as_an_english_speaker/
created by National_Work_7167 on 31/01/2025 at 16:39 UTC
31 upvotes, 6 top-level comments (showing 6)
Hi everyone,
I'm writing hoping to hear from others in this situation or Ukrainians who learned English later in life.
When I was young, maybe around 8 or 9, there was a girl from Ukraine who went to my school. This was my first real crush and we spent a lot of time together. In this time, she taught me "Ukrainian" (which as an adult i realize it was a mix of Ukrainian and Russian as her family was from Eastern Ukraine) but the language never stuck for me even though it was (and still is) the only one I've been interested in learning. So, she sparked this interest in me that I've never been able to pursue because I'm not Ukrainian and most Eastern Europeans in my town were Russian and Moldovan, neither of which i was particularly interested in.
So, now I'm in my 20s and there are many Ukrainians in my area who don't speak English, so they can't teach me. I only have experience with the Latin alphabet, and I'm completely lost on Cyrillic text. The only resources i can find to learn the very basics at my level are children's books and as you probably know aren't the most engaging ways to learn for a person my age.
If you learned English at an older age, how did you do it? Was it hard to adjust to a new alphabet? Are there any programs you used to get started? Lastly, is it too late for me to learn? I feel like immersion would be the best for me but i don't really have that opportunity. I'd like to visit Ukraine some day, or even live there, but that won't be an option for a long time and I'd like to have the basics down by then anyways.
Native English speakers who learned, what are some resources or lessons that are worth the money? I'm apprehensive to find a tutor since I'm not sure if it'll be worth the money.
Thanks in advance, Slava Ukraini
Comment by ArtistApprehensive34 at 31/01/2025 at 16:58 UTC
14 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Native English speaker here, I'm still learning. It will take a long time to learn, especially without a tutor. I highly recommend a tutor that you meet with weekly at the least. Expect to put in 5-10 hours a week minimum and expect to feel like you're still not very good even after a long period of time. It takes a tremendous amount of effort so you have to be sure your reasons are strong enough. You must be dedicated and be doing it for a reason which is highly unlikely to change.
There are some good books and apps you can start with that I can recommend. Duolingo is good for learning the alphabet and some basic phrases but don't expect this to get you very far. LingQ is great for reading, vocab and listening skills. To learn the grammar will be much more difficult, so don't sweat getting the endings wrong until you have a clear understanding of the grammar rules, just try to focus on getting the stem of the words learned, the endings will come later. Mastering Ukrainian Cases is good once you've got a hang of the letters in order to learn the 7 cases and how to make them with each noun. It does not cover verbs at all, nor does it cover adjectives. It doesn't do past or future tense among many other things. Also, Beginning Ukrainian is a classroom style textbook which you can use once you're at a level where you think you can handle it.
There's also lots of "how to start" threads on this sub and others.
Comment by frostbittenmonk at 31/01/2025 at 16:52 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Easy and free alphabet learning is DuoLingo Ukrainian will have a alphabet soundboard where you can press each letter and learn the symbol/letter to sound part. There is also tons of videos like this that you can practice with for it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt7O4FLGxjI[1][2] ... nice YouTube hack is to set the video at 75% speed when you practice letters and words, and then speed up to 100% and then 125% when you're in the later stages and wanting to practice your ear for native speaker speeds.
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt7O4FLGxjI
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt7O4FLGxjI
Comment by Big-University-681 at 01/02/2025 at 02:57 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Here are some ideas to get started.
After three years of learning Ukrainian, I can carry on a conversation pretty well, understand many news articles, read books with dictionary support, and listen to a fair amount (but not understand everything). The language is hard but rewarding. Find your why--your reason for learning, and cling to that when it gets hard, to avoid giving up.
1: https://www.ukrainiancourse.com/free-ukrainian-courses/
2: https://www.ukrainiancourse.com/free-ukrainian-courses/
4: https://opentext.ku.edu/dobraforma/front-matter/welcome/
Comment by Santa_Andrew at 01/02/2025 at 03:39 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I'm in my 30s and my wife is Ukrainian so I started learning to speak with her family. I'm a visual learner so learning to read came fast. Duolingo was good for learning the alphabet but beyond that it's not the best. For best results you should find a tutor. Ideally a Ukrainian teacher living in Ukraine. There are so many good ones who are eager to teach. For memorizing vocab (my weakness) Anki is magical.
I have basically tried every language learning app. Unfortunately some of the biggest ones don't even have a Ukrainian course. And even at that, they all lack one thing or another. I have been working on a side project to create a new app for Ukrainian that includes what I think are all the best features of apps out there and some new ones. But the project is a long way from being completed.
Comment by OliveEconomy2094 at 03/02/2025 at 09:44 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I can teach you Ukrainian if you teach me English😊
Comment by Educational-Bid-3533 at 01/02/2025 at 23:59 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Not gonna lie. It is a wee bit harder, but completely possible. The alphabet isn't that tough.