If you’re traveling to Ukraine, it’s probably a natural question to ask if you should learn Ukrainian. When you head to a foreign country the first obvious concern is: will I be able to communicate with people at all?
So, here’s the deal about Ukraine:
- The official language is Ukrainian.
- The majority of people, especially in the cities, speak Russian.
- If you venture out to the villages, the Russian levels might drop.
- As far as business goes, Russian is (typically) the language of choice.
- Both are pretty difficult to learn for native English speakers.
And yes, there are some Ukrainian people who will be offended if you don’t speak Ukrainian and not Russian. While this is a topic I’d prefer not to get in to, it’s almost necessary to. There will be the occasional Ukrainian people who will be mad if you speak Russia and not Ukrainian. Never mind how difficult it is to learn Ukrainian or Russian. Never mind the fact that Russian is more often used in the rest of the world).
You won’t find them too often, thankfully. Let’s also be realistic about something else—the majority of tourists going to Ukraine are men. You don’t see many Western females heading to the Former Soviet Union. It’s just how it is. Girls go to Paris, guys go to Ukraine. From experience (zero facts on this), it seems that the people who are offended of people speaking Russian tend to be Ukrainian men. It’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be out on a date with a Ukrainian girl and she’ll be upset that you’re speaking Russian to her and not Ukrainian. Most of the women in Ukraine won’t expect you to learn Ukrainian. They’ll be incredibly happy if you can communicate on a basic level of Russian with them.
Many international students seeking university admission in Ukraine start off with little to no background information, and end up shooting blind, with the attending time wastage and mostly blind results. Being better informed guides the prospective student to decide whether it is a worthwhile venture or not. Read below, a summary of the requirements and the entire procedures.
