Kovalenko - Learn to Read Ukrainian in 5 Days

Learn to Read Ukrainian in 5 Days by: Alex Kovalenko Published by Wolfedale Press Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The cover image of Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toronto, Canada is licensed under cc by-sa 3.0. Author: SimonP www.wolfedalepress.com

The difficulty is finding a good system to learn the new alphabet so that you dont get discouraged and give up before you make real progress. Making progress in the language is the best motivator. The secret to learning a new alphabet is to be taught how to pronounce each letter separately, and then to practice how the new letters combine with letters you already know to read real words in the alphabet in a structured way. This is not revolutionary it is most likely how you learned to read English but it is not easy to find for other languages. This book will teach you how to read the Ukrainian alphabet in exactly that way, and with this method you will be able to read Ukrainian in only 5 days or less! After that you will be able to enjoy the Ukrainian language and culture in a way that you were never able to before. THE UKRAINIAN ALPHABET The Ukrainian language uses 33 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet and is written from left to right.

It uses the same basic letters as some other Slavic languages, such as Russian and Bulgarian, as well as several non-Slavic languages from the former U.S.S.R. Although Ukrainian uses the same alphabet as Russian, there are differences in pronunciation between some of the letters in Ukrainian and Russian, just as there are differences in pronunciation between French, Spanish and English even though they use the same alphabet. Although it is different from the Latin alphabet used to write English (and other European languages) the Ukrainian alphabet is not a difficult alphabet to learn to read. This is because, with almost no exceptions, letters are pronounced as they are written and written as they are pronounced in Ukrainian, unlike languages like English that make use of a lot of silent letters and historical spellings. Like the Latin alphabet used to write English, the Ukrainian alphabet has both upper and lowercase letters. Upper case letters are used at the beginning of a sentence and in proper nouns.

In Ukrainian most of the uppercase letters are the same shape as the lowercase letters - they are just bigger. HOW TO USE THIS COURSE The primary goal of this course book is to teach the reader to recognize the Ukrainian alphabet and to begin to read the Ukrainian language. The main way this is accomplished is by teaching the individual pronunciations of each letter, and then utilizing Practice sections where the reader can practice reading real Ukrainian words. These Practice sections are very important and the main way the reader will start to feel comfortable with the Ukrainian alphabet. The answers to all Practice questions are included directly below the questions, but try to avoid looking at the answers until you have attempted to answer the questions yourself. Throughout the book, the reader will also learn approximately 150 real Ukrainian words.

These words have been carefully selected to be of maximum benefit to beginner students of the language and are a great starting point for students who want to continue their study of Ukrainian. In the end of the book there are two glossaries one in thematic order and one in alphabetical order where the student can study and memorize all the words learned in this course. The course material has been designed to be completed slowly over 5 days, while reviewing lessons as necessary. You are encouraged to go at whatever pace you feel comfortable with and to feel free to go back to lessons to review as much as needed. Good luck and I hope you enjoy the first step on your journey to learning the Ukrainian language.

Basically you already know these six Ukrainian letters! The letter in Ukrainian is pronounced like the a sound in the English words spa or father (IPA: //). Remember to pronounce this word like a long a and not a short a sound like in the English words cat or apple. The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the e sound in the English words met or peg (IPA: //). The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the o sound in the English word not or octopus (IPA: //).

The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the k sound in the English words kick or kite (IPA: /k/). The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the m sound in the English words mother or Michael (IPA: /m/). The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the t sound in the English words tan or Tom (IPA: /t/).

The uppercase form is . As you can see these 6 letters are virtually the same as in English! PRACTICE Try to recognize these English words in their Ukrainian disguises. The answers are below. ANSWERS 1. at 2. cat 4. tack 5. cot 6. mat 7. mama

Pay close attention to these letters and avoid pronouncing them like in English. The letter is pronounced like the ee in tree, or the i in spaghetti (IPA: /i/). It is not pronounced like the i in pit or the i in spite. It will be represented by i in this book. The uppercase form is . a trilled or rolled r sound (IPA: /r/). a trilled or rolled r sound (IPA: /r/).

This letter is not difficult to pronounce for an English speaker but does require some practice. If you cannot pronounce this letter yet, you can substitute an English r sound for now. Although this letter resembles an English p it is not pronounced like a p sound. The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the s sound in some or same (IPA: /s/). Although it resembles an English c, it is never pronounced like the c in cat.

It is always pronounced with an s sound. The hard c sound is spelled with in Ukrainian. The uppercase form is . The letter is pronounced like the v sound in very (IPA: /v/). Sometimes you will hear a w sound instead of a v sound, but the beginner student should think of this letter as a v sound. Although it resembles an uppercase B, it is never pronounced like the English b sound in boy.

The uppercase form is . PRACTICE 1 Try to recognize these English words in their Ukrainian disguises. Focus on the correct pronunciation and not necessarily the English spelling. The answers are below. ANSWERS 1 1. tea 3. seat 4. vet 5. mats 6. cots 7. rot 8. team 9. stem 10. storm PRACTICE 2 Try to read these real Ukrainian words. storm PRACTICE 2 Try to read these real Ukrainian words.

The English translation is given next to each word. The correct pronunciations are given in the answers below. 1. (coffee) 2. (sea) 3. (seven) 5. (eight) ANSWERS 2 1. kava 2. more 3. rika 4. sim 5. visim