Thread: Ukrainian vs. Belarusian

As Doomer perfectly explained, a lot of Ukrainians are able to speak normal Russian. But in some parts (Western Ukr) thanks to the russophobic propaganda some are embarrassed to speak it (while they actually CAN) as well as there are some that are embarrassed to speak pure Ukrainian... so they begin to "russify" Ukrainian words which is called "surzhik" (Brainwashing effects).
But if you as a tourist visit even western parts of Ukraine and speak Russian, Most of them will understand you. They have a lot of visitors/tourists and in order to not lose them, they usually hide their a bit "nationalistic" sentiments. I mean if you are a foreigner, that's ok. National tensions exist only between Ukrainian citizens themselves. It has no connection with tourists. Also they are hospitable.

Originally Posted by MISSFOXYSWEETCHERRY

As Doomer perfectly explained, a lot of Ukrainians are able to speak normal Russian. But in some parts (Western Ukr) thanks to the russophobic propaganda some are embarrassed to speak it (while they actually CAN) as well as there are some that are embarrassed to speak pure Ukrainian... so they begin to "russify" Ukrainian words which is called "surzhik" (Brainwashing effects).
But if you as a tourist visit even western parts of Ukraine and speak Russian, Most of them will understand you. They have a lot of visitors/tourists and in order to not lose them, they usually hide their a bit "nationalistic" sentiments. I mean if you are a foreigner, that's ok. National tensions exist only between Ukrainian citizens themselves. It has no connection with tourists. Also they are hospitable.

OMG. How did you come to that?

In Ukraine de-facto works an ethical norm that everybody speaks the language he likes more and gets respond in a language interlocutor likes more. For locals it is not a problem to understand any of them. But if a person with a "far" foreign accent speaks Russian (s)he most probably will be responded in Russian even if interlocutor likes Ukrainian more.

Situation when someone speaks Ukrainian instead of Russian just to make you problems is extreme and rare.

"Surzhik" in fact is a great number of quite different local dialects which are used mainly in rural areas. Plus sometimes a person from an area with mixed language practice can mix words and constructions from languages.

All of the above is quite natural and mostly has nothing to do with "embarrassing" or "brainwashing" of any kind.