Traveler's Cheat Sheet?

[krikketgirl.livejournal.com]

I am learning Russian, and I am a raw beginner. I am also traveling abroad for my first time in June, and as happenstance would have it, I am traveling to Ukraine. Firstly, I am aware that Ukrainian and Russian are separate languages, and also that there is a certain sensitivity to the use of Russian in certain areas of Ukraine. Be that as it may, the only language I am even acquainted with in this area is Russian.

I have no pretenses of really being able to carry on a conversation in Russian while I am in Ukraine. I would, however, like to be able to have a few phrases at my disposal. As right now I can only count to ten, transcribe words from print into passable script, sound words out, and say helpful things like, "Here is the house," my thought is to write out a little "cheat sheet" for myself with a few key phrases to learn by heart.

I am hoping that you might be able to help me come up with a list of essential phrases. I will have a phrasebook with me for more obscure things, so really what I want is the social niceties.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Comments

[my-valentine.livejournal.com]

my advice from traveling in Serbia and Bulgaria (which has a similar, but more turkish/persian language) learn food, time, distances, days, useful things.

[alon_68]

You can fill quite free to use Russian in Ukraine. There are few regions in the Western part (Lviv, Ivano-Frankovsk and Ternopil district, partly Rivne district) where the Ukrainian is the mother tongue of most people indeed, but even there everybody is fluent in Russian and nobody expects Ukrainian from a foreigner. What about the other parts of Ukraine is that Russian is nevertheless predominant there.

Not very serious ;-)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, right now I cannot come up with an extra-phrase-book-thick list of phrases, but, having visited Ukraine about a dozen times, I highly recommend a very useful phrase according to a traveller's experience, both in Russian and Ukrainian: please, no more vodka! :)))
Не надо больше водки, пожалуйста (Russian)
Не треба бiльше горiлки, будьтеласка (Ukainian)

:)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

More seriously, I would second alon_68's opinion. Almost nobody in Ukraine would expect fluent Ukrainian from a foreigner. In Eastern and Southern Ukraine (Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odessa, the Crimea Peninsula etc.) they would be rather surprised if you address them in Ukrainian, and it is not impossible that the person you address cannot speak Ukrainian at all.

[alon_68]

You can feel, of course!
Shame on me! :(

[tmin.livejournal.com]

i think you anxiety of using russian there is too much politically inducted :)
it _may_be_ so for a native russian speaker
russian is a common langaue there
most people you'r going to met are far away from tv rumors

Re: Not very serious ;-)

[robomarkov.livejournal.com]

Wolk_off, you cannot be serious about that!

Re: Not very serious ;-)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I'm not. But it's "based on a real story" anyway :)

Re: Ukrainian

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Дякую :)
(thank you, in Ukrainian. Did I screw up this one, too? ;-))

[canuck-chick.livejournal.com]

Hello!
I can't suggest any phrases at the moment, but I thought I'd let you know that I recently spent over a month in Ukraine - if you have any questions, I might be able to help (then again, I might not, since I was only there for a month, but feel free to ask anyways! ;-) )

I only speak Russian (and not wonderfully) and had no problems with speaking it in Ukraine. In fact, I bought the Lonely Planet Ukrainian phrasebook before I left, and hardly used it while I was there.

If you have any questions, my email address is tanarnya@yahoo.com (I get A LOT of spam, so if you do email me, put Ukraine or something in the subject line!)

I hope you have a good time! I'm jealous! :-)

[im-such-a-slav.livejournal.com]

do you want russian or ukrainian phrases? my advice is to make a list of fill in the blank questions/phrases: how much does ___ cost? where is ___? mainly the functional questions you use in everyday life. also, numbers are essential.

i am actually leaving ukraine tomorrow, and have been living here about a year and a half. don't worry about language sensitivity. as a foreign traveler it won't apply to you. a few people might get annoyed at your russian, but it won't be a problem. everyone you meet will speak and understand russian in every city in ukraine.