Why do most Ukrainians speak Russian?
The reasons for this lie in the history of the spread of the Ukrainian language and the formation of the borders of modern Ukraine. Policies prohibiting the use of the Ukrainian language in different historical periods have meant that even ethnic Ukrainians often do not speak Ukrainian.
There are approximately 20 languages spoken in Ukraine. According to the 2001 census, 67% of the population speak Ukrainian and 30% speak Russian as their first language. Ukrainian, the official language, belongs with Russian and Belarusian to the East Slavic branch of the Slavic language family.
It's a Slavic language, which means it's related to languages such as Russian, Czech, and Polish. This is a huge language family with lots of linguistic diversity, so modern Ukrainian shares some commonalities with its closest relatives, Russian and Belorussian, and fewer with its more distant cousins (like Czech).
The reason being knowledge of English is perceived as a channel to better prospects, within Ukraine and the wider English speaking countries and educational institutions. Again, most of these youngsters are now part and parcel of the larger social media fraternity, which has lots of English going on.
In terms of vocabulary, the Ukrainian language is the closest to Belarusian (16% of difference), and the Russian language to Bulgarian (27% of difference). After Belarusian, Ukrainian is also closer to Slovak, Polish, and Czech than to Russian – 38% of Ukrainian vocabulary is different from Russian.
Slavic peoples—Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians—held a large proportion of administrative positions. In the late 1980s and early '90s, many Russians and smaller numbers of Jews emigrated from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states, changing the ethnic balance and employment patterns in the region.
The unaccented "o" in Russian turns into an "a" whereas in Ukrainian it always remains an "o".
Russian and Ukrainian are different in pronunciation. To non-native speakers and for those not familiar with the language, they can sound the same. However, they are only roughly similar, and enough to be noticeable by people familiar with the languages. Ukranian has more soft consonants.
(Learn how and when to remove this template message) Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia.
In Ukraine, the average level of English-speaking Ukrainians is about 50%. The percentage of English-speaking Ukrainians varies depending on their age and profession.
Do Ukrainians have an accent when speaking Russian?
The unaccented "o" in Russian turns into an "a" whereas in Ukrainian it always remains an "o".
Differences in Pronunciation
Russian and Ukrainian are different in pronunciation. To non-native speakers and for those not familiar with the language, they can sound the same. However, they are only roughly similar, and enough to be noticeable by people familiar with the languages.
Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Українці, romanized: Ukraintsi, pronounced [ʊkrɐˈjinʲts⁽ʲ⁾i]), or the Ukrainian people, are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe and the second-largest among the East Slavs after the Russians.