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I had 2 Ukrainian-Canadian friends who were in Poland with me and told me that Polish is fairly close to Ukrainian. Russian and Belarussian speaking friends of mine say they can read written Ukrainian fairly well but spoken Ukrainian is difficult for them. Belarusian is halfway between Polish and Russian . In fact most Belarussians also speak Russian. I learned some Polish and was able to follow conversations . I found Czech to be fairly close to Polish.
What Lockie said is that because Russia was under Mongol/Tatar yoke for centuries they lost part of their Slavic connection. They were forced to adopt their master's language officially but they always kept their "Rus" language alive. However Lockie is wrong when he says Russia only adopted the Cyrillic alphabet in 1721. They adopted the Cyrillic alphabet in the 10th century after they converted to Christianity. They never stopped using it when they spoke the old Slavonic Rus language . They only used the Mongol alphabet in official communications because they were obliged to and forced to pay tribute and acknowledge the Golden and White Hordes as their overlords. I know it's fairly common amongst Ukrainian to try depict Russians as not true Slavs but as hybrid Mongols but it's simply not true. Enemity between nations should not lead to misinformation. Even the Ukrainian themselves have strong non Slavic components in their culture; Turkic, Tatar and Greek influences. I consider both the Ukraine and Russia as part of Europe and of European civilization.
the However in 1708 Czar Peter the Great modernized Cyrillic and gave it the form it has today although the Bolsheviks greatly simplified the language after 1920 to make it simpler for the masses to become literate and also to remove the "aristocratic influences ". The irony in all that is that both Ukraine and Russia consider or claim Kiev/Kyiv as the cradle of their nations and both were formed out of the Varingians state ( the latin corruption of the Germanic word Svarengen or Swaregen whose contemporary equivalent today is Sverige the modern name for Sweden in that language. The Varangians were a mostly Swedish Viking tribe( with Danes, Balts and Finns in the mix) which settled in what is the Ukraine today and conquered the land. They quickly intermarried with local Slavic populations and like what happened with other Viking states , Normandy, England, Scotland and Ireland they adopted the local language and religion. The nickname of their tribe was Rus which was probably a deformation of a Norse word which meant rowing as Vikings used to row their Drakkars along the rivers of the Ukraine to travel from one point to the other. So the word for Russia originates from their and this is why for Russian nationalists the Ukraine is the cradle of their nation and so important in the current situation. Ironically the word Ukraine mean border lands as it was at the margin of Russian states in the 13th century before the Mongol invasion. As always in Europe, history is complicated and nothing is simple or straightforward as it appears.
Me being of Swedish ancestry on my father's side I will claim sovereignty over both Russia and the Ukraine as my legitimate birthright. Hopefully this can make both aides put aside their quarrels and conflicts and unite against me....
What Lockie said is that because Russia was under Mongol/Tatar yoke for centuries they lost part of their Slavic connection. They were forced to adopt their master's language officially but they always kept their "Rus" language alive. However Lockie is wrong when he says Russia only adopted the Cyrillic alphabet in 1721. They adopted the Cyrillic alphabet in the 10th century after they converted to Christianity. They never stopped using it when they spoke the old Slavonic Rus language . They only used the Mongol alphabet in official communications because they were obliged to and forced to pay tribute and acknowledge the Golden and White Hordes as their overlords. I know it's fairly common amongst Ukrainian to try depict Russians as not true Slavs but as hybrid Mongols but it's simply not true. Enemity between nations should not lead to misinformation. Even the Ukrainian themselves have strong non Slavic components in their culture; Turkic, Tatar and Greek influences. I consider both the Ukraine and Russia as part of Europe and of European civilization.
the However in 1708 Czar Peter the Great modernized Cyrillic and gave it the form it has today although the Bolsheviks greatly simplified the language after 1920 to make it simpler for the masses to become literate and also to remove the "aristocratic influences ". The irony in all that is that both Ukraine and Russia consider or claim Kiev/Kyiv as the cradle of their nations and both were formed out of the Varingians state ( the latin corruption of the Germanic word Svarengen or Swaregen whose contemporary equivalent today is Sverige the modern name for Sweden in that language. The Varangians were a mostly Swedish Viking tribe( with Danes, Balts and Finns in the mix) which settled in what is the Ukraine today and conquered the land. They quickly intermarried with local Slavic populations and like what happened with other Viking states , Normandy, England, Scotland and Ireland they adopted the local language and religion. The nickname of their tribe was Rus which was probably a deformation of a Norse word which meant rowing as Vikings used to row their Drakkars along the rivers of the Ukraine to travel from one point to the other. So the word for Russia originates from their and this is why for Russian nationalists the Ukraine is the cradle of their nation and so important in the current situation. Ironically the word Ukraine mean border lands as it was at the margin of Russian states in the 13th century before the Mongol invasion. As always in Europe, history is complicated and nothing is simple or straightforward as it appears.
Me being of Swedish ancestry on my father's side I will claim sovereignty over both Russia and the Ukraine as my legitimate birthright. Hopefully this can make both aides put aside their quarrels and conflicts and unite against me....
