My language-learning journey with Ukrainian has been an interesting one. Sort of like a romance novel about two childhood sweethearts meeting, disconnecting, but reuniting after many decades, overcoming many obstacles. That’s how I feel about my relationship with the Ukrainian language.
I want to share with you the many ways I’ve been learning since March 2019, and the methods I use to help improve my skills. These Best Practices are in the chronological order of when I began to apply them. Until recently, I’ve been a solo-learner – but not by choice. I’m very grateful that over time I’ve discovered ways to learn with and from others in various settings.
This online program is a gamification of achieving levels, crowns, by repetition, progressing from identifying pictures to completing full sentences. While Duolingo’s Ukrainian course is very limited, a brand new learner will be happy to find all the basics as they ease into simple phrases, learning up to 1100 words. Though I have finished the course, I still do it daily for practicing.
Duolingo's "reverse tree"
The next way to learn from Duolingo is to do what the community refers to as the "reverse tree". It's learning English from Ukrainian. You would select Add a New Course where your languages are. In the top right corner it will say "I Speak English". Click that drop-down and select Українською. You're doing this because you're going to see what it's like taking English from a Ukrainian's perspective. This course is now "in reverse" compared to how you know it. It makes your brain think a little differently now, as a Ukrainian speaker. Also it creates your entire Duolingo experience to be in Ukrainian. Your shop is now called магазин, learning is called навчання, and so on. Your entire interface is in Ukrainian, and your course is now English, being taught to you as a Ukrainian speaker. This course offers many more words and phrases that weren't in the Ukrainian-from-English course.
In order to get more speaking practice as a solo-learner, Loecsen is perfect for this as it recognizes words, and displays in text what you’ve said. This is great for improving one’s accent.
Ukrainian Church
I am not a religious person, but found a Ukrainian church in a nearby town that held a service once each month. (I personally only felt comfortable to go once, but it was definitely a wonderful experience to hear the language from native/fluent speakers.) If I could approach other native-speakers I certainly would. If I had access to clubs, or heritage groups, I would join or attend their meets. But living so far away from these types of organizations, that isn't possible right now.
Talking to my Husband / Language Drills
My husband doesn’t speak a word of Ukrainian, but whenever I can express something and know the translation, I say it out loud to him. This means I am trying to think in Ukrainian as much as I can. Along with that, if I'm alone and want to warm up my mouth, I'll do the "pot of tea" exercise to practice rolling my R's, count to ten, and prattle off the days of the week or months of the year.
Speaking with my Granny & My Great-Uncle
My granny was 99 years-old when I first spoke what I could to her. She is a fluent speaker, and Ukrainian was her girlhood language from the years she grew up in Dauphin. We talked about hockey, food, and how our day was. The next year, I spoke with her younger brother at Christmas. I have reached out to relatives in Ukraine in Ukrainian, and at Christmas 2021, randomly sent a Christmas card to a stranger in small village of Mutyn. (Sadly, I haven't received a reply from anyone yet.)
At first, I found two professionals from Ukraine that I worked with for a short time, and when I finally found Vira, my third (and current) professional from L’viv, I have been learning periodically with her for lessons and conversation practice ever since. I highly recommend this!
Think in Ukrainian / Ukrainian Surroundings
I keep a calendar that hangs in my office that is entirely in Ukrainian. I also keep Ukrainian music on while I work, just to have the language around me. I also have done small things like make my grocery lists in Ukrainian, and installed the Ukrainian keyboard on my computer (and bought Cyrillic stickers to coincide with the appropriate keys). Each day I’m typing in Ukrainian with the language physically around me somehow.
Podcasting
I created my own podcast to simply talk about my experiences as a Ukrainian-blooded Canadian. This was a way for me to practice a bit of speaking, and to connect with my family’s culture. As you can see, I expanded that to become a brand – Ukraizy Canadian! My language project includes this blog, my social media, a podcast, and I am currently creating a radio station for the site which is still a work-in-progress (date, to be determined). On both my personal and Ukraizy Canadian social media accounts (notably Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube), I mainly follow Ukrainian speaking people, businesses, and organizations. And on TikTok, I have uploaded a few Ukrainian-speaking challenges.
Singing
I play the ukulele and love to sing. Okay, so I'm not any good at it, but I still enjoy it. I found old songs that I remember hearing at my granny’s house and learned the chords, lyrics, and performed them on video. (I’m too chicken to post them publicly. The point is, I did it.
Watching TV & Films
There is a program called “Kontakt” that is broadcasted on the Omni Network in Canada. It is a variety show that includes news, music, current events, interviews with current people of interest, a calendar of events happening, and so much more. The majority of the program is in the Ukrainian language, and includes information from Ukraine and Ukrainian Canadians. The Kontakt YouTube channel has several episodes over the years. Also on YouTube, searching for Укаїнські філми gave many hits on Ukrainian language films. It's important as a learner to listen to the language often, even if you can't understand it at first or understand only some words here and there. Keep it on and let the language seep into your brain as much as possible. Over time, you may surprised yourself with how much you are actually picking up.
30 Day Record Yourself Challenge
This is an online challenge for any language-learner. For thirty consecutive days, speak for one minute in your target language on video, then upload it somewhere on social media using the hashtag #30DRYC. I did this and uploaded it to YouTube on the Ukraizy Canadian channel.
Flashcards
I borrowed this idea from another learner, and just made it work for me. I cut out cardboard sticks (similar to the size of a stick of Wrigley’s gum, or a bit larger) and printed out words and the translation, affixing them to the cardboard stick with packing tape so they made a sturdy, glossy card. I created this video to show how I made mine on the Ukraizy Canadian YouTube channel. I tossed them into a box, and dump them out and get through the 250 that I have so far created. There are few ways to do this. Either have a quota of getting through a certain number, or else go through the stash and time yourself and try to improve your time each day.
Word Puzzles
Crosswords and word searches are great ways to help with vocabulary and spelling. I found Ukrainian-specific puzzle books on Amazon. (I purchased word-searches "for adults" simply because I prefer it that way.) Other puzzles such as word searches and other language puzzles can be easily searched online. While I may prefer adult-content, it is said to start at the basics, usually with children's learning methods, Yevshan also offers children's readers and children's puzzles. (But it doesn't stop there. Among gifts and practical items, Yevshan also offers an entire section devoted to Ukrainian-language learning materials for both adults and kids.)
My iTalki tutor suggested listening to the Ukrainian language whenever possible, even when I cannot understand most of what’s being said. The constant sound of the language filling into my brain begins to train my ear to the language. She's a podcast fan, but I still love the 24/7 entertainment from just putting a radio on. After ten days of doing this with a wonderful station like UR3 Radio Kultura, I began enjoying many of the programs they air such as the audiobooks and radio plays. (My personal favourites are the bedtime stories read by actor Vasyl Chornoshkur.)
Classroom Setting
After three years of casual learning on my own, I enrolled into a Ukrainian class with other learners, taught by a professional instructor from Ukraine. At the time I write this, most programs are now online, and this particular class was one I had wanted to join out of Vancouver, but the commute was too long from where I live. With this class now available online, I joined as an Intermediate learner.
Language App on Mobile Device
If you search "Ukrainian" in Apple's app store, there are approximately 17 different apps to choose from to learn Ukrainian at the time of this posting. (A few of them require payment, ranging from $5.49 to $13.99.) I have only just discovered these apps and will begin installing and trying each one of them to give my opinion on which ones might be best, depending on your level.
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