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Hi, this is Steve Kaufmann here.

Uh, today I want to talk about how I learned Ukrainian.

Now, I have been doing most of my videos in my little studio, but today I'm going ||||||||||||studio||||

to do it in front of this painting. ||||devant|||tableau |||||||cuadro

And I'm going to tell you why, but first of all, if you enjoy my

videos, please subscribe, click on the bell for notifications. ||||||dzwonek||powiadomienia

And if you follow me on a, a podcast service, please leave a comment.

So before I get into talking about how I learned Ukrainian, I'll explain why I'm ||yo||||||||||||

doing it in front of this painting here.

This is a print, of course it's not an original. |||||bien sûr|||| |||druk|||||| |||impresión||||||

It is uh...

[The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum]. ||تراس کافه||||| ||Cafe Terrace||||| ||Taras||||| |café|terraza||||del|foro

Painted by...

painted by van Gogh, van Gogh in English, the famous Dutch impressionist painter. ||van|Gogh|||||||||peintre |||||||||||impressionist| |||||||||||izlenimci| |||ون گوگ||||||||امپرسیونیست مشهور|نقاش مشهور هلندی ||van Gogh|Gogh||||||||| |||||||||||印象派| |||Gogh||||||||impresjonist|malarz

And I like doing it in front of this picture because it has the Ukrainian

colors, the blue and the yellow plus I very much liked this print and, you know, ||||||||||beğendim||||| |el||||||||||||||

van Gogh, van Gogh was a Dutch painter. ||||||Dutch| |Gogh||||||pittore

He spent a lot of time in France, Southern France, also in Normandy. ||||||||||||Normandy ||||||||||também|| ||||||||||||Normandiya ||||||||||||Normandia ||||||||||||نورماندی ||||||||||||ノルマンディ

And as someone that is interested in languages, you won't be surprised to |||||||||تعجب نخواهی کرد|||

know that I kind of like the mixture of cultures and even in food, you

know, Olive oil with my sushi or a wasabi with my French food or whatever. |||||سوشی|||واسابی|||||| |Olive|||||||wasabi||||||anything ||||||||wasabi|||||| |||||sushi|||wasabi||||||

I like mixing things.

And similarly, I like mixing cultures and I like the way one |de manera similar|||||||||manera|

culture leads you to another. cultura|conduce|||

Uh, and by exploring all these different cultures, you learn

more and more about the world.

And my discovery of Ukrainian and Ukraine is a good example. ||découverte|||||||| ||||||||um|| ||||ucraniano||Ucrania||||ejemplo bueno

So, for most of my life, I knew next to nothing about Ukraine. ||||||||||rien|de| |||||||knew|next to|||| ||||||私は||||||

I think like a lot of people, I thought it was some kind of appendage ||||||||||||||appendice ||||||||||||||attachment ||||||||||||||apêndice ||||||||||||||Anhang ||||||||||||||ek parça ||||||||||||||appendice ||||||||||||||附属物 ||||||||||||||przydatku ||||||||||||||付属物 ||||||||pensaba||||tipo||apéndice

to Russia, similar to Russia.

And I didn't know much more than that.

Uh, in 2000 and I would say six or seven, I started learning Russian,

uh, largely to see whether I could learn a Slavic language with all ||||si podía|||||||| |głównie|||||||||||

the complicated grammar uh, without spending a lot of time on grammar. |||||||||||dilbilgisi |||||spędzanie||||||

So that was...

that plus having read, you know, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in my late ||||||||داستایوفسکی||| ||||||Tolstoy||Dostoevsky||| ||||||Tołstoj||||| eso||||||||Dostoyevski|en||

teens, I thought it would be cool to read it in the original Russian. jeunes||||||||||||| gençler||||||||||||| nastolatków||myślałem||||||||||| Adolescentes|||||||||||||

So I was with Russian, learning Russian, enjoying Russian, listening to Russian

audio books, reading on LingQ and, um, of course in 2008 there was the war

in Georgia, which I followed because I followed Ekho Moskvy much to the |گرجستان||||||||||| ||||suivais|||||||| ||||||||||mucho|| |Gruzji||||||śledziłem|Ekho|Moskwy|dużo||

disappointment of many Russians who are caught up in the sort of propaganda ||||||||||||propaganda decepção|||||||||||| hayal kırıklığı|||||||||||| |||روسی‌ها||||||||| decepción|de|||||atrapados|||||| rozczarowanie||||||||||||

world that has been created in Russia...

They're the only good people in the world, everybody else is mean to them. ||||||||wszyscy||jest||| |||buenas|||||todo el mundo|||||

And Ekho Moskvy was kind of tolerated as sort of a safety ||||||tolérée||||| ||||||tolerated|||||safety ||||||許容されていた||||| ||||||tolerowana|||||

valve for a variety of opinions. valve||||| outlet|||||opinions 阀门||||| açık kapı||||| valvola||||| دریچه نظرات مختلف||||| zawór|||rodzaj|| バルブ||||| válvula de opiniones|||||

A lot of these opinions were critical of the government, but you also had the |many|||||||||||||

communist party would be interviewed and the, you know, whatever his name was. |||||||||peu importe||| |||olacak||||||||| ||||entrevistada|||||||| ||by||przesłuchana||||||||

I can't remember...

can't remember and, um, extreme, uh, imperialists types, like, uh, I ||||||impérialistes|||| ||||||imperialists|||| ||||||帝国主义者|||| ||||||imperialisti|||| ||||||امپریالیست‌های افراطی|||| |||えっと|||帝国主義者|||| ||||||imperialiści|typów|||

think it's a Prokhanov was on there. |||Prokhanov||| |||Prokhanov||| |||Prokhanov||| |||پروخانوف||| |||Prochanow||| |||Prokhanov|||

At any rate, so Russia invaded Georgia. at|||||invadió| w każdym|||||najechała|

I didn't pay much attention. |||beaucoup|

2010, there was an election in Ukraine and Yanukovych won. |||||||Yanukovych| |||||||Yanukovych| |||||||Yanukovych| |||||||یانکوویچ| |||||||Yanukovych ganó| |||wybory||||Janukowycz|

And of course the Russians were following that very closely, |||||estaban||||

but still it was all far away. pero||||||

I didn't pay much attention.

Then in 2014, Russia took Crimea and I watched that and somebody |||||||ai regardé||| ||||Crimea||||||

told me that I could follow these events on Ukrainian television. |||||suivre||||| ||||podía||||||

So I started watching a program called Shuster Live and lo and behold, |||||||Shuster||||| |||||||Shuster||and|look|| |||||||Shuster|||||ecco ||||||||||||پس شروع کردم به تماشای برنامه‌ای به نام شوستر لایو و ناگهان، |||||||Shuster|||oto|| |||||||シュスター||||| |||||||Shuster en vivo|||he aquí||he aquí

on Shuster Live half the people speak Russian or spoke Russian,

half the people spoke Ukrainian.

And as I was listening to the Ukrainian, I felt as though I ||||||||yo|||como si| |gdy|||||||ja|czułem||jakby| |||||||||||se|

should be able to understand it, but I couldn't understand it. debería poder||||||||||

Very strange feeling because it's pronounced in many ways, kind of Очень странное чувство, потому что оно произносится по-разному, вроде как

sounds like Russian, but in fact, so many of the words are different.

So, uh, I decided that I would learn Ukrainian. |||zdecydowałem|że||||

And, uh, the, I bought some books on...

Starter books and also a radio free Europe, uh, out of Prague, uh, was |||||||||||پراگ||

putting out Rádio Svobodná in Ukrainian put out regular interviews, um, ||Rádio|Svobodná||||||| ||Radio|Svoboda|||put|||| ||radio|Svobodná||||||| ||Rádio Svobodná|Svobodná||||||| ||Radio|Svobodna|||wydaje|||wywiady|

where they had both audio and text.

So knowing Russian and, and what I discovered was that like half the

words are like 60% of the words are like Russian, and so if I had, you |||||||||a|||||

know, audio material with transcript, then I could import that into LingQ.

And very quickly I could acquire new words.

I think my vocabulary count on LingQ in Ukrainian is like 50 or ||||conteo de vocabulario|||||||

60,000 known words, because so many words you can guess what they mean.

A few of you have to learn.

And I just listened.

I can imagine...

I think I've read one and a half million words of Ukrainian on LingQ.

I don't know how many hours I've listened to.

In fact, I'll show you, uh, in fact, let me show you my profile in Russian, ||||||||||mostraré|||||

which shows that I began around 2007, and then you'll see my profile on Ukrainian, ||||||||خواهید دید|||||

which shows that I began around 2014. ||||ai commencé|

And you can see where I have been most active in those languages.

So listening to all this stuff and also Hromadske Radio which ||||||||Hromadske Radio|| ||||||||Hromadske|| ||||||||Hromadske|| ||||||||Hromadske|| |słuchanie||wszystkie|te wszystkie||||Hromadske||

is a very good source of audio of podcasts, but without transcript.

So it was only after training myself on the Radio Free Europe material

that I was good enough to understand a lot of the podcasts on Hromadske ||||assez||||||||sur| |||||||||||||Hromadske que|||||||||||||

Radio, most of which were in Ukrainian, some of which were in Russian.

So I was able to follow the events in the Donbas, but let's go back to Crimea. ||||||||||Donbas|||||| ||||||||||Donbas|||||| ||||||||||Donbás|||||| ||||||||||Donbas||||||

So I followed the events there. więc|ja|śledziłem|||

Uh, initially Russia claimed that the little green men with no military |||a affirmé|||||||| ||||||little|green|||| |||twierdziła|||||||| |inicialmente||||||||||militar militar Э-э, изначально Россия утверждала, что зеленые человечки без военных

insignia were not their soldiers, which of course was not true. les insignes|||||||||| insignia|||||||||| simgeler|||||||||| le insegne|||||||||| نشان‌ها|||||||||| 徽章|||||||||| insygnia|||||||||| знаки различия не были их солдатами, что конечно не соответствовало действительности.

Uh, Putin subsequently admitted that yes... |||a admis|| ||subsequently = later||| |پوتین|||| |Putin|posteriormente||| |||認めた|| ||następnie|przyznał||

you know, at first he said, oh, they just...

Those are just people who went and bought military, uh, uniforms at some store. ||||who|went|||||||| |||||fueron||compraron||||||

Uh, and then he admitted that they were in fact Russian soldiers and the events Эээ, а потом он признал, что это были на самом деле российские солдаты и события

in Crimea were planned by a group of agents who subsequently went to the Donbas ||||||||agents||ensuite|||| ||||||||agents|||||| |کریمه||||||||||||| ||||||||||posteriormente|||| ||||||||エージェント|||||| |||zaplanowane|||||agentów||||||

and took what was a, quite a volatile situation and turned it into a war. |||||||volatile||||||| |||||||volatile||||||| |||||oldukça||||||||| |||||||volatili||||||| |||||||بی‌ثبات||||||| |||||||niestabilną||||||| |||||||不安定な||||||| y||||||||||||||

And I followed this, uh, daily.

Uh, I followed it as, uh, you know, the, the people in the Donbas and stepping ||suis suivi|||||||||||||marchant |||||||||||||||pasando

back obviously there was a lot of tension. |||||||tension de regreso|||||||

You could see this at Shuster Live. |||||Shuster| |||||Shuster Canlı|

You had the representatives of the sort of pro Russian faction. ||||||||||جناح طرفدار روسیه |||représentants|||||||faction ||||||||||group |||temsilcileri|||||||grup |||代表者|||||||派閥

You had the uh, the, the right wing, more nationalistic types, like the head of |||||||||nationalistes||||| |||||||skrzydło||nacjonalistyczne||||| |||||el||ala derecha||||||| |||||||||ナショナリスティック|||||

Svoboda you had this guy ... who is a bit of a nutcase, also a right wing extremist. Svoboda|||||||||||fou|||||extrémiste Svoboda|||||||||||crazy person|||||extremist |||||||||||deli tip|||||aşırı sağcı Svoboda|||||||||||pazzo|||||estremista ||||||||||||||||افراطی راست‌گرا |||||||||||wariatem||||| |||||||||||おかしな人|||||過激派 Svoboda|||||||||||chiflado||||extremista de derecha|

You had everybody, and you had people who are subsequently, subsequently |||||||||subsequently| |||||||||później| |||||||||posteriormente|

identified as being corrupt. |||corrompu |||corrupt |||腐敗した zidentyfikowany|||korumpujący |||corrotto

You know, you had the sense of, of Ukraine is full of these people who are very |||masz||||||||||ludzi|||

eloquent and speak with great passion and a tremendous range of opinions, éloquent||||||||||| articulate||||||||vast||| etkileyici||||||||||| فصیح و بلیغ||||||||||| 雄弁な||||||||||| elokwentny|||||||||||

and then Shuster Live as they speak the people in the audience vote on what |||||||||||audience||| |||||||||||publiczność|||

they think of what they're saying there.

So it was obviously a period of tremendous tension because of the

events of the maidan which have brought in, uh, a government, which |||maïdan|||||||| |||square|||||||| |||Maidan-Ereignisse|||||||| |||meydan|||||||| |||Maidan|||||||| |||میدان|||||||| |||Majdan|||||||| |||マイダン|||||||| |de||plaza|||traído|||||

was voted by all parties, by the way, uh, which was more pro Western. |voté||||||||||||occidental ||||||||||||pro| |||||||||||||prooccidental |głosowano||||||||||||

It was more sort of pro nationalist, uh, than the previous |||||pro||||| |||||プロ|||||

government under Yanukovych. ||Yanukovych

And there were people in Eastern Ukraine. |||||l'est de|

who didn't want that.

These are people who had voted for Yanukovych, they're guy fled. ||||||||||убежал ||||||||||s'est enfui ||||||||||has fled ||||||||||kaçtı ||||||||||fuggito ||||||||||فرار کرده ||||||||||逃げた ||||||||ellos||huyó

So obviously they're upset. |||infastiditi |||zmartwieni

I'm watching this in Ukrainian every day, following it.

If I get my, a podcast from, uh, Radio Svoboda, I've now got a text. |||||||||رادیو آزادی|||||

So I'm very interested in the subject.

I'm following it as a, you know, Girkin is the first minister of war for the Dunbas. |||||||Girkin||||||||| |||||||Girkin||||minister|||||Donbas |||||||Girkin|||||||||Dunbas |||||||Girkin||||||||| |||||||Girkin|||||||||Donbas

They call themselves The Donetsk People's Republic. |||||مردم| ||||Donetsk|People's| ||||Donetsk||

Borodai Is the prime minister of The Donetsk People's Republic. Borodai||||||||| Borodai||||||||| Borodai||||||||| Borodai||||||||| Borodai|||||||||

There's a guy called Bessler who is some kind of a sleeping russian GRU ||||Bessler|||||||||GRU ||||Bessler|||||||||GRU ||||Bessler|||||||||askeri istihbar ||||Bessler|||||||||GRU هست|||||||||||||سازمان اطلاعات نظامی روسیه ||||Bessler(1)|||||||||agente ||||Bessler|||||||||GRU

agent that's been living there and he organizes, you know, uh, militia. |||||||||||milice |||||||||||armed group |||||||||||民兵 agent|||||||organizuje||||milicję |||||||||||milizia

And so they go from storming a government buildings to eventually |||||prendre d'assaut||||| |||||storming||||| |||||stürmen||||| |||||baskın yapmak||||| |||||assaltare||||| |||||یورش به||||| |||||襲撃する|||||

having some kind of an armed force. ter uma espécie de força armada.

There was a war.

Uh, Ukrainian army is very poorly organized between the Ukrainian |||||mal|||| |||||słabo||||

army and volunteers, largely from Eastern Ukraine, they fight back. ||||||||walczą|walczą ||voluntarios|||||ellos (1)|luchan|

They were able to eventually arrive at a sort of a cease fire line after the |||||||||||cesser|||| |||||||||||cease|||| |||||||||||Waffenstillstand|||| |||||||||||ateşkes|||| |||||dotrzeć||||||zawieszenie|ogniu||| |||||||||||停戦|||| ||||||||||una|||||

intervention of the Russian regular Russian army to prevent the Ukrainian army مداخله ارتش روسیه||||||||||| intervention||||||||||| intervention||||||||||| 介入||||||||||| interwencja|||||||||||

from actually taking back that whole area. ||geri alma|||| de||||||

There were people killed on both sides, mostly soldiers, Ukrainian

soldiers, Ukrainian government soldiers, volunteers on the Ukrainian side, the

uh separatist fighters on the other side, Russian soldiers from Ossetia |séparatistes|combattants||||||||l'Ossecie |separatist|||||||||Ossetia |ayrılıkçı||||||||| |separatisti|||||||||Ossezia |جداطلب||||||||| |分離主義者||||||||| |separatystycznych|bojownicy||||||||Osetia

or wherever they came, Yakutia, there was quite a few sort of Mongolian ||||||||||||Mongolian ||||Yakutia|||||||| ||||Jakucja||||||||

types there who were, um, shown... |||||gösterilen |||||pokazani

you know, some of them were in hospital with serious, with serious burns. |||||étaient||hôpital||||| |||||||hospital|||||burns ||||||||||||やけど ||||||||||||quemaduras graves ||||||||||||oparzenia

It's a very unhappy situation. |||nieszczęśliwa|

A lot of people fled, displaced people to other parts of Ukraine, |||||déplacées|||||| ||||fled|forced to relocate|||||| ||||flüchteten|vertriebene|||||| |||||yerinden edilmiş|||||| |||||آواره‌شده|||||| |||||避難した|||||| ||||huyeron|||||||

some fled to Russia, a total death toll is supposedly around 15,000. |||||||bilan||| |||||total|death|toll||presumibilmente| |||||||bilancio delle vittime||| |huyeron|||un|||peaje de muertes||supuestamente| |||||||ofiar|||

I followed it every day.

And so with that my Ukrainian comprehension improved.

Now, uh, I, at some point I said, I should start speaking Ukrainian, very

difficult to do because I'm so used to speaking Russian, but I had a Russian ||||||accustomed|||||||| трудно сделать, потому что я так привык говорить по-русски, но у меня был русский

tutor who was actually from Ukraine. nauczyciel||||| репетитор, который был на самом деле из Украины.

And so slowly, slowly, I started speaking Ukrainian with her. И так медленно-медленно я начал говорить с ней по-украински.

She subsequently immigrated to the United States with her husband and family. ||emigrowała||||||||| |daha sonra|||||||||| |successivamente|||||||||| |Posteriormente|||||||||| Впоследствии она иммигрировала в Соединенные Штаты с мужем и семьей.

Uh, then I found two more tutors, one in Lviv and one in Dnipro. |||||||||Lviv||||Dnipro |||||||||Lviv||||Dnipro ||||||nauczycieli|||||||Dniepr А потом я нашла еще двух репетиторов, одного во Львове и одного в Днепре.

Uh, the one in Dnipro eventually at some point, uh, with all of the shelling going ||||||||||||||bombardement| ||||||||||||||bombardment| ||||||||||||||bombardeio| ||||||||||||||topçu ateşi| ||||||||||||||bombardamenti| ||||||||||||||ostrzał| ||||||||||||||bombardeo|

on back and forth across the demarcation line and people living, uh, without ||||||demarcation|||||| ||||||sınır çizg|||||| |||wprzód|||linii demarkacyjnej|linii||||| ||y|hacia adelante|||||||||

gas, without water, I said, I want to do something to help those people.

Uh, my, uh, Ukrainian tutor in Dnipro introduced me to

this small non-governmental organization in a ...which is a |||دولتی|||||| |||gouvernementale|||||| |||governmental|||||| |||governativo|||||| |||rządowej|||||| эта небольшая неправительственная организация в ... которая является

suburb of the city of Donetsk. banlieue||||| suburb||||| şehir dışı||||| suburbio||||| przedmieście|||||

And every quarter I sent the money so that they could buy, um, you |her çeyrek|||||||||||| ||trimestre|||||||||||

know, diapers for old people. |couches||| |diapers||| |fraldas geriátr||| |yaşlılar için||| |pannolini||| |پوشک بزرگسالان||| |pieluchy||| |おむつ||| |Pañales para adultos|||

We built, uh, kitchens for school, for a school, a little park. ||||||||||petit| |||cucine|||||||| |||آشپزخانه‌ها|||||||| |||cocinas|||||||| |||キッチン|||||||| |||kuchnie||||||||

They did a whole bunch of stuff to improve the quality of life of those people. ||||mucchio|||||||||||

I eventually did visit, was very well received. ||||||well| |||||||ağırlanmış

Kids were singing and dancing and, uh, I got the bread and salt ||||tańczyć|||||||| ||cantando||||||||||sal y pan

treatment and, uh, and most people in Eastern Ukraine speak Russian, tratamiento|||||||||| лечение и, ну, и большинство людей на востоке Украины говорят по-русски,

but some of them do speak Ukrainian. но некоторые из них говорят по-украински.

So I went there.

I was also in Kiev and then I was in Lviv, which is a wonderful city. ||||کی‌یف||||||||||| ||||||||||Lviv|||||

And again, when we're talking about the sort of connections of languages |||||||||связей|| |||||||||powiązań||

and peoples one of the other aside from Radio Svoboda, another major source |||||||||رادیو آزادی||| ||||||à part|||||| ||uno||||||||otra fuente|| ラジオ・スヴォボダ以外の人々、別の主要な情報源

of my, uh, listening and reading in Ukrainian was the history of Ukraine.

And I have a number of these, um, audio books, eBooks, I in

particular liked lay on it, uh, Leonid Zalizniak. ||||||Leonid|Zalizniak |liked|lay||||Leonid|Zalizniak |beğenilen|yatan||||| ||||||Leonid|Zalizniak ||||||لئونید زالیزنیاک| |gustaba|acostarse sobre||||Leonid Zalizniak|Zalizniak ||leżał|na|||Leonid|Zalizniak

And so I listened and listened to listen to and read in Ukrainian. |||||listened||||||| |ve böylece|||||||||||

I discovered lo and behold, what I didn't realize that Ukraine had ahistory which ||||||||||||une histoire| ||||||||||||a history| ben|keşfettim||ve|||||||||bir tarihi| ||||ecco||||||||una storia| ||ببینید||نگاه کن||||||||| ||||||||||||historię|którą ||||||||||||歴史| yo||"he aquí"||he aquí||||||||una historia|

involved the original ... which involved being invaded by the Mongols, which |||||||||مغول‌ها| ||||||invaded|||| |||la cual||||||| dotyczyło|||które|||||||

then involved them being conquered by the Lithuanians who are welcomed by the ||||покорены|||||||| ||||||||||accueillis|| ||||being conquered = being defeated|||Lithuanians||||| ||||fethedilmek|||||||| ||||||||||bien recibidos por|| ||||||||||歓迎される|| ||||podbici||||||||

Ukrainians because they were pushing back against the Mongols, uh, that eventually ||||pushing||||||| |||||||||||eventualmente

become becomes the Lithuanian, Polish or Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. ||||||||Commonwealth |||Lithuanian|||||Commonwealth convertirse en||||||||Mancomunidad

The Poles, uh, but, but there's a whole history of, of interaction |Poles|||||||||| |||||||||||interakcji los|los polacos||||||||||

between Ukrainians and Poles. |||polacchi |||polacos

And so that the vocabulary in Ukrainian is closer to Polish. ||||||||plus proche|| ||||||||bliższe||

I don't know if the Poles influenced the Ukrainian language or the Ukrainians ||||||wpłynęli||||||

influenced the Polish language, or they all came from some church Slavonic. ||||||||||église| ||||||||||church|Slavonic |||||||||||slavo |||||||||||اسلاوی کلیسا |||||||||||słowiańskiego ||||||||||教会|スラヴ語 ||||||||||iglesia ortodoxa|eslavo eclesiástico

I have no idea, but the fact is that from a vocabulary point of