Ukraine is calling!

[Galochka]

Hello! I'm from Ukraine. Does anybody know smth about this wonderful country? If yes - what do you think of it?

[Culturist]

Hello! I'm from the Ukraine. Does anybody know sonmething about this wonderful country? If so, then what will you think of it?

1. Now being independent for the very first time in its history (in earlier times: it was either part of the Polish Commonwealth or of the Russian [Communist] Empire)
2. The Romantic movement gave the country its national poet, Taras Shevtshenko.
3. Russia and the Ukraine have the same roots and so do language and culture.
4. The Ukraine, if translated into English, means "border country" and is the second biggest European country, only Russia is even bigger It is likely to join the EU at some time in future.
5. Its neighbouring countries are as follows: Poland, Belo-Russia, Romania and Hungry.
6. It is well known for its charming beautiful women.
7. The language and culture are said to have a lot more in common with the Polish than with the Russian.
8. In the south of the country, many people still speak Russian rather than Ukrainian. Therefore, there are two official languages.
9. The Cossaks are considered to symbolise the nation.
10. In its history, the Cossaks were the only Ukrainians to be free, and even most of Russia´s tsars respected this bunch of warriors on horseback roaming the steppes, often rather allying with them than making an enemy of.

[Galochka]

Very good! I have only 2 amendments: we have only one official language - Ukrainian and "Ukraine" doesn't mean "border coutry", yes there is smth similar to this meaning in Russian language, but not in Ukrainian.
And how do you know so much about Ukraine?

[Culturist]

Very good! I have only 2 amendments: we have only one official language - Ukrainian and "Ukraine" doesn't mean "border coutry", yes there is smth similar to this meaning in Russian language, but not in Ukrainian.
And how do you know so much about Ukraine?

Hey, you asked .

[Culturist]

Hello! I'm from the Ukraine. Does anybody know sonmething about this wonderful country? If so, then what will you think of it?

1. Now being independent for the very first time in its history (in earlier times: it was either part of the Polish Commonwealth or of the Russian [Communist] Empire)
2. The Romantic movement gave the country its national poet, Taras Shevtshenko.
3. Russia and the Ukraine have the same roots and so do language and culture.
4. The Ukraine, if translated into English, means "border country" and is the biggest European country, only Russia is even bigger. It is likely to join the EU at some time in future.
5. Its neighbouring countries are as follows: Poland, Belo-Russia, Romania and Hungry.
6. It is well known for its charming beautiful women.
7. The language and culture are said to have a lot more in common with the Polish than with the Russian.
8. In the south of the country, many people still speak Russian rather than Ukrainian. Therefore, there are two official languages.
9. The Cossaks are now considered to symbolise the nation.
10. In its history, the Cossaks were the only Ukrainians to be free, and even most of Russia´s tsars respected this bunch of warriors on horseback roaming the steppes, often rather allying with them than making an enemy of.

11. The Ukrainian language originated in the 19th century, when the East Slavonic languages differentiated from each other.

12. The contribution of the Cossacks to the Ukrainian is a rich folk culture.

[Culturist]

Very good! I have only 2 amendments: we have only one official language - Ukrainian and "Ukraine" doesn't mean "border coutry"; and yes, there is sth. close to this meaning in the Russian language, but not in the Ukrainian.
And why do you know so much about the Ukraine?

Hey, you asked .

[Culturist]

Hello! I'm from the Ukraine. Does anybody know sonmething about this wonderful country? If so, then what will you think of it?

1. Now being independent for the very first time in its history (in earlier times: it was either part of the Polish Commonwealth or of the Russian [Communist] Empire)
2. The Romantic movement gave the country its national poet, Taras Shevtshenko.
3. Russia and the Ukraine have the same roots and so do language and culture.
4. The Ukraine, if translated into English, means "border country" and is the second biggest European country, only Russia is even bigger. It is likely to join the EU at some time in future.
5. Its neighbouring countries are as follows: Poland, Belo-Russia, Romania and Hungry.
6. It is well known for its charming beautiful women.
7. The language and culture are said to have a lot more in common with the Polish than with the Russian.
8. In the south of the country, many people still speak Russian rather than Ukrainian. Therefore, there are two official languages.
9. The Cossaks are considered to symbolise the nation.
10. In its history, the Cossaks were the only Ukrainians to be free, and even most of Russia´s tsars respected this bunch of warriors on horseback roaming the steppes, often rather allying with them than making an enemy of.

[Galochka]

Thank you for correcting my errors - this is a good idea But I thought that we didn't use an article before proper names
But you still didn't answered! Why do you know so much about the Ukraine? Maybe you have relatives here?

[Culturist]

Thank you for correcting my errors - this is a good idea But I thought that we didn't use an article before proper names
But you haven´t answered (my question [to you]) yet! Why do you know so much about the Ukraine? Maybe you have relatives here.

As for the English article used in country names, please feel free to learn more about that intersting linguistic phenomen here: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/ukraine.html. Or if the acutally selected homepage does not pop up, click here to seek it: http://www.google.com/search?q=the+ukra ... lz=1I7RNWE.

Gosh, you seem to be curious about that as hell, but at last to answer your questions, no, I don´t really have any relatives in the whole Eastern European area, but in the past I did use to date enough enchanting beautiful women from there to now know more about its history and cultures than perhaps indeed the majority of Western Europeans (inclusive of my country(wo-)men, of course) may do or (even) care for.

[Galochka]

So, as far as I understood, we can use both "Ukraine" and "the Ukraine", yes?

But you have never been here, are you?

[Culturist]

So, as far as I understood, we can use both "Ukraine" and "the Ukraine", can´t we?

But you have never been here, have you?

1) No, you are wrong there. According to the article, "the Ukraine" is nowadays regarded as being old-fashioned.

2) No, I have never visited Ukraine yet, but I have been to Poland three or four times now, and I actually speak a little Polish. It may be a beautiful language (at least for me), but then it is very difficult to learn, which is mainly due to that particularly complex case system.

[Galochka]

1. Then why did you correct me if "Ukraine" - my variant - is more common nowdays&
2. Polish and Ukrainian languages have a lot of general features, they are rather alike. But for you to learn Ukrainian would be more difficult than Polish, because of different original appearance of letters in our alphabet

[Culturist]

1. Then why did you correct me if "Ukraine" - my variant - is more common nowdays&
2. Polish and Ukrainian languages have a lot of general features, they are rather alike. But for you to learn Ukrainian would be even/much more difficult than Polish, because of the different original appearance of letters in our alphabet

1. Because, before reading the article, I had not known that yours was the now standard variant. Or in other words, it was only by that article that I learned about the article having become out-fashioned today.

2. Polish will therefore definitely remain both the first and last Slavonic language I have ever voluntarily learnt.

[Galochka]

How can you say this! Now, after knowing me, you have to learn Ukrainian!

[Culturist]

How can you say that?/How dare you to say that? Now, after knowing me, you will (, of course,) have to learn Ukrainian!

If you are (dead) serious about that, then no thanks because there is no really (current) need for it. And if indeed I am ever to date any more Eastern European women at all again, then they will certainly be any gentle Poles (Urok polskich kobiet jest niezrównany ). After all, who else but if not they will, of course, then be the most likely to help me in improving my Polish? Apart from that, in the western region of Ukraine, where the country borders with Poland, there´s still a considerable Polish-speaking minority even today, people would certainly understand me if I spoke Polish there, and they would certainly not bother except if I spoke Russian, which I don´t know, nor will I probably ever feel urged to change anything about that.