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Introduction to Ukrainian language and culture
Introduction to Ukrainian language and culture

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4.1 False friends

There are several letters in the Ukrainian alphabet which look like English letters but which are pronounced differently. These are: в, н, р, с, х, у. Last week you were learning vowels and hopefully you can read Ukrainian letter у correctly already: y [u] __. There is one more letter which resembles English letter b but which is written slightly differently: this is ь (soft sign), and you will learn what it is used for this week.

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Audio 32 transcript: read, listen and repeat.
в Ва – ав во – ов ву – ув ве – ев ви – ив ві – ів
н на – ан но – он ну – ун не – ен ни – ин ні – ін
р ра - ар ро – ор ру – ур ре – ер ри – ир рі – ір
с са – ас со – ос су – ус се – ес си – ис сі – іс
х ха – ах хо – ох ху - ух хе – ех хи – их хі – іх

Activity 3

Timing: 10 minutes

Try reading some common Ukrainian names and then listen to the audio to check yourself. In this activity, read first, then listen.

Ніна, Роман, Іван, Оксана, Ірина, Віктор.

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Audio 33
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