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Romanization of Ukrainian facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is a way to write Ukrainian words using the letters of the Latin alphabet. These are the letters you are reading right now!

People use Latinization to help non-Ukrainian speakers read or pronounce Ukrainian words. It's like translating the way words look or sound from one alphabet to another.

There are two main ways to do this: transliteration and transcription.

What is Transliteration?

Transliteration is like a direct letter-for-letter swap. It means you take each letter from the Ukrainian alphabet (called Cyrillic) and replace it with a specific letter or group of letters from the Latin alphabet. This method is mainly used for written text.

Scholarly Transliteration

One common way to transliterate is called the "international scholarly system." You often see this system in books about languages, especially Slavic languages like Ukrainian. It tries to make sure that each Ukrainian letter has its own unique Latin letter or combination, so there's no confusion. It's based on the Croatian Latin alphabet.

What is Transcription?

Transcription is different because it focuses on how words are spoken, not just how they are written. It tries to capture every sound you hear. This can be very detailed and is often used by language experts to compare different ways people speak a language (different dialects). It's more specific than transliteration because it deals with sounds, not just letters.

How Ukrainian Letters Change to Latin Letters

This table shows some common ways Ukrainian letters are changed into Latin letters. You'll see that some Ukrainian letters can be written in different ways depending on the system used!

Common systems for latinization Ukrainian
Cyrillic Scholarly Nationala French German
А а a a a a
Б б b b b b
В в v v v w
Г г h h, ghb h h
Ґ ґ g g g g
Д д d d d d
Е е e e e e
Є є je ie, yec ie je
Ж ж ž zh j sh
З з z z z s
И и y y y y
І і i i i i
Ї ї ji i, yic ï, yi ji
Й й j i, yc i j
К к k k k k
Л л l l l l
М м m m m m
Н н n n n n
О о o o o o
П п p p p p
Р р r r r r
С с s s s s, ss
Т т t t t t
У у u u ou u
Ф ф f f f f
Х х x or ch kh kh ch
Ц ц c ts ts z
Ч ч č ch tch tsch
Ш ш š sh ch sch
Щ щ šč sch chtch schtsch
Ю ю ju iu, yuc iou ju
Я я ja ia, yac ia ja
Ь ь ′ ’ – –
’ - ” – –
  • Sometimes, transliteration is made simpler:
    • When consonants like ж, х, ц, ч, ш are doubled, they are often written as a single letter. For example, Запоріжжя becomes Zaporizhia.
    • The apostrophe and soft sign (Ь ь) are usually left out, except for ьо and ьї, which are always written as ’o and ’i.

b. The gh is used when romanizing зг (zgh). This helps avoid confusing it with ж (zh). c. The second way of writing is used when the letter is at the very beginning of a word.

Images for kids

  • Uzhevych Arras MS-7b

    This image shows part of an old manuscript.

  • Peremyčka, turistické značení

    Here you can see Czech transliteration of Ukrainian words on hiking signs in Transcarpathia. However, some words like "Ust Corna" should be "Usť Čorna," and "Bliznica" should be "Blyznycja."

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