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June 2022: Translations Ukrainian in 2022
Our parent company Alexxtec translates more into Ukrainian than into other languages for the first time in June 2022. We and our European clients know why this has happened: it's the war. There are many refugees from Ukraine in Germany who need help. For them, we translate reports, information brochures, update the information of various institutions on websites, such as cities, municipalities and ministries every day.
Ukrainian is not Russian
Although every refugee from Ukraine also speaks Russian, and most refugees are known to come from eastern areas of Ukraine where more Russian is spoken than Ukrainian, we do translations into the official language of the country, Ukrainian.
Both languages, Russian and Ukrainian, are related and similar, but they are two different languages. Very briefly, the explanation.
Russian and Ukrainian have the same roots: Old East Slavic. In the time of Kievan Rus (the great medieval empire), which is considered the forerunner state of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - dialects of the language were spoken by the ancestors of modern Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
After the decline of Kievan Rus, the division of the state and the formation of new states, the dialects consequently evolved into two distinct languages: Russian and Ukrainian. The degree of affinity between these languages is comparable to Portuguese and Spanish or Dutch and German.
While Russian was spoken around the new centre of Moscow and far to the east, Ukrainian territories were divided between several countries, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Rzeczpospolita, predecessor of today's Poland. Due to these geopolitical differences, the Russian and Ukrainian languages further differentiated: Ukrainian, for example, mixed with Polish, Hungarian, Austrian and Romanian. Russian, on the other hand, was influenced more by Latin and French during the tsarist era (but also Polish, among others) and developed into its modern form that we know today.
We translate for Ukrainians into Ukrainian and Russian
Our office is known in Europe as a technical translation agency, among other things we have carried out many translation projects for Ukraine since 2001, but at the moment we translate all kinds of documents and texts into Ukrainian, hardly any technical content. This information is intended for refugees from Ukraine who are in Germany. We all hope, soon we will be busy again with our technical translations to restore the factories in Ukraine. We have provided technical documentation for many factories in Ukraine over the last 30 years, now some of them have been destroyed by bombs and missiles. Technical translations in Ukrainian are still to come, our partners - companies from Germany and Austria - are sure of that.
But there is still a long way to go. For example, at the moment we are constantly translating documents from the Federal Ministry of Health about the Corona vaccinations, which is still current, as well as other documentation on the subject of medical care. On the other hand, we translate information brochures from the various cities and municipalities about educational opportunities, language courses, job opportunities for refugees, etc.
In Wuppertal, our headquarters, the boss sometimes also interprets personally, time permitting, at authorities and banks with Ukrainians, together with numerous volunteers from the city. Ukrainian citizens still speak Russian and have no problems with it. We don't know what will happen next, including with our technical translations. One can assume that Russian will disappear from official life. In any case, we are ready to translate for Ukraine and Ukrainians into both languages - Russian and Ukrainian.
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