Script guide › Cyrillic
Russian vs Ukrainian
Russian and Ukrainian sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's Cyrillic group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Ukrainian has the dotted і and ї; Russian has ы and э instead. A dotted i in Cyrillic means Ukraine. On street signs, Ukrainian shortens вулиця (street) to вул., Russian улица to ул.
Side by side
Russian
Все люди рождаются свободными и равными.
Здравствуйте! Это Москва — столица России.
Старый друг лучше новых двух.
Russian's own tells
- Has ы and э (plus rarer ъ, ё); uses и but never the dotted і.
- The 'default' Cyrillic — no extra bars, hooks or accents.
On signs in:
- Russia
- Belarus
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Tajikistan
Ukrainian
Всі люди народжуються вільними і рівними.
Київ — столиця України.
Борітеся — поборете!
Ukrainian's own tells
- Has і, ї, є and ґ — a dotted i in Cyrillic text means Ukrainian.
- If you see ы, ъ or э instead, it's Russian.
On signs in:
- Ukraine