Ukrainian belongs to the family of Slavic languages, namely Eastern Slavic, being an Indo-European language. It’s official in Ukraine and at a regional level in Moldova (Transnistria). Ukrainian is spoken by about 40 million people all over the world, especially in significant immigrant communities in Canada, Brazil, the USA. and also in nearby countries such as Romania, Russia and Moldova. Along its history of non-recognition and bans, Ukrainian survived in the folklore and national identity to rank today at the 26th position in the world.
Ukrainian derives from the Old Slavic language, having developed from its eastern dialects. It’s a direct descendant of the Eastern Slavic language spoken in the Medieval area of Kievan Rus. Ukrainian suffered the strong impact of neighboring languages, most considerably Russian, Belarusian, Polish and Slovak.
Official Language
Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine. It’s also official at a regional level in Transnistria, in Moldova. All through its history, the Ukrainian language has been non-recognized as official or banned, but today it’s spoken by about 40 million people. Ukrainian ethnic groups inhabit areas in Romania, Moldova, Russia, and significant immigrants’ communities have been formed in the USA, Canada and Brazil.
Source of photo: http://www.ukrajinci.sk/images/ukrainian_spread.jpg