Getting to Know Ukrainian: Resources

Helpful links for individual learners of Ukrainian Language and Culture.

My school years of learning English were filled with all sorts of strange knowledge from a variety of textbooks and generations, and I vividly remember that one learner’s video with the topic “food” where an English housewife placed a huge pan of boiled vegetables on the family table, and put a whole boiled vegetable unpeeled on the plates of her numerous silent children. For some time I thought it was exactly how British people eat.

So, when I started to teach Ukrainian for Beginners in UK, and found some old Canadian textbooks of Ukrainian diaspora that featured professions like shoe cleaner, I caught a tiny flashback. And started to search for materials in different media that would help my students get some more understanding of Ukrainian life today.

Here are some of the resources from my list that might help anyone to get to know Ukrainian culture and language via film, podcasts, books and the allmighty YouTube.

Films

Takflix is an independent contemporary Ukrainian online cinema. The films have english subtitles. There is a small feel (between 1–2 pounds) for each film, but some are free.

My favourites are:

1. My Thoughts Are Silent — a very popular comedy about mother-son relationships, very light in a sort of Wes Anderson style, and a good way to spend an evening.

My thoughts are silent

2. Enter through the Balcony — a lovely documentary about Ukrainians’ deep love for making all sorts of insane balconies.

Enter Through the Balcony

3. I work at the cemetery — a dark comedy, again about family relationships as well as a bizarre cemetery mafia of Kyiv.

I Work at the Cemetery

4. Earth — a complex, but beautiful classic film by Olexandr Dovzhenko, made as a propaganda of the Soviet union, but, as it often happened, a talented attempt to bend the rules and show what Ukraine has always been about, the earth.

Earth

5. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors — one of the most beautiful films in Ukrainian history. A story of Romeo and Juliet from Carpathian mountains, based on a classic novella by Ivan Kotsyubynsky (our Stefan Zweig):

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

New Releases that might get to the big screens in 2023:

1. Pamfir (May, 5, UK) — a beautiful film set in Carpathian Mountains — all Ukrainians I know loved it.

2. Amsterdam, Amsterdam (?) — I hope this film will be also available in cinemas soon. A comedy.

3. Mavka. The Forest Song. — a Disney style cartoon for the whole family. It appeared to be quite popullar in France.

Youtube

1. Ukrainer — all about geography, travel and culture, a resource I use for numerous classes.

https://www.youtube.com/@UkrainerinEnglish
in Ukrainian with English Subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/@ukrainernet

2. Fantastic Ukrainians (arts and culture): https://www.youtube.com/@user-gg3ul1wk3b

3. A popular travel food blog: https://www.youtube.com/@misha_katsurin

4. And another one, now featuring many cities during wartime

5. News & humour (by far one of the most popular humorous channel, a bit in style of Night Live shows in Ukrainian, the English channel is a bit more serious and dedicated to the war):

https://www.youtube.com/@UkrainianTorontoTelevision (Eng)

https://www.youtube.com/@uttoronto (UA)

5. Tymothy Snyder and his History of Ukraine — very interesting to listen, plus, Snyder knows how to pronounce Ukrainian names and cities, which is a rare gift:

6. And of course Khastoria, the project about urban legends of Kharkiv I am making with my colleague Viktoriia Ivanova:

https://www.youtube.com/@khastoria

Books

1. I’ve gathered a short list of my favourite authors in English here: https://medium.com/@viktoriagrivina/ukrainian-authors-in-english-essential-list-7f59fec27246
2. Also check out HURI, they publish amazing new novels: https://huri.harvard.edu/
3. The main Ukrainian book geek website in English and Ukrainian: https://chytomo.com/en/
4. https://www.apofenie.com/ — literary magazine that covers Ukraine among other topics.

Podcasts:

New books podcast: https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/peoples-places/ukrainian-studies

News and Philosophy by well-known Ukrainian intellectuals: https://ukraineworld.org/podcasts/

Tymothy Snyder’s audio lectures: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gwIT6SlDmPVdjAnN6NHft

Have a lovely introduction to Ukrainian world (and don’t give your children boiled carrots for dinner :-)