The Difference between Russian and Belarusian language

[@MCKevin289]

I’m studying Ukrainian, but some of the Belarusian I understood. It sounds a lot more like Ukrainian or Polish than Russian.

[@dymytryruban4324]

Lexically - yes, grammatically and morphologically - not so much. Keep in mind that grammar and morphology are less likely to be borrowed from neighboring languages than vocabulary.

[@russian_supremacy]

Polish occupation had too much influence

[@derkonig162]

ukrainian is a useless language only spoken by bandera nazis

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@dymytryruban4324 Some elements of grammar and morphology of the Belarusian language were forcefully changed to Russian during the 1933 reform.

[@pavel012]

Ukrainian is the closest to Belarusian (have read some comparisons - up to 70% of words have same common bases), they were formed in Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where a protolanguage of these both was used as a state one.

[@stranger1625]

I am Polish and I really like this language, it is said to be the most similar East Slavic language to Polish

[@NoName-yw1pt]

Of course they are. Belarus borders Poland

[@stranger1625]

@@NoName-yw1pt Ukraine and Russia too

[@PiotrFilipek]

​@@NoName-yw1pt Belarus and Ukraine historicaly was in Polish borders.

[@NoName-yw1pt]

@@PiotrFilipek Lithuanian too

[@dibi5597]

it's quite similar to polish too. i hear somethimes "radio wnet" and the auditions in belarusian language, and i can understand it quite good. i'm a polish native speaker, i hear a lot of russian and ukrainian language at my job, but belarusian is more understandable than the two others:)

[@martinkullberg6718]

Belarussian is my fav slavic language, it sounds softer, (thus what I noticed in a video from youtube channel :I love languages )

[@anyazelyaeva4135]

My grandmother is from Belarus. She is living in Russia now. It’s nice to hear some Belarusian words. I’d have loved to be able to speak it!

[@kingsoloman42]

My last name translates to pear I’m proud to have this ancestry as an American

[@johnbrzeczyszczykiewicz5972]

Lexically Belarusian is very close to Polish, but sounds so much closer to Russian sound wise. It's like a bridge between the two languages. Knowing Polish and a good amount of Russian makes it incredibly easy for me to understand.

[@yuriydee]

I really like Belarusian letter ў. For example we have the word вовк (wolf) in Ukrainian but in reality it is pronounced as "воўк". I wish we had a letter for that English "w" sound as well. I speak Rusyn and Ukraine natively (and Russian as well) and it very easy to understand Belarusian. It sounds like Russian but spoken with a Ukrainian/Polish pronunciation. Very cool language.

[@stranger1625]

As a Pole, I completely agree

[@censord6960]

in fact, in Ukraine, the letter в is not the same as in Russia. It's something between V and W (or в and ў in belarusian). With different vowels it will be closer to ў or to в but this is only because Ukrainian В is specific

[@LeendertCordemans]

Me as Dutchman, we use the letter W and v as is pronounced how we writen. Only it sounds harder. I try to lurn the east slavic language and theire cyrillic letters. I like it. And theire history.

[@yukas1ngas]

I agree. It could be great to add in Russian. So Dr. Watson (from Sherlock Holmes) could be "У'атсон" not "Уотсон"(as in books) or "Ватсон" (in films)

[@Eowyn42]

​@@censord6960yes indeed. Before vowels в is [ʋ~β̞~w]. Usually [w] before /u/ and /ɔ/, sometimes [β̞] before /a/, /ɛ/, and /ɪ/, sometimes [ʋ] before /ɛ/ and /ɪ/, and always /ʋ/ (could be unpalatalized) before /i/.

[@TheGPolyglot-Swe]

Oh, now I know the difference between Belarusian and Russian. Thanks a lot for this great video! 😊

[@Logofat_Valassky]

Ahoj Dima, pre nás Slovákov (narodený v 1970 a 1977) je rovnako zrozumiteĺná aj bieloruština aj ruština. Náhrada spoluhlasok "G-H-CH" je v slovanskych jazykoch znamym lingvistickym javom ktory rozdeluje najmä severo-, stredo- a juho- slovanské reči. Naše slovenské "Do-videnia" obsahuje viac z ruskej formy "Da-s-vidania", ale v slovenskych nárečiach máme aj formu "Z-bačiť" ="U-vidiet" ktora ma spoločný koreň s bieloruským "Do-z-bačenia":)

[@Sasha_Plygareva]

прывітанне, Дзіма, дзякуй за гэта цікавае відэа. Мне падабаюцца твае відэа пра вывучэнне і адрозненні беларускай мовы ад іншых славянскіх моў. месяц таму я толькі пачаў размаўляць на беларускім узроўні з кнігамі і г.д., і як толькі я знайшоў ваш канал, мне стала НАМНОГА лепш і цяпер я напісаў увесь гэты допіс! (магчыма, некаторыя памылкі) дзякуй вялікі! яшчэ адна славянская мова завершана, яшчэ 9! да пабачэння і дзякуй!

[@andrzejmotek3344]

I wish all Belorussian will do the same, I mean will use belorussian language in everyday life, udaci i priwiet c Polshi

[@aldyleeson]

It's interesting that the G sound pronounced in Bielorusian is pronounced like the G in Dutch. In Russian the G sound is pronounced like in English or any other Latin language.

[@AmbuhsinghUK]

Belarusian to Russian is like Patois to English (UK). What the languages hear in the original will be written and said exactly like those combined with their native terms.

[@dinasamashki2864]

Hi Dima. Привет из Австралии! Thank you for the video - very helpful. Belarusian is nice . It is so similar to Polish - I could understand a lot of the words. Knowing Polish and a good amount of Russian helps. 😍😍😍

[@Tatsiana_Ravinskaya_1]

Dima, thanks! great video! I live in Belarus and love the Belarusian language very much. Thank you for telling the world about our country. It was interesting to hear the differences, Belarusian is much softer than Russian. Best wishes!

[@roberts3586]

Very interesting video Dima. Like others I was also wondering about the difference between your two native languages. You state that you are not a teacher but I disagree! You are a natural born teacher as your instincts on how to teach language is so appropriate. I am only going to concentrate on Russian so as to keep it simple for my easily confused mind. Thanks for all the effort that you put into your teaching!! Rob 🇨🇦

[@friendlydima1111]

Thanks a lot!!!

[@robertab929]

Bardzo dobrze. Dobrze, że pokazałeś różnice między oboma językami.

[@drownedharbour]

This was very informative- I really appreciate your explanation, you did a grand job of being thorough enough to give a proper understanding without overwhelming a newcomer with too much information. I admit I may not have the cultural or linguistic knowledge to have picked up on all of the smaller details myself (I’m an Irishman who speaks some Russian) but your video did a very good job of answering my curiosity even so! Cheers mate!

[@husbanana]

The difference between Russian and Belarusian: 1.Vocabulary. There is a big difference in vocabulary. Although during the Soviet period of Russification a lot of Russian vocabulary was added to the Belarusian language, the difference is still quite large, which plays a big role in the fact that these languages are not fully mutually intelligible. A big difference in vocabulary is due to the fact that the Belarusian language had very little influence from the Church Slavonic language, because Belarusians were Uniates and preferred the traditionally Eastern Slavic vocabulary, as well as it had a large influence from Poland with a large number of Polish, Latin and German loanwords, while the Russian vocabulary has a large number of words from Church Slavonic, French and Turkic languages. Ukrainian and even Polish, which are in a different group, have more vocabulary in common than Belarusian and Russian. I also have experience that Belarusian-speaking children who do not know Russian do not understand it very well, and the same can be said about Russians who, depending on the complexity of the text, are unlikely to understand more than 50-70% of it even with a lot of effort. 2. Grammar. In terms of grammar, Belarusian and Russian are quite close, but it should be noted that the reforms in 1933 eliminated several grammatical elements of Belarusian (which, by the way, are normal for modern Ukrainian). For example, the imperfect form of the future tense, the Slavic analogue of the past perfect, the vocative case, and many more. This has done a lot of harm in the perception of Belarusian as "Russian with Polish vocabulary." Also, in the western regions, until quite recently, parts of Polish grammar could often be heard from the old generation. 3. Phonetics. Belarusian sounds very similar to Polish, with a lot of -sh, -sch, -ch, -dz, and so on. It also has a lot in common with literary Ukrainian, the only difference is that Belarusian has "tsekanne" and "dzekanne," and in general, Ukrainian sounds more singsong. For Russian speakers, it will not be easy to understand Belarusian at a fast pace, and reading words like ščučynščyna will be a suicide mission for them. So despite the fact that all Belarusians speak Russian, the Belarusian language is very different from Russian and they are not fully mutually intelligible.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

Regarding the vocabulary. I think that it's also necessary to mention that there's no precise 1:1 map between Russian and Belarusian words. Some examples: language (English) - мова (Belarusian) - язык (Russian) tongue (English) - язык (Belarusian) - язык (Russian) world (English) - свет (Belarusian) - мир (Russian) peace (English) - мір (Belarusian) - мир (Russian) butter (English) - масла (Belarusian) - масло (Russian) oil (English) - алей (Belarusian) - масло (Russian) Also there are a lot of the so called "false friends". A Belarusian word may sound perfectly familiar to a Russian person, but its actual meaning is different and unexpected. Just a few examples: свет (world) - свет (light) нядзеля (Sunday) - неделя (week) ангельскі (English) - ангельский (belonging to an angel) благі (bad) - благой (good) пытаць (to ask) - пытать (to torture) другі (second) - другой (other) трус (rabbit) - трус (coward) качка (duck) - качка (sea rolling) гадзіна (hour) - гадина (fiend) тактычны (tactical) - тактичный (tactful)

[@jiritichy7967]

I do not have a problem with scuscynscyna (do not have the softening inverted roof sign).

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@jiritichy7967 The word "Шчучыншчына" / "Ščučynščyna" / "Szczuczynszczyna" is supposed to be difficult to pronounce correctly for the Russians because of their "щ" sound, but for non-Russians mileage varies. There's a parody music video about this particular word: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aquzmY2NmtGcarc

[@Montagnard_DePeshxo]

Belarusian is completely understandable. At least, when I heard it at first time (Slava Komissarenko’s performance) it sounds like russian with a broken accent (or like understandable ukranian).

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@Montagnard_DePeshxo Are you talking about the following Slava Komissarenko’s video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6uUoXSDp7x_mq8 ? If you are Ukrainian, then it's not surprising, because there's really a lot of shared vocabulary. There are also Belarusian audio books in the "Kamunikat - Беларуская інтэрнэт-бібліятэка" youtube channel.

[@211jump]

I’m fluent in Ukrainian and have studied the ukrainian language pretty extensively. It’s interesting how similar belarusian and ukrainian can be :) I wish Belarusian was more commonly spoken in Belarus.

[@love_for_travel]

I am Ukrainian and I was surprised, how close Belarusian is to Ukrainian language, when I first heard speech in it. I think it is the closest language to Ukrainian. I feel so sorry, that it is us not so widely used, even in Belarus.

[@211jump]

@ Ukrainian and Belarusian are such unique beautiful languages. It’s sad that Belarusian is so suppressed. I pray that one day, their language will no longer be suppressed.

[@loading...7583]

Thank you for this video. As an American i can’t tell the difference. Now i see some difference! Thank you!!

[@airsoftsurvivalsk1701]

i speak rusyn language,slovak and russian and i have no problem to understand you, it is like a mix of Rusyn and Russian great video

[@benburns5995]

Thanks so much for giving me the link to this video to answer my question from the other video. As an English speaker, I think you got your point across very well about the difference. I feel bad for the children, being taught Belarusian language in school and having to speak Russian also. Thanks again for this video, very informative. One thing I find very difficult with Russian is that the pronunciation sounds nothing like the spelling looks.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

Teaching the Belarusian language in school doesn't make anything worse. After having been taught at a young age, the Belarusians can speak either language without any noticeable accent. They just basically master a wider set of sounds than it would be necessary for only the Belarusian or only the Russian language alone. Though some people in comments complained about Dima's pronunciation of the Russian "щ". I believe that the mismatch between spelling and pronunciation is even worse in English. On the other hand, modern people are able to read the original Shakespeare texts because the written English hasn't changed too much since then. And this can work as an advantage.

[@МатвейБеккер-р2ь]

Good day Dima, English is my native language, I can speak some Russian and considering learning Belarusian. I really like this video))

[@friendlydima1111]

If you wanna know more about Belarusian language, a can recording a new video about it!

[@МатвейБеккер-р2ь]

@@friendlydima1111, it'll be great thanks!

[@Александр-б2ы5ч]

Адна памылка. Жадаю міру, а не свету. Гэта як у англійскай world і piece, у беларускай свет і мір, а ў рускай адно слова мир мае 2 значэнні

[@kazazim8396]

Nice explanation. You can teach afterall. Well done.

[@friendlydima1111]

Thank you!

[@TheLemminkainen]

strange friend in estonian is sõber sounds really like ябар. I subscribed bro!

[@URAN_235_URAN]

Good video, good explanation. I could understand good the difference as I’m polish. Have a nice day :)

[@alkamino]

Love this video. You are the best for sharing this unique knowledge

[@headsuphockeypodcast2707]

As an American of Polish descendants I heard a bit more Ukrainian and Polish loan words. Especially with Poland and Ukraine as neighbors. There were some Russian loan words I picked up but Ukrainian and Polish loan words makes it easier for me to understand Belarusian.

[@chitarrista198]

Belarusian is the most beautiful sounding language in the whole world.

[@hmises3554]

so,, you never heard Croatian I see

[@vetrix215]

​@@hmises3554 are you from Croatia?

[@husbanana]

Wow, thanks for the kind words. As Belarusian I don't actually think that Belarusian is that beautiful. It sound cool but it's not that not as melodious as Romance languages or Ukrainian and Czech

[@juditr7237]

Hello Dima, thank you for this video It was interesting to hear the differences, Belarusian is much softer than Russian. Although I never learnt any of these, I can hear the differences - btw I'm Hungarian. Best wishes

[@musfikinsan3423]

Differences between Russian and Belarussian is like Türkiye and Azerbajan.Pronounciation and vocabulary are a little bit different.But These are basicaly same language and speakers can understand eachother easily

[@deninmontgomery4391]

Props on your English, keep up the good work!

[@lennardschneider6847]

Very good =) I am a German who learned Dutch and Flemish. This seems the exact same relationship as with Russian, Ukranian and Belarussian. I am amazed that the letter "ge" pronunciation differences between German, Dutch and Flemish are the same as in the languages you discussed here. Germans say "ge" like Russians. In Dutch it is pronounced more raspy sounding, from deeper down the throat (like ch in "Rachmaninov", whatever the spelling in Russian ;-)). And the Flemish pronounce it softer or just like "h" or simply leave it out ;-D. In Ukranian you have these two options for the "ge" sound, right? And in Belarussian it is even in more cases pronounced like "h" or not at all, right? Awesome. I love this language stuff. Super exciting =D

[@julioluna3366]

Thank you for this video!

[@liquidh5226]

I learn Russian! Loving it.

[@hooliator]

It's a good basic explanation. With my thick American accent the some of the words are different, but the the mis-pronunciation is the same.

[@jimbell122]

Belarusian sounds more like polish

[@drini9087]

@@grzegorzbernacki7682 Belorussian and Ukrainian are heavily influenced by Polish but they're just Russian dialects.

[@HaloFTW117]

@@drini9087 Ukrainian is a different language, like Germans and Dutch. Not sure about Belarusian though

[@SaturnineXTS]

@@HaloFTW117 Belarusian is much closer to Ukrainian. But still different enough to be a separate language.

[@SaturnineXTS]

@@drini9087 You can't say they're "dialects of Russian", that's a heavily political statement. The East Slavic branch that later became Ukrainian and Belarusian diverged from the other East Slavic branch that would become Russian quite long ago. Ukrainian and Belarusian are closer to the old Rus' language, and direct descendants of it. Russian in turn was more heavily influenced by Old Church Slavonic, among other things. So yeah, it would be just false to say that Belarusian and Ukrainian are somehow variations of Russian, that's false from a linguistic perspective.

[@HaloFTW117]

@@SaturnineXTS thanks for the clarification!

[@МарияМ-щ8х]

Hello, Dima! You mispronounce the Russian «щ», you do it in the Belarusian style))

[@CubSATPH]

I'm from the Philippines and I though Belarusian speak and pronounce mostly Russian but now I learned that they speak quietly the same but theres a difference in pronounciations and tones and maybe from many centuries ago Russian and Belarusian are speaking only one language but time to time its become different because of migrations of more western europeans peoples and other eastern european settlers who manage to coexist with native belarusians and russians

[@born.slippa]

Belarusian has much more similarity with ukrainian than with russian

[@marquincerrada5251]

Marunong ka mag russian?

[@CubSATPH]

@@marquincerrada5251 hindi pa po eh

[@yukas1ngas]

When I started to learn Japanese I did not heard differences between Tokio, Osaka, Kansai dialects After a year of learning mostly Tokio ben I heard Kansai ben and reaction was "WAT?? Wat did she said???" Something similar was with Cologne dialect of German, Brazilian Portuguese sounds more similar with Italian than with Portugal Portuguese

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

The languages separated, because for many centuries the Belarusians and the Russians lived in different countries and often fought against each other. But eventually the Russian Empire spread to 1/6 of the land mass of Earth and in 1772-1795 finally conquered the territory of the modern Belarus too. And then the Russian occupation authorities started to slowly exterminate the Belarusian language, this process still continues even today. The modern Belarusian authorities are de facto Kremlin's subordinates.

[@jonakar]

Hi! I am learning Russian, and my teacher is from Belarus! She's great! Can you give like some short phrases to impress her without looking like I mean to? Just for fun, please ; ) I'm from Lima, Peru!

[@friendlydima1111]

Hey! Tell her instead of the “hello” - приветули-красатули. put the accent on the letter У in each word. These words know only native Russian speakers))

[@applesaucemeowmeow6497]

tell her "pryvyranne" or even better "жыве Belarus"))

[@Olivier-GM]

Thanks for the video, Dima ! It's very interesting ! It's very similar but it's 100% the same. This sound ў reminds me of the polish letter ł . There might be an old influence of polish (like French has been influenced by roman + german languages). So... do the young belarusian learn russian at school, or it is not really necessary ?

[@Olivier-GM]

з вялік днём ;)

[@friendlydima1111]

Of course, Russian and Belarusian languages ​​are always taught in Belarusian schools, because there are two official languages ​​in Belarus - Russian and Belarusian.

[@joejacquesschulz8514]

@@friendlydima1111 You have reserved your language very well. If you look at the people in the region of France known as "Little Brittany" you see that they had eventually to re-construct their language. They had to take over French grammar because their grammar was lost. French teachers tried to eradicate the Celtic language of Little Brittany by beating pupils who had been reported for speaking their own language. If you were reported you had to wear a wooden shoe around your neck and you would get a beating by the teacher each and every day until you reported somebody else who would then take over the wooden shoe. A lot of bad things have been said about Russians but other European nations have also often been cruel. Just think of the Basques who are divided between France and Spain. Or Tyrol, a completely German-speaking region that was in part given to Italy after WWI. The Italians even destroyed gravestones for having German inscriptions. All done in their fanatic desire to erase the original language of the conquered region. Politics...

[@andrewshepitko6354]

Yes, you're right! It is the same as polish is the same with german.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

It looks like there's indeed some influence, albeit a different one. Belarusian Łacinka script is using letter *Ł* for a hard-L sound. For example: "белы" / "bieły" (white), "слабы" / "słaby" (weak), "стол" / "stoł" (table), "маланка" / "małanka" (lightning). The soft-L sound is just the ordinary *L* letter. For example: "столь" / "stol" (ceiling), "лёс" / "los" (destiny). Audio samples for these words can be found in the English wiktionary. Some Belarusian words look identical to Polish words when written using Latin letters, but are just pronounced differently. A few centuries ago written Belarusian used to be much closer to written Polish than it is now.

[@leobatard]

Belarusian and Ukrainians language borrowed a lot of Polish loans words because part of Ukraine and Belarus were part of Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. As far as grammar and sentences structure very similar to Russian.

[@omoikaneru]

В русской Щ нет звука Ч.

[@elleamo92]

привет! было интересно услышать белорусский язык, очень схож с украинским👍🏻

[@pezos5]

Nice video, I like Slavic languages. Serbian has two ch sound, Ч pronounced like you pronounced Ч in Belarusian, and Ћ pronounced like you did Ч in Russian. Like cz and ć in Polish.

[@JosephLotta-di2tc]

Your English is really good.

[@dtikvxcdgjbv7975]

I like Your explanation. 👍 In Croatian we have both č and ć as separate letters. Šč and šć do exist in Croatian words, mostly in dialects and toponyms; standard uses št in those places.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

In Belarusian *č = cz = ч* and *ć = ць* are also separate letters. But there are no words with *šć = шць*.

[@Adephx]

We have dialectics in my country that have more differences than the examples you mentioned. Belarusian just seems to have more of a Roman influence. Not downplaying the importance of both languages though.

[@T0nyTerr0r]

That was impressive, I wish I spoke a different language, I really want to learn Russian.

[@SaturnineXTS]

Another interesting thing I've noticed (and had been suspecting earlier) is that in many cases Belarusian "ць/дзь" sounds exactly like Russian "ть/дь". Russians kind of give their soft t and d that "c/dz" quality. It's the same in Belarusian, but at least reflected in the spelling, like it is in Polish. I think Ukrainian is the most consistent in this regard, because they pronounce "ть/дь" like Czechs and Slovaks do, and "ць/дзь" like Belarusians do (only this is much less common in their language). Ukrainian is pretty amazing with how many phonemes it has, it even has the equivalents of Polish ć, ś, ź as well! (чь, шь, жь).

[@mytiamos]

I usually use ть for ć, сь for ś, and зь for ź (more etymological spelling)

[@SaturnineXTS]

@@mytiamos you'll be using the latter two anyway, the dilemma is only choosing between ть/ць and дь/дзь. That's of course if we're talking Polish Cyrillic or something, because the languages that actually use Cyrillic already have defined orthographies

[@SaturnineXTS]

@@mytiamos Unless I understood you wrong. What I meant was that Ukrainian чь, шь, жь sound like Polish ć, ś, ź - not that they're meant to reflect those letters etymologically. For example "Запоріжжя" sounds exactly like "Zaporiźzia"

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@SaturnineXTS The Belarusian language has its own Latin script too. For example, "дзень" (day) is written as "dzień" and "Запарожжа" is written as "Zaparožža". The Belarusian word "ззяць" (to shine) is written as "źziać". Also the Belarusian "ць/дзь" sounds exactly like the Russian "ть/дь" in this video probably because the author actually has a bit of a Belarusian accent in his Russian speech. You can also find a lot of complaints in comments about his pronunciation of *щ.*

[@519djw6]

*Здравствуй, Дима! Большое спасибо за сравнение и контраст между русским языком и белорусским. Я американец, a живу в Японии, где преподаю английский язык и английскую литературу. Я свободно говорю по-немецки и стараюсь выучить русский язык, потому что хочу переводить русскую литературу на английский. Я с нетерпением жду просмотра новых твоих видео. Кроме того, мне интересно, были бы заинтересованы ли ты (или кто-то из твоих знакомых) в русско-английском языковом обмене через "Zoom".*

[@friendlydima1111]

Hello! Yes for sure

[@519djw6]

@@friendlydima1111 Hello Dima! How can we make contact with each other in order to arrange a language exchange?

[@nzurro3440]

Hey Dima. Whenever I heard a russian pronounce the "šč" letter in a word it sounded different than the way you said it. I can hear the Č part in your example(barely hear any difference from the belarusian example) but when a russian is talking I only hear some kind of a soft Š sound, can't hear the Č part at all.

[@friendlydima1111]

I'll answer this comment in one of my next video. OK ?

[@rborgesdinz]

Parece algo similar como espanhol e português. Para um falante de português, poucos dias são suficientes para compreender o espanhol. Para o falante de espanhol entender o português demora um pouco mais Já galego e português são praticamente a mesma língua..

[@maggsun]

а, небольшая поправочка: щ - это просто щ, не щч, это уже как-то как на украинском(или беларуском), ну, я имею ввиду, в русском нет двух звуков таких, просто один звук «щ»

[@gludiousmaximus7918]

Serbo croation has both the soft and hard "ch" like they have in russian and belorussian separately

[@HeroManNick132]

In Russian Ч and ЧЬ is always soft, while in Belarusian is always hard. Polish has also soft Ч too.

[@isthissomesortofmeme8932]

where can i learn this languge i was born in belarus in 2002 but later on moved to isreal and my perants didnt care enough to teach me it only russian but after the war i wanted to learn my languge (they still refuse to teach me saying its a waste of time)

[@friendlydima1111]

hello! to be honest i don't know where and how you cad learn Belarusian language. Sorry

[@rickc-137___]

Dima i would love to go to Belarus to learn My family history. I was adopted when i was 2 years of age. So it could be quite difficult to track down my parents.

[@jiritichy7967]

From this limited lecture, I would be inclined to say that Belorussian is a dialect of Russian. But I would not dispute your feeling that it is a different language. This reminds me a bit the differences between Czech and Slovak. If it was not for Hungarian invasion and one thousand year historic separation of these two, they would likely be one language, with more dialects than two.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

There's a "Lexical Distance Among Languages of Europe 2015" blog post and a chart. According to it, Belarusian is very close to Ukrainian. And both of these languages are placed somewhere roughly in the midway between Polish and Russian. One thousand years is a long time and I'm actually surprised that Czech and Slovak don't differ more.

[@edvibal]

Thanks man, really informative and understandable explanation. I saw a video where it was said that people in Belarus start to speak more Russian than Belarussian, do you think Belarussian will go extinct in the future?

[@friendlydima1111]

hello! i don't think so. and the same time i hope that belarusian language will alive

[@Adam-jr4lx]

Tell me if I am correct, Belarusian is a dialect of Russian with Polish words. The Belarusian pronunciation and intonation is very similar to South Russian (belgorod) but the Polish words allow Ukrainians to understand Belarusian better than Russians. I'm learning Russian but I don't want to speak with a North or Moscow dialect. Do you know any material for learning Belarusian or Southern Russia. In southern Russian, I don't think they say , they , or something with or . I think is an older pronunciation. Same between >, and I want to learn the most modern, THE EASIEST, pronunciation. Я хачу гаварить и .

[@friendlydima1111]

maybe if you want to learn Belarusian language try to find different Belarusian movies in Belarusian or read Belarusian books)

[@hazimkash7206]

Здравствуйте Я Хазим I am an Arabic native speaker, learning Russian I got confused when am practicing listening am feel some thing is wrong between Russian and other similar languages ( Ukraine. Belarusian. Kazakhstan ect ...) But I can say from your speech Russian is little bit rough in the voice compared to Belarusian

[@ivan.jeremic]

Funny the example of "He said" in Serbian it seems it is a mix of the two, we say "On kazao"

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

There are also two slightly different variants in Belarusian: "Jon skazaŭ" - "He said" "Jon kazaŭ" - "He was saying"

[@deninmontgomery4391]

Only in regard to the Belarussian language, is it easy to tell where in Belarus somebody is from based on their accent or does everyone speak Belarussian about the same?

[@friendlydima1111]

some people from belarus have a very strong belarusian accent. therefore, some people from Belarus can immediately be recognized by their accent)))

[@silviagrueva4361]

It's interesting to me, because the letter щ in Bulgarian is pronounced "sht", not "shch". For example, щастие (happiness) is pronounced "shtastie".

[@VeskoBankov]

I am bulgarian and i found both languages close to bulgarian. Can you make comparison between bulgarian and belarussian?

[@friendlydima1111]

sorry i don't know bulgarian

[@jeffrachelburkhalter3783]

I don't know what is wrong with my ears but Belarusian doesn't sound at all like Polish to me, but very much like Russian. I can hear the difference, but it's not huge. Ukrainian sounds a lot like Russian to me, too. Polish sounds completely different.

[@Raphael-Luczak]

It's the first time I've heard about the difference between Belarusian and Russian. But if they're so similar, then it's not its own language; it's more like a dialect. Belarusian sounds like a mix of Polish and Russian. Is the language actually still used in Belarus or have all levels of government now been Russified?

[@kfletcher2005]

Sounds like the difference between Belarusian and Russian is like the difference between english speakers in the deep south of USA and the mid west or north east dialects. I'm sure there's more to it, but I just speaking as a casual observer

[@maggsun]

я из россии, но на примере украины поняла, как важен язык поначалу меня злило, как все вдруг стали переходить на украинский, будто бы забыли русский, но потом я поняла, как по-детски, наверно, выглядела бы, если бы действительно всем за это предъявляла теперь я вижу, как это важно. точнее, я посмотрела на все с другой стороны. я очень часто думала про многих артистов/исполнителей «ну, это наши типа», потому что артист пел на русском. хотя, как потом, повзрослев, узнала, то время и стекло, потап и настя - украинские исполнители, а орел и решка - украинская программа, как и сваты, например. и если украинский стал популяризоваться после 2014го, а особенно заметно в 2019м, то беларуский как будто бы и вымирает… я очень редко где его слышу, последнее, что видела - стенд ап славы комиссаренко на этом языке. и мне, честно, очень жаль, что все это происходит с вашим языком. так получается, что в начале войны у меня было чувство, что все вдруг оказались «не теми, кем я их считала», раз за разом замечала, что тот, на кого долго подписана - украинец или беларус, мне казалось, будто все вокруг назло не используют русский, то сейчас пришло понимание, что язык/мова - это идентичность, это дает всем понять сразу, кто ты и откуда, это не смешивает все яркие цвета в одну серую массу, так сказать. мы разные, мы уникальны, и это классно, а еще - важно. я очень надеюсь, что весь этот ужас скоро закончится, мы будем жить без двух сумасшедших стариков, в демократических странах, где наши права будут защищены, где мы сможем спокойно называть вещи своими именами, где будет свобода слова и глобализация - все то, без чего мы никак не проживем. и я очень-очень верю в беларусов и у беларускую мову❤

[@censord6960]

Спасибо за комментарий, вы пришли к выводу к которому большинство россиян не способны прийти( по крайней мере пока что), я даже удивлён если честно, в хорошем смысле этого слова. Хотя даже в Украине, есть не пробиваемые люди, которые не могут понять что вы, как россиянка, поняла. Поддерживаю слова про беларускую мову. Прям даже противно на душе от осознания того, что близкий и очень красивый язык, может вот так вот просто, несправедливо, исчезнуть навсегда.

[@jorgeluiscapiello414]

Frankly speaking I'm surprised about your position. Seems like not all Russians are brainwashed zombies after all.

[@Alexandr-ss5hy]

В Беларуси нужно провести такой же эксперимент , как на Украине-вообще запретить русский язык и культуру. Только так можно популизировать белорусский язык-других вариантов я не вижу.

[@texasfirst3991]

Is there a difference in the pronunciation of names in Russian and Belarusian? For example: Katerina for women, and Alexander for men. Thanks for the video!

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

Yes, there are differences. The Russian "Катерина" is written and pronounced as "Кацярына" (Kaciaryna) in Belarusian. Unlike Russian, there are no soft T and soft R sounds in Belarusian. So the soft T sound changes to soft TS. And the soft R changes to the hard R. The Russian "Александр" changes to "Аляксандр" (Alaksandr). The Я (YA) sound appears in the syllables preceding stressed syllables.

[@friendlydima1111]

almost not. They sound very similar.

[@nill_kiggers131]

yes, example: Ivan - Yanka, Yan Konstantin - Kastus' Fedor - Todar, Khvedar Dmitriy - Zmicier Grigoriy/Gregory - Ryhor Michael/ Mihail - Michas' Katerina - Kasya, Kacyaryna Anna - Hanna etc

[@adriank9]

The words in Belarusian that are different than Russian are simply Polish. Belarusian is like old Ruthenian language mixed with Polish and Russian. For hundreds of years we call Russians as Rosjanie or Ruski (Ruskie) but same time we call both Belarusians and Ukrainians as Rusini (Ruthenians) who after some time recognized themselves as Belarussians and Ukrainians.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

Maybe that's so in this particular video, but it would be incorrect to generalize this statement. The Belarusian language has plenty of words, which are neither Polish nor Russian. A lot of such words are shared with the Ukrainian language though.

[@adriank9]

@@SiarheiSiamashka Yeah sorry, forgot to add Ukarinian to the party. I am wondering which language was recognised firt, Belarusian or Ukrainian? Do you have any words that can't be find in Polish, Ukrainian or Russian?

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@adriank9 It's hard for me to compile a big list because I don't speak Polish and Ukrainian myself. But maybe *сябар/siabar* (friend), *волат/vołat* (giant) and *крама/krama* (shop) are good examples of unique Belarusian words. There are also many "false friends", which sound the same, but mean something entirely different.

[@adriank9]

@@SiarheiSiamashka Gotcha. Krama is present in Polish. Kram/Kramy (plural) a small, provisional shop in the form of a booth or a table or bench with goods.

[@keijojaanimets819]

Gello from Estonia!😁

[@friendlydima1111]

Hello!

[@Yauhěn-k8v]

Дзякуй, цікавае відэа! Мне падалося, ці "день"/"дзень" і "дед"/"дзед" у вашым выкананьні прагучалі аднолькава па-беларуску: дзень і дзед?) У нашых суседзяў украінцаў е прымаўка: "Хіба чорт перехреститься, як литвин не дзекне"

[@friendlydima1111]

Дед and дзед sounds the same. But we write different

[@Yauhěn-k8v]

@@friendlydima1111 так, беларусы вымаўляюць словы на свой манер і па-руску, таму ў нас дзеканьне пераносіцца на рускія словы. Але ж, калі гаварыць пра не-беларускіх носьбітаў рускай мовы, то слова "день" у іх ня будзе гучаць як "дзень")

[@tommotom7324]

Hello Dima. I am English and had no idea of the differences between Russian and Belarusian. Thanks for your clear presentation.

[@friendlydima1111]

Hello! You're welcome

[@QURAN-IS-MY-TORCH]

Hi there, my question is that, can people of both countries understand each other?

[@friendlydima1111]

Hello. Yes we understand each other

[@QURAN-IS-MY-TORCH]

@@friendlydima1111 thanks bro, respect both countries love them

[@nelsonespinoza1373]

I didn't know about it. I know Bielorussia, Russia and Ukraine speak Russian language but i didn't know that there is a difference. Will have a problem in my speech in Bielorussia?

[@friendlydima1111]

I dont know. The Belarusian language differs in pronunciation from Russian.

[@user-vv2sl5sd8x]

Что за шчотка? Мне интересно в какой части России произносят щ как шч. Я вырос в Казахстане и там щ произносится иначе, только одним звуком

[@alexandermarkov300]

Большинство из этих особенностей характерны также и для южнорусских диалектов. Вы не упомянули яканье и чередование у/в (у лясу = рус. лит. в лесу).

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

Правільна "у ле́се" з націскам на першы склад. Паўднёварасейскія дыялекты - палітызаванае пытанне, бо на гэтых сучасных тэрыторыях Расеі калісці пражывалі этнічныя ўкраінцы, але сёння іх амаль цалкам русіфікавалі. Нейкія парэшткі ўкраінскай мовы і асаблівасці вымаўлення там засталіся.

[@alexandermarkov300]

@@SiarheiSiamashka Ну я пример из южнорусского приводил. И на южнорусских территориях украинцы никогда не жили. Не надо людей вводить в заблуждение.

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@alexandermarkov300 Я ж загадзя папярэдзіў, што пытанне палітызаванае і на гэты конт знайсці паразуменне праблематычна 🙂 У вікіпедыі ёсць мапы "File:Ethnic-Ukrainians.jpg" і "File:Historical_borders_of_Belarusians.png". Таксама патрэбна разумець, што этнічныя межы ўвесь час перасоўваліся ў розныя бакі. І на адной і той жа тэрыторыі маглі адначасова пражываць людзі розных нацыянальнасцяў. Кагосьці было больш, кагосьці - менш. Але сёння не мае ніякай розніцы, што было сто гадоў таму. Існуюць міжнародна прызнаныя межы краін і іх трэба паважаць.

[@groupmember1332]

Hello, could you make a video for basic human anatomy ex where does it hurt? Arm, chest, leg, back etc? Thank you

[@friendlydima1111]

I did the similar video. check. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGTWqq1oo5WgqtE

[@Pancakewolf12]

Would you say that Belarusian is closer to Polish and Ukrainian than Russian?

[@friendlydima1111]

Yes

[@gotse9354]

Кола in Macedonian means “car” 🚙

[@friendlydima1111]

It’s interesting!

[@dzmitry_pavajba]

Я ведаю, што вы не настаўнік, не мовазнаўца, філёляг. Але ё некалькі момантаў ў відэа, дзе мне б хацелася троху выправіць Вас, спадаре. 1. Наконт фрыкатыўнага гуку "г" і звонкага "ґ". Яны ня так выглядаюць ў МФА, але ўсё ж. Ў беларускай мове ё абодва гэтыя гукі. Ў старабеларускіх тэкстах, або ў творы Караткевіча "Хрыстос прызямліўся ў Гародні" выкарыстоўваецца спалучэньне "кг", якое тады чыталася як "ґ". Ў словах "газэта", "гвалт" на самай справе вымаўляцца звонкі зычны. 2. Слова "прывітаньне" не зусім ўласьціва беларускай мове. Яно ўжываецца, але яно пабудавана па сістэме славянскага герундыя (усе канчаткі "-еньне"/"-яньне"). Для беларускіх вітаньняў больш спрыяльныя звароты "Вітанкі", "Дабрыдзень", "Дабранач", "Сыць Божа", "Вітаю" і гэтак далей. 3. Розьніца ў гуках, літарах таксама ня скончваецца. Цікава было б паслухаць аб "дз", "дж", напрыклад. Шмат цікавінак! Гэтая розная сістэма афіксаў (папа-, -нік), адрозненьні ў артаграпхіі, адсутнасьці дзеепрыметніка (ён больш ўласьцівы быў старабеларускай мове, хаця захаваўся зараз ў літаратурнай) граматыцэ, захаваны клічны склон (ў расейскай ён захаваўся толькі ў рэдукаваным выглядзе: "Дим", "Ань", але не ўсюды) і г. д. Шчыры дзякуй Вам, спадаре, за гэтае файнае відэа! Вельмі ўдзячны, што ў KZbin ё людзі, якія расказваюць замежнікам аб беларускай мове. Вы цудоўна размаўляеце на ўсіх трох мовах.

[@schwarzepest9425]

Таксама яшчэ можна нагадаць проа заўжды зацвярдзелы гук "Р" і асаблівасці вымаўлення мяккга "З" у некаторых словах (апошняе тычыцца таксама дзекання і цекання).

[@ChristineTHuynh_FineArt]

Dima, would it be easy for a russian to quickly and easily learn/understand belarusian and ukrainian then and vice versa?

[@friendlydima1111]

Russian is not difficult to learn Belarusian or Ukrainian. I think so.

[@thenaturalyogi5934]

the L sounds like the difference between PortugaL vs Braziwwww in the Portuguese language

[@martinim1998]

If a Russian speaks only Russian and zero Belarusian language, meets with a Belarusian only speaks Belarusian language and zero Russian, can they communicate with each other? if not, how much percentage do they understand each other? Just curious...

[@friendlydima1111]

a good question) i l'll answer in one of the next video

[@mymanner7357]

About 85%

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

That's a hypothetical situation, because in practice it's difficult to find a Belarusian, who can't understand Russian. But if such situation somehow arises, then it would be possible to communicate via rephrasing problematic sentences in some other way. There are a lot of synonyms in both languages and it's possible to find some common ground with trial and error approach. BTW, there's also an artificially created Interslavic language. Which constructed its vocabulary by specifically cherry-picking words, which are shared by many Slavic languages. A kind of frankensteiner.

[@shon7507]

The two languages are very similar (even more than Spanish and Portuguese) so they should be able to understand one another

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

*English:* "If a Russian speaks only Russian and zero Belarusian language, meets with a Belarusian only speaks Belarusian language and zero Russian, can they communicate with each other? if not, how much percentage do they understand each other? Just curious..." *Russian:* "Если россиянин, разговаривающий только по-русски и ноль по-белорусски, повстречает белоруса, разговаривающего только по-белорусски и ноль по-русски, то смогут ли они общаться друг с другом? Если нет, то на сколько процентов они понимают друг друга? Просто любопытно..." *Belarusian Cyrillic:* "Калі расіянін, які размаўляе толькі па-руску і нуль па-беларуску, сустрэне беларуса, які размаўляе толькі па-беларуску і нуль па-руску, то ці змогуць яны камунікаваць адзін з адным? Калі не, то на колькі працэнтаў яны разумеюць адзін аднаго? Проста цікава..." *Belarusian Łacinka:* "Kali rasijanin, jaki razmaŭlaje tolki pa-rusku i nul pa-biełarusku, sustrenie biełarusa, jaki razmaŭlaje tolki pa-biełarusku i nul pa-rusku, ci zmohuć jany kamunikavać adzin z adnym? Kali nie, to na kolki pracentaŭ jany razumiejuć adzin adnaho? Prosta cikava..." The Belarusian phrase has 38 words, also counting repetitions. At least 9 of them will be likely difficult to understand for the Russians (калі, які, размаўляе, сустрэне, які, размаўляе, ці, калі, цікава). Some of the others mismatch by more than one letter, but should be easy to guess (змогуць, яны, камунікаваць, адзін, колькі). So the lexical difference here is ~24% or possibly more. The Russian language learners may give it a try. Potentially the difference may increase to ~39% or more, because some extra rephrasing/substitutions are also possible in the Belarusian translation, but the Belarusian person in our scenario doesn't speak Russian and has no idea about what is or isn't easy to understand for the other guy: толькі - выключна (exclusively / исключительно) нуль - ніколі (never / никогда) змогуць - здолеюць (will be able to / будут способны) працэнтаў - адсоткаў (percents / процентов)

[@vladimirpandilov2916]

Belorusian is more close to Ukranian, almost same.

[@kittypybro8084]

Беларуский за меня: маленький брать от России! 😅

[@crusiethmaximuss]

[@therapistconsultant4287]

Sounds the same to me

[@mihanich]

Желаю всем добра и сьвету? Мб міру или пакою?

[@NoName-yw1pt]

Sounds similar to Ukrainian too

[@teenator579]

А почему вы произнесли Щ как шч на русском? Щ - это произносится как [⁠ɕ(ː)⁠], а не [ʂt͡ɕ]

[@nill_kiggers131]

Таму што ў беларускай няма "Щ" як і "ъ"

[@helenstark4348]

Do we say шч in Russian?)) I usually say щ :D ШЧ is more like Ukranian or something

[@helenstark4348]

@Manticoruss как? ШЧ в русском не говорят, только Щ

[@bostonlab6923]

Sound like the same to me. ExtentWorld

[@joejacquesschulz8514]

Belarusian sound softer than Russian. Just like French sounds softer than Italian. I could listen to this all day: kzbin.info/www/bejne/imSznIOIiJWGapI

[@friendlydima1111]

I agree with you completely!

[@joejacquesschulz8514]

@@friendlydima1111 Well, I made a little mistake. In "sounds softer than". I forgot the "s". In case you should know your fellow KZbinr, please don't tell her, because she is an English teacher. Usually I don't make that kind of mistake. Already more than 20 years ago I had an affair with an English teacher who looked a lot like her. She always became very angry when I made mistakes in English. That is how I was eventually able to work for an English helpline for four years , to get a certificate as an translater and to write more than a hundred Wikipedia articles in English. Believe me, I have nothing against Russians. I am chessplayer. I have admired Russian masters, especially the "White Russian" Alexander Aljechin and the Soviet dissident Viktor Korchnoi. I know three chessplayers in my club who are happily married to female Russian chessmasters. One of my nicest colleagues was a German-Russian woman who once invited our whole bunch to her garden. We had a great party and my Polish colleague and I eventually had so much vodka we sang together "Number of the Beast" from Iron Maiden. He had once been leadsinger of a rockband and I had to prove I could sing louder than him. Yeah, next day Sneshana had to deal with complaints from her neighbours but she wasn't angry. Good woman, really. Yeah, and that's what I learned from Sneshana: Everybody can be good friends if only we ignore the neighbours.

[@crabpeople6887]

Good 👍, but there is no such a letter/sound as 'щ' in Belarus language, neither in spelling, nor in pronunciation, neither in cyrilic, nor in latin. 'ш', 'ч' never become soft. Make comparison around differences and equality in Belarus and Ukrainian languages, and also three of kinds.

[@melisa4242]

i think the sounds that use for belarusian more easier than russian

[@melisa4242]

for turkish*

[@AlexDavidchik]

В беларускай мове лiтара "р" заусёды цвёрдая.

[@boske_77]

Isn't Грошы archaic word in Russian?

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

In Russian "гроши" means "pennies" or a small insignificant amount of money. But the Belarusian "грошы" means "money" in the usual sense.

[@OmPrakash-pc1ec]

чырвона also exists in archaic russian as "червонный" there are many such words which are present in modern ukrainian and belarusian but also in archaic russian

[@SiarheiSiamashka]

@@OmPrakash-pc1ec Yes, there's more than one example of such words. But in general, it's incorrect to assume that every Belarusian word has an archaic Russian counterpart. Though once again, the Belarusian "грошы" and the Russian "гроши" are both modern words. But the former means a good thing and the latter means a bad thing.

[@Alexandr-ss5hy]

Да, практически вышло из употребления

[@41nwkp_by]

спадзяюся, Ваша беларуская мова стане лепш((

[@Cube930]

As a Russian i can understand belarussian but not so much ukrainian