Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, people around the world are getting more exposure to Ukrainian and Russian through social media posts, news stories, viral videos of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and signs from protesters. On Duolingo, we saw a 200% increase in learners studying Ukrainian between the weeks of February 14 and February 21, which we take to reflect growing interest in Ukraine and its people and is perhaps even an act of solidarity.
Languages and how people use them represent personal identities and the political and cultural histories of a community. As a company dedicated to language education, we wanted to provide a (brief) overview of Ukrainian and Russian, what people speak in Ukraine and why, and the linguistic complexities behind the videos and signs you've been seeing.