Bukovel - The Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine

[Chris]

May I ask, on the photo of the Vodospad hotel above, hotel is spelled with a "G" rather than the usual "O" as it would be in Russian. Is that the usual Ukrainian spelling for hotel?

Yes Manny, it is a 'G' because it is Ukrainian. Gotel' (soft ending) or in English Hotel' with a soft ending.

Actually, it's not uncommon for Enlish words that are transliterated into Russian to replace the English 'H' with the Russian 'Г'.

For example, Harry Potter in Russian is Гарри Поттер - Garri Potter

Harrison Ford is sometimes translated as Гаррисон Форд and sometimes as Харрисон Форд

The same happens with British cities as well, for example:-

Southampton in Russian is Саутгемптон - Sautgempton

and
Littlehampton is Литлгемптон - Litlgempton

I've heard a number of different reasons for this - however I don't know if I believe any of them so I won't repeat them here.

That's all possibly correct Nicknick, but this is Ukrainian, nothing to do with a Russian translation.

[Chris]

May I ask, on the photo of the Vodospad hotel above, hotel is spelled with a "G" rather than the usual "O" as it would be in Russian. Is that the usual Ukrainian spelling for hotel?

Yes Manny, it is a 'G' because it is Ukrainian. Gotel' (soft ending) or in English Hotel' with a soft ending.

Actually, it is an "h".  This is a Ukrainian "g" - Ґґ  - Hotel', an unaspirated "h", unlike English.   A "G" pronunciation is a Russian influence.

ґ this is the wrong letter, it shoud be  г    -  and just to complicate things, this letter ґ  is a new letter in the Ukrainian alphabet, which was included about 12 years ago. It was in the old Ukrainian alphabet (early 20th Century) which sounded more like a Russian г

The sign is in Ukrainian, the word hotel in Ukrainian is spelt with the г

Is that clear now 

[Halo]

May I ask, on the photo of the Vodospad hotel above, hotel is spelled with a "G" rather than the usual "O" as it would be in Russian. Is that the usual Ukrainian spelling for hotel?

Yes Manny, it is a 'G' because it is Ukrainian. Gotel' (soft ending) or in English Hotel' with a soft ending.

Actually, it is an "h".  This is a Ukrainian "g" - Ґґ  - Hotel', an unaspirated "h", unlike English.   A "G" pronunciation is a Russian influence.

ґ this is the wrong letter, it shoud be   г    -  and just to complicate things, this letter ґ  is a new letter in the Ukrainian alphabet, which was included about 12 years ago. It was in the old Ukrainian alphabet (early 20th Century) which sounds more like Russian г The sign is in Ukrainian, the word hotel in Ukrainian is spelt with the г

Is that clear now 

I hope so.   Evidently, my post was not clear, and I apologize for that.  I was not questioning the spelling.  What I meant was that the "г" is not pronounced as "g".  It is pronounced in Ukrainian as an unaspirated "h".  Anyone pronouncing this as gotel' in Ukrainian is using a Russian pronunciation.  Same with "газета".  It is common to hear this pronounced as "gazeta", which is a Russian influence.  I've heard numerous pronunciations, from "hazeta" (Ukrainian) to hoozeta (Central Ukrainian, village) to "gazeta" (Russian).

The letter "ґ" was introduced to the Ukrainian alphabet in the 17th century though really, at that time, there was no such thing as a "Ukrainian".  It was used throughout Ukraine, though there are relatively few words beginning with  "ґ".  It was used until the 1950's in Western Ukraine, when it was eliminated by the Soviets in their attempts at Russification.  However,"ґ" has always appeared in the alphabet used by diaspora Ukrainians, whether they were from the Left or the Right Bank.  In true Ukrainian, uninfluenced by Russian, (recognizing, of course, that no language "is an island", and languages are "alive" and are continuously influenced by that which is around them), "г" is pronounced as various "h" sounds, not "g" sounds.  That was across Ukraine - I knew Ukrainians, most now gone, who grew up in villages in Eastern Ukraine and in Central Ukraine before intense Russification took hold, all of whom were DP's who ended up in Canada, so I could compare their  sounds and pronunciations to those of Western Ukrainians.

"ґ" was also used in Central and Eastern Ukraine in the 1930's.  If you pick up one of the "bibles" of Ukrainian grammar, Holoskyvych's "Pravopisny Slovnik", which was compiled during the flourishing of Ukrainian literature in the late 1920's/early 1930's in Soviet Ukraine, and for which Holoskyvych was executed by the Bolsheviks (the book was banned in the USSR), you will note the "ґ".

"ґ" was reintroduced into the Ukrainian alphabet after the collapse of the USSR.  The late Yar Slavutych, an eminent Ukrainian scholar and poet, returned to Ukraine after its collapse to build the Mohyla Academy.  He was instrumental in reintroducing this letter to the Ukrainian alphabet.  A Holodomor survivor, he was also very influential in obtaining funding for historical research on the Holodomor in both North America and Ukraine.

[Chris]

That's fine Halo, I agree with all you said above too. Its an interesting subject and its no wonder why people get confused over the differences between Russian and Ukrainian. Most people who go over to the FSU deal with Russian, but as you know, when you get into the Western Ukraine regions and certainly the Carpathian Mountain region and the like where that photo was taken,  Ukrainian is the dominant language, or the language of choice at least for most.