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For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 1,012 class hours. Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words sound alike, so some Polish words will feel familiar if you know Ukrainian, but most will not.
For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 1,012 class hours. These are the figures behind the how long does it take to learn a language calculator, from the US Foreign Service Institute's published language training times.
| Polish | Ukrainian | |
|---|---|---|
| FSI difficulty group | Category III | Category III |
| Class hours to working proficiency | 1,012 | 1,012 |
| Full-time weeks | 44 | 44 |
The hours are for a native English speaker in full-time classes aiming at professional working proficiency. Useful everyday conversation comes sooner, and the calculator breaks the time down by level.
Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words sound alike, so some Polish words will feel familiar if you know Ukrainian, but most will not.
A few everyday words that sound alike in Polish and Ukrainian:
| English | Polish | Ukrainian |
|---|---|---|
| American | amerykański | американськийamerykanskyi |
| architecture | architektura | архітектураarkhitektura |
| Brazil | Brazylia | Бразиліяbrazyliia |
| corn | kukurydza | кукурудзаkukurudza |
| dryer | suszarka | сушаркаsusharka |
| harmony | harmonia | гармоніяharmoniia |
| kilogram | kilogram | кілограмkilohram |
| material | materiał | матеріалmaterial |
And a few everyday words that sound completely different:
| English | Polish | Ukrainian |
|---|---|---|
| China | Chiny | Китайkytai |
| biscuit | herbatnik | печивоpechyvo |
| creature | stworzenie | істотаistota |
| fault | uskok | розломrozlom |
| island | wyspa | острівostriv |
| oven | piekarnik | духовкаdukhovka |
| rooster | kogut | півеньpiven |
| sorry | przepraszam | вибачтеvybachte |
| Polish | Ukrainian | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing system | Latin alphabet | Cyrillic alphabet |
| Grammatical genders | 3 (masculine, feminine, neuter) | 3 (masculine, feminine, neuter) |
| Noun cases | 7 | 7 |
| Tones | No | No |
Study time will not decide this one, because the two ask for about the same. If you want to reach a particular place, a person or a job, start with the one you will actually use: steady motivation counts for more than the difference in hours.
For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 1,012 class hours. Hours are for a native English speaker reaching professional working proficiency in full-time classes; casual learning gets you to useful conversation well before that.
Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words sound alike, so some Polish words will feel familiar if you know Ukrainian, but most will not. They are both Slavic languages.
Study time will not decide this one, because the two ask for about the same. If you want to reach a particular place, a person or a job, start with the one you will actually use: steady motivation counts for more than the difference in hours.
No. Polish is written with the Latin alphabet and Ukrainian with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch
Watch Your Language puts Polish or Ukrainian words in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting, so the practice carries on every time you check the time.
