“Iryna, do you have any sacks?” I asked in the market checkout line. Ukrainians have a very hard time hearing the difference between the vowels in the words pat and pet, so the innocent comment earned stares from everyone in the market who knew at least one specific English word and an elbow in the ribs from my partner, Iryna. I am nothing if not a fast learner, so I am now careful to ask, “Iryna, do you have any pakets?”

As a linguist, I am bombarded on a daily basis by the infusion of Western languages into Ukrainian. English jeans has been completely assimilated into the language and now takes Ukrainian derivational morphology, for example. Reading store signage and advertising is also a mesmerizing mix of not only two languages, but two alphabets as well, with the same sign trumpeting Metro Cash and Carry next to ÐÎÇÏÐÎÄÀÆ rozprodazh 'sale'. In the business district I find signs for Ïð³íò Åêñïðåñ print ekspres 'Print Express', Ìàðàôîí Áóêìåêåðñüêà Êîíòîðà marafon bukmekers'ka kontora 'Marathon Publishing Office' and, on the front of a government building, Ñåðâ³ñ Öåíòð servis tsentr 'Service Center'. Áóêìåêåð bukmeker 'publisher' even carries that other meaning of 'bookmaker' in different contexts. I see a country that is linguistically reaching out to the West, especially the English-speaking West, for modern words to fill its lexicon.

But I have also learned the value of distinguishing between Ukrainian and Russian. Even though most Ukrainians use ñïàñèáî spasibo 'thank you' from Russian on a daily basis, foreigners like myself elicit smiles and extra kind service when we utter the proper Ukrainian äÿêóþ djakuju instead. Ukraine is a country that is making bold strides to establish a separate identity and that spills into the linguistic realm as well. One day, in the market checkout line, I heard a man behind me give a pride-filled lecture about äÿêóþ after he heard this foreigner use it. I don't know what he said, but I know that it was good.

I have felt right at home here even without mastering the local language, although it is home slightly skewed. At the local pizzeria, a hamburger contains ham and a cheeseburger only contains cheese. In Uzhhorod I ate Hungarian gulyas beneath a Confederate flag and photo of Buffalo Bill in the Cactus Restaurant, but discovered that the Tortilla Restaurant only served Ukrainian food. I nearly broke down and paid 55 hrn (about $11) for a small bottle of red Tabasco Sauce, but the piece of my ancestry from Scotland prevented such a purchase.

Ukraine is a country on the move and the direction it is moving is West. I stood in a computer store and heard the salesman tell the service technician that I didn't need anyone to install a video card for me because “He knows how to do this, he is an American.” Everywhere one looks there is construction, new business, and fresh paint. Near my apartment is a log cabin from another century painted robin's egg blue. I hope that my small effort teaching English linguistics in Rivne has helped Ukraine move along its path a little more comfortably.