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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow is President Zelensky's Name spelled? Here's the best possible answer:
In Ukrainian, it is spelled Зеленський.
As you see, Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet. It is slightly different from the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, and uses a few different characters.
So, any spelling of his name in the Latin alphabet requires transliteration. The style sheets of various publications have decided how those publications will spell it. Three variants are the most common:
Zelensky - You'll find this spelling in many English language news sources, particularly in the United States. It's relatively close to the actual pronunciation of the name, though, with only subtle differences.
Zelenskyy - This is a less common transliteration, but is used by some news publications. It recognizes, but does not differentiate the two final letters in the name.
Zelenskiy - This transliteration, also used by some, is probably the most correct of all, since it recognizes the final letter of the Cyrillic spelling, which is a "short i" in both Russian and Ukrainian Cyrillic. It is designated by the diacritical mark above the second Cyrillic "i." that is a separate, distinct character in Cyrillic.
There is another letter in the Cyrillic spelling, a letter that looks like a tiny "b". That letter is silent, but slightly affects the sound of the preceding "c" which is the Cyrillic letter for our "s."
In the transliteration method I learned, his name would be spelled Zelens'kiy We had to include all of the letters when transliterating in the USAF. Nobody else much does that, though.
All three transliterations are correct, depending on the publication using them. It's safe to use any of the three, because you will always be using a spelling that is in wide use. All three, of course, are incorrect, but we don't use the Cyrillic alphabet, so, we can't accurately spell his name in European languages that use the Latin alphabet.
obamanut2012
(25,905 posts)MineralMan
(146,189 posts)I'm a Russian speaker and reader. I also can understand Ukrainian, either spoken or written.
All details. We can't spell either language correctly in English. We don't have enough letters in our alphabet.
For example, Cyrillic has a letter for the consonant sound "shch." "щ" A sound we don't even use in English. It's as though Russian and Cyrillic were their own languages with their own sounds.
Fascinating stuff, but only if you're an academic or a language learner.
Hekate
(90,189 posts)MineralMan
(146,189 posts)I have an alternative keyboard file on my PC for Cyrillic. Normally, though, I don't bother with it, and go copy and paste from some other website to save time, since I have to activate that keyboard and then deactivate it to return to English.
I don't have a Ukrainian Cyrillic keyboard file, though, which makes it a little more difficult, as well.
Funny thing: Handwriting in Cyrillic uses different-looking characters in some cases, than the printed version. When I learned Russian, while in the USAF, we had to take a lot of dictation in the Russian language, writing it in cursive Cyrillic. I did so much of that that it destroyed my English cursive writing. Ever after, I have had to print or letter in English. Otherwise I end up with Cyrillic letters slipping in automatically.
I was surprised by that.
Foolacious
(497 posts)My university Russian teacher learned Russian and German there.
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)At the time, there were three, DLI in Monterey, Skytop at Syracuse U., and another one at Indiana University.
There was, apparently, a great need for Russian linguists in the late 1960s.
It was a great experience. We had all native-speaking Russian teachers and it was a total immersion environment. Very intense, but very, very effective. The Basic school was 9 months long. There was also an Intermediate and Advanced program, neither of which I was in. I continued improving my Russian on my own, though, for several years.
Foolacious
(497 posts)I adored my Russian teacher -- he was the author of the textbook "Russian for Americans", and a great guy. I didn't continue with Russian after my freshman year, but did go on to speak passable French and, more recently, quite conversational Spanish (a must, since I live in Mexico now).
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)I learned Spanish, because more than half of the kids at the grammar school I attended spoke Spanish, and I visited their homes frequently. Then, in high school, I took four years of French. Then Russian while in the USAF.
I was stationed in Turkey, right on the Black Sea coast, after my Russian training. I was there for 15 months, so I also learned conversational Turkish, since I spent a lot of time exploring that country when I had time off.
I guess I learn languages pretty easily. I picked up some German, as well, along the way.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,992 posts). . . S A T A N
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)Emrys
(7,186 posts)As you observed, there's poor standardization of Romanized forms of Cyrillic words, especially in the endings -y versus -iy versus -yy.
He's been known to use the Romanized form Zelensky in social media in the past, but his passport spells it Zelenskyy, as witnessed by this exchange between a BBC correspondent and an ex-spokesperson of his, so I think I'd accept this as a definitive answer:
Link to tweet
Jonah Fisher
@JonahFisherBBC
Replying to @Biz_Ukraine_Mag @melindaharing and 5 others
I dont think we (BBC) are going to go for the double - Y - it just confuses our audience.
Iuliia Mendel
@IuliiaMendel
Dear colleagues, this is the official form of the last name that the President has in his passport. This was decided by the passport service of Ukraine. The President wont be offended if BBC standards assume different transliteration
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)The BBC is very set in its ways, to be sure. I love the strangeness of Received Pronunciation in British speech. They give no quarter to how people elsewhere pronounce anything. They have, you know, RULES!
None of us pronounce his name correctly, either. It should be pronounced:
Zeh Lyehns Kee. the second syllable is emphasized and the "e" vowel in emphasized syllables is pronounced "yeh." That's just too hard for English speakers, I'm afraid. It's really more subtle than that, but that's as close as I can get using our alphabet.
But the president's ex-spokesperson's guidance is admirably level-headed.
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)That's a very diplomatic approach to it, I think. I agree.
My post is just descriptive, not proscriptive.