English - Informal 2nd Language for Young People

The official language since independence is Ukrainian, but English is treated as an informal second language in many areas.

Ukraine and Russian are used roughly equally across Ukraine. While the official state language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, the preferred spoken language in most cities of southern, eastern, and northern Ukraine is Russian.

Ukrainian tends to be spoken at government institutions and is the language of most official events.

In Kiev and many other regions use of Ukrainian has been increasing and instruction in most schools is in Ukrainian. The percentage of people speaking Ukrainian "on the street" is about 30% in Kiev and 80-98% in Lviv. Rural areas have a significantly higher concentration of Ukrainian speakers and speakers of "Surzhyk" (Ukrainian mixed with Russian), however, the most literary Ukrainian is spoken by educated individuals in the cities.

 Lviv - Cultural Mecca !

Lviv, as capital of Western-Ukraine, has a very rich culture similar to cities like Prague at its first visit.  Lvivian luminaries past and present include the great poet Ivan Franko as well as the world's finest science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish, Armenian, German, Italian and even Scottish names all came to prominence in Lviv's cosmopolitan history.

Lviv may have 'been in the wars' both literally and proverbially, but the sense of the city as a cultural mecca has not been lost. Exuberant churches, a sublime opera house and richly adorned museums and galleries will raise the eyebrows of anyone who thought they already knew Europe back to front. Not everything will be in working order, as you'd expect after fifty years in the Soviet strait-jacket, but life would be pretty dull if every European city was a Starbucks carbon-copy of the next. Life in Lviv is full of bonkers surprises but that's half the joy of the place...

Besides the all year round attractions, there are also a growing number of festivals to lure culture vultures to town. The wide-ranging Virtuosi Music Festival gets underway in the Spring, whilst the Zoloty Lev (Golden Lion) Theatre Festival dominates the Autumn season. The latter is followed by the Solomia Kryshelnytska Festival of Opera Art in November.