Sound refers to the actual differentiated segments heard in spoken language. Spelling, on the other hand, refers to the symbolic representation of these sounds, which are unusually not consistent across a language and definitely not consistent across multiple languages. It is important to understand this difference to master correct pronunciation in the target language, as words are often spelled differently than they sound. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) breaches this gaps between sound and spelling by creating a system of spelling that precisely denotes the sound of a differentiated segment. Ukrainian differs quite a bit from the phonetic inventory of English. Most blaringly is the overwhelming presence of consonant clusters. This makes the languages particularly hard to speak, especially as a native English speaker, because English contains very few consonant clusters. I think coming from another Slavic language, pronouncing these clusters is not too difficult, but still tricky at times. As for differentiated segments, there are quite a few that Ukrainian has that English does not. The voiceless alveolar affricate (t͡s) is common, like in the word Цепь or /t͡sɛpʲ/ meaning chain. However, I find this sound quite easy to produce. On the other hand, voiced alveolar affricates are also common like in the word Дзвін or /dzʲvʲin/ meaning bell. Perhaps most obviously is the presence of the alveolar trill in Ukrainian which many English speakers find very hard to produce. Every Ukrainian "r" is trilled, and therefore it is paramount to be able to make this sound. For example, the word for glad is Радісний or /ˈrɑ.dʲis.nɪj/. I have always been able to make an alveolar trill, however, Ukrainina has posed a challenge for me as often the alveolar trill will follow a glottal fricative like in the word грати (to play). It is necessary to understand what the most common sounds are in Ukrainian and how to accurately produce these sounds. I will acquire the ability to discriminate between differentiated segments in my listening by listing to Ukrainian music on radio garden (and trying to song along). Moreover, I will watch youtube videos made by native speakers. To practice producing these sounds I will watch Ukrainian phonetic videos and practice speaking and mimicking the sounds I hear. Moreover, I will instruct my language partner to listen to and correct my pronunciation when she hears errors.