About the soft-sign in Ukrainian

[Globehopper]

I was wondering about the letter in Ukrainian usually called the "soft sign." I've read that it softens the preceeding letter, but is the difference between softened and unsoftened letters always clearly audible?

For example, " den' " is the word for "day" in Ukrainian, but if it was said without softening - just " den " - would there be a clear difference? Also, if I was speaking Ukrainian and accidentally didn't soften a letter, would the person I was speaking with, if they were a native speaker, notice it?

Thanks

[Ivan_Mazepa]

Yeah, it is an important letter.
The Ukrainian listener will likely understand you (then smile to himself).

[Serhii]

You should remember as well that wery often softness changes the meaning of the word . For example Lan (hard) -lan'(soft), polka - pol'ka, stan - stan' , etc. These are pairs of different words.

And for sure we, native speakers, will note such mishaps. But you shouldn't be afraid of it. It isn't a big problem.
Everyone will be very glad to help you, just move on . That's the most important. Good luck from Ukraine !

[Globehopper]

Ah, thanks. All right, I'll try to really make sure I pronounce those soft signs, especially after hearing that they can change a word's meaning.

Although it is good to know that a Ukrainian would still understand me (even if he does smile to himself) if I did slip up...

Anyway, thanks again