Hebrew, the principal language of biblical,
medieval, rabbinic and pre-modern Jewish literature, was the dominant language of Hebrew printing in Ukraine, but it was not the only language in Hebrew characters. Some presses also issued classical texts in Aramaic (Targums, Talmud and Zohar), and works in the Yiddish vernacular figured in the publication program of most presses. Indeed, in some towns, the first book printed in Hebrew characters was not in Hebrew but in Yiddish. Ukraine became a center of Yiddish publishing, where the earliest books in modern Yiddish appeared. Significantly, the development of Yiddish printing in this region coincided with the rise of modern Ukrainian publishing.

Yiddish and Aramaic were the most common
languages, after Hebrew, printed in Hebrew type, but there were others. Some Karaite and Krimchak texts were issued in their Tatar vernacular. Unusual among Jewish periodicals was the German newspaper printed in Hebrew characters at Drohobych late in the 19th century. All editions of the Talmud included Rashi's glosses in medieval Judeo-French (provided in both Hebrew and Latin letters in the one-volume Berdichev edition of 1894). Curiously, the title-pages of many Hebrew books printed under Tsarist rule before 1836 included a string of the emperor's titles in Russian, all set in Hebrew type.