Which countries speak Russian?

[jayk]

I was wondering which countries speak Russian because I would really like to do some traveling in the (Central and) Eastern bloc, and would like to visit places where I can learn 1 language and be able to communicate. Specifically, I was thinking of Baltic states, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Bosnia, Serbia.

I was also wondering whether Polish is similar to Russian because people tell me that but I wouldn't have the slightest clue to verify that unless I actually learned the language.

Unlike in Hungary, Czech Rep., Croatia, etc where everyone speaks something different.

[illyas]

Naturally, Russian is spoken in the Russian Federation. The 14 other countries from the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine) also speak Russian one way or another (think of Quebec where the majority know it, but the majority speak their language). The rest of the countries/cities you wish to visit will be based on luck - some people speak Russian others don't. Also don't think Russian will be easy to learn...Russian uses a lot of prefixes, suffixes, endings, and vowel alternations. Polish is pretty similar to Russian.

[illusion81]

Being of a Polish background myself, I will have to disagree. If you didn't study Russian in school as a kid, you might pick up a word here and there during a conversation with a Russian person. The language that comes closest to Polish is Ukrainian. I can watch Ukrainian television and understand pretty much most of it. I personally speak Polish, German and English. Without a doubt Polish would be the hardest to learn out of the three. Good thing I was born there ;)

Polish is pretty similar to Russian.

[doodypoo]

russians drink vodka

[illyas]

Well... I know both Russian and Ukrainian and I can understand most Polish. I guess you're right in the sense that Ukrainian has more in common with Polish than Russian, but Russian is still similar to Polish especially the basic words and names.

Being of a Polish background myself, I will have to disagree. If you didn't study Russian in school as a kid, you might pick up a word here and there during a conversation with a Russian person. The language that comes closest to Polish is Ukrainian. I can watch Ukrainian television and understand pretty much most of it. I personally speak Polish, German and English. Without a doubt Polish would be the hardest to learn out of the three. Good thing I was born there ;)

[divx]

Being of a Polish background myself, I will have to disagree. If you didn't study Russian in school as a kid, you might pick up a word here and there during a conversation with a Russian person. The language that comes closest to Polish is Ukrainian. I can watch Ukrainian television and understand pretty much most of it. I personally speak Polish, German and English. Without a doubt Polish would be the hardest to learn out of the three. Good thing I was born there ;)
knowing a language that's more useful/common is better to know a hard-to-learn language. you already knew the most commonly spoken language, how about the 2nd most common langauge?

[mingming]

knowing a language that's more useful/common is better to know a hard-to-learn language. you already knew the most commonly spoken language, how about the 2nd most common langauge?

Chinese teachers will make a lot of money!!!

[Pete Jones]

Well... I know both Russian and Ukrainian...

Ukranian is just Polish with a bad accent. :D :D :D

I used to work with a Ukranian guy and we'd drive people around us nuts because we would hold conversations where I'd speak Polish and he'd speak Ukranian and we had no problems understanding each other. But to foreign ears, (from what others told me) it sounded like we spoke the same language but with different accents.

I never could wrap my head around Cyrilic, though. It seems quite phonetic and straight-forward, but since I have no reason to use it, I just never got into it.

--Pete

[NorthYorker]

If you know Russian you can understand some of other Slavic languages, namely Bulgarian, Ukrainian (not that 95% of them don't speak Russian), Belarussian (same comment), Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbo-Croat (it's basically same languages, but they're using different alphabets), Montenegrin, Macedonian. Of course, level of understanding would be different. For example, being Russian speaker I can read tourist guides and restaurant menus in all aforementioned languages, but my ability to understand spoken language can be described as limited at best. As ilyas mentioned, ones who know Russian and Ukrainian can understand 95% of Polish and 80% of Slovak.

Can you read Cyrillic, by the way?

[CoolEddie]

There are large Russian populations (as high as 20%) in the Baltic states. I think a lot do speak Russian. But the new "in" second language is English and you could probably get by with English.

[jayk]

I can't read Cyrillic, don't know anything about it. It sounds like it will take a long time to learn if I don't?

I wonder how much Polish, Slovak or Ukrainian I would understand with only Russian. Learning 2 separate languages new, is an impossible task for me given time I would need to sacrifice to learn them both.

But 1 language is good. Maybe Russian would be the best choice then.

[NorthYorker]

There are large Russian populations (as high as 20%) in the Baltic states. I think a lot do speak Russian. But the new "in" second language is English and you could probably get by with English.There are up to 45% of "Russian-speakers" (umbrella definition for all non-native population) in Baltic countries and they all speak Russian. Besides, 99% of townsfolk and 80% of villagers born before 1970 have some command of Russian. But they may not like to use it in conversation, Russian being "language of opressors" and all. Rule of thumb, if they want to take your money (as in hotels/stores/restaurants) they'll be happy to mobilize whatever Russian you have to hawk their wares. But if they're not hoping for profit... Well, it all depends on luck.

I can't read Cyrillic, don't know anything about it. It sounds like it will take a long time to learn if I don't?Well, it's pretty phonetic (one sound=one letter, no 'th's and 'tion's). But I can't really answer how hard it is to learn for grown-up. I learned all 3 scripts I know (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic) before I turned 11 and pretty much stopped there. Weak attepts to learn Hebrew alphabet failed miserably :(

I wanted to ask you, if you don't mind. What's the purpose of learning Russian for you? Just one tour? With all due respect, I don't think amount of trouble is worth it. Just try to memorize Cyrillic letters (even with cheat sheet) to be able to read menus and billboards, and you're good to go. You want to study country, it's past and present? Well, that's noble purpose.

Regarding whole "lingua franca" thing. I'd say Russian is still lingua franca in former USSR plus (on limited scale) Bulgaria and Serbia/Montenegro/FYROM. Pretty much all other Eastern European countries (plus Baltic countries and Serbia/Montenegro/FYROM as well) use German as language of business and tourism. Remember, Germany is economic 800-pound gorilla of Europe.

I wonder how much Polish, Slovak or Ukrainian I would understand with only Russian. Ukrainian - a lot. I can watch TV or read books. But you have to remember, there's more than one Ukrainian. For example, many of my fellow Ukes have problems with Ukrainian TV here in Toronto, because they use Western Ukrainian (as opposed to official "Central" or "Kyiv" Ukrainian). It's very Polonized. I'd say 90% of "Kyiv Ukrainian" is understandable to one with good command of Russian. Polish and Slovak - you'll be able to read menus, road signs and such. Conversation on limited scale, if your partner speaks slowly and clearly. Polish and Slovak TV - you would recognize familiar sounds, but that's about it.

As usual, Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_languages) is reasonably good beginner's guide in this area.

[Pete Jones]

I can't read Cyrillic, don't know anything about it. It sounds like it will take a long time to learn if I don't?

I wonder how much Polish, Slovak or Ukrainian I would understand with only Russian. Learning 2 separate languages new, is an impossible task for me given time I would need to sacrifice to learn them both.

But 1 language is good. Maybe Russian would be the best choice then.

So I figured I'd take a few minutes to actually try to wrap my head around cyrillic. My Ukranian friend was right on. It's dead simple if you already speak a slavic language.

Here are two web pages that lay it out for you:

http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/language/russian-alphabet.html

http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/reference/cyrillic.html

The nice thing about slavic languages, in general, is that you can pretty much apply the same rules of declension across them all and get away with it. Likewise, the different languages don't necessarily share the same words, but the roots of the words will be enough of a clue that you'll be able to understand. This is my biggest problem as a Polish speaker with Russian. There are so many Russian words that don't even come close to sounding like the Polish counterpart that unless you know them, you're sunk.

And we haven't even gotten into the cultural isssues. Walking into certain parts of Europe speaking Russian may still get you a semi-hostile stare or two. There's an amazing amount of hostility that still exists between (main older) citizens of many of the countries. Sometimes, you might be better to "play dumb" and start off in English. In the last 10-15 years or so, the English language has really made inroads through eastern and central Europe.

But, ultimately, if you learn _one_ of the slavic languages, (might as well start with Russian if you want) the others will be easier to pick up if you want.

--Pete