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Russian in ex USSR republics and allies. | ||
Tags: Language Map/Atlas | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| zorglub Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 6991 days ago 441 posts - 504 votes  1 sounds Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin | Message 17 of 25 04 August 2011 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
Uh ? What does Prieka mean ? I found "Joy" in Letton/Latvian and "trailers in lithuanian". Google translation does not display Latvian, further proof that Latvian does not exist ! (just a joke of course) ;p) Oh, me so lazy ! I found http://www.letonika.lv/groups/default.aspx?cid=639348&r=1062 1033&lid=639348&g=2&q=prieka&h=4248 priekā! cheers!, bottoms up!, mud in your eye!, down the hatch! I suppose it was "cheers" I also stumbled across "prieka meita" = "woman of pleasures" which I suppose is the same as the old style "fille de joie" in French, for prostitute. Unless I'm mistaken. Edited by zorglub on 04 August 2011 at 1:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Dragomanno Triglot Groupie Zimbabwe Joined 4994 days ago 80 posts - 98 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Latin, Lithuanian, Albanian, Ancient Greek | Message 18 of 25 04 August 2011 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
Beware, their national hero is a tough guy as strong as a bear... :-D Prieka? It means "cheers"!!! Edited by Dragomanno on 04 August 2011 at 2:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zorglub Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 6991 days ago 441 posts - 504 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin | Message 19 of 25 04 August 2011 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Some day I'll go visit the Baltic states, I guess, and some of Russia.
Learning too many languages will be too much ! I think I'll restrain to whatever Pimsleur 10 lessons pack are available (so far only Lithuanian) and politely switch to English or Whaterverish I speak that can be understoodski. Edited by zorglub on 04 August 2011 at 1:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Dragomanno Triglot Groupie Zimbabwe Joined 4994 days ago 80 posts - 98 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Latin, Lithuanian, Albanian, Ancient Greek | Message 20 of 25 04 August 2011 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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No, I didn't really mean the fille de joie... ;-)
Edited by Dragomanno on 04 August 2011 at 1:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5169 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi | Message 21 of 25 06 August 2011 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I am not learning Central Asian languages.
I think Russian is very common in Kazakhstan, many Kazakhs actually cannot speak it. idon't know about Uzbekistan, well there is a peace corps manual if you wish. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zorglub Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 6991 days ago 441 posts - 504 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin | Message 22 of 25 06 August 2011 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
I had a look at tha manual, http://www.archive.org/details/UzbekLanguageCompetenciesForP eaceCorpsVolunteersInUzbekistan Unfortunately they do not use latin alphabet translitteration of uzbek in its modified cyrillic alphabet. Poor idea if I dare criticize (looking the horse in the mouth) So I will stick to russian and use greeting sentences from my tourist guide ... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4967 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 23 of 25 08 August 2011 at 11:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Just got back from the Baltics a week ago or so, and I found most people were more than happy to speak in
Russian. Granted, they saw me first as an American tourist, so after I explained that I'm a student and learning Russian, they were happy just to help me practice. And, as someone said, learning a few greetings in Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian and opening the conversation with these is a great icebreaker. I used "Tere" often in Tallinn and learned a weird smattering of random words like "meal," "beverage," etc. just by speaking with people and reading signs. Anyway, I heard more Russian in Riga than anywhere else. In Tallinn, the animosity towards Russian is a bit more pronounced (from my experience), though most of the older generation know how to speak it. Also, I found that many people in Tallinn spoke German, also. Our cab driver from the airport spoke no English, so we communicated with him in German. In Vilnius, many people (particularly in the service professions/those who work in hotels) even the younger generation, knew Russian and used it with the many Russian tourists. Since the Soviet system had a firmer grasp over these Baltic states in terms of forced Russian education, I think you can count on more Russian speakers in the Baltics than in Yugoslavia. The USSR never had such easy access to Yugoslavian schools, thanks to Tito, so most kids had the option of learning either Russian or German. Very few people speak Russian fluidly in the states compromising the former Yugoslavia, I've found, though they claim to. They will often note how very similar Russian and Serbo-Croatian are and how speakers of the two can understand each other quite easily. This is really not the case. Most Serbs/Croats know a few words in Russian, but their limited knowledge won't help you improve your speaking... Moreover, the Serbs/Croats I've run into who claim to speak Russian all speak it with accents because they stress the wrong syllable, as if they were speaking Serbo-Croatian. In regards to Czech Republic and Poland (also just got back from those places, lol), I found more Russian speakers in the latter than in the former. There is an INTENSE hatred for Russians in Poland, and if you get any Pole talking about history (and this is a really easy thing to do...it's getting them to shut up that's the problem ;) ), this animosity will inevitably (and understandably) surface. That said, most Poles are very educated and have chosen to learn Russian to further complement their studies of history, or have learned it out of spite (kidding). But if you're studying Russian already, picking up a little Polish won't be too difficult. I could understand gists of conversations and read signs by my knowledge of Serbian and a little Russian. Poles love speaking Polish with tourists! It's so fun to converse with them, and they're very forgiving of any mistakes you may make. There are way more German tourists in Prague than Russian ones (though these are on the rise), so most people speak German. Still, many speak Russian, too. Honestly, I was really surprised by just how many people all over Central/Eastern Europe speak Russian. I'm sure you'll find use for it in every place you visit. Forgot to add that I'm in complete agreement with artur in regards to just doing what you feel is best. If you have a kind temperament and a good personality, it will come out no matter which language you are speaking in, and people will notice and take heart. Then, they will speak to you in whichever language you wish without judging you. :) Edited by Tecktight on 08 August 2011 at 11:20pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5169 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi | Message 24 of 25 15 August 2011 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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As for Russian in Poland, most older people can speak it, but there are not so many new learners, it is maybe popular like French among the young people. Yes, a lot of Polish people resent the "Soviet Yoke". Also the relations now are not better too, between our countries. but I think it's rather hatred towards Russian government rather Russia in general.
I wanted to say "I am NOW learning Central Asian languages". Well, they use the Cyrillic, but switching to Latin is not so hard, I think. One Cyrillic letter - one Latin letter Moreover some people still use the Russian script. You may check uz-translation, they are themselves from Uzbekistan, so they should have something, but even there you don't have many books. Most resources are in Russian for CA Turk languages. Edited by clumsy on 15 August 2011 at 1:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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