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Russian in ex USSR republics and allies.

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stelingo
Hexaglot
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United Kingdom
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 Message 9 of 25
01 August 2011 at 9:12pm | IP Logged 
arturs wrote:
Everyone who's wondering about the Baltic situation - there is practically no such thing as negative associations with Russian, because younger people try to stay more away of these dirty political games. The main factor is that Russians should show that they know and speak good Latvian - then everybody is OK with that person, even to a degree that sometimes Latvians want to speak Russian in order to practice it, but Russians prefer Latvian so that they can practice it.

If you are a tourist, I would recommend using English, not because everyone's afraid of Russian language, but just because people will think that you haven't taken some lessons that Latvia (Lithuania, Estonia) is not a part of Russia anymore but a more pro-Western European Union country. If you're a tourist from ex-Soviet countries then everybody is OK to use Russian (even more nationalistic people), but if you're a tourist from Europe or other country, then speaking Russian is viewed, as we say, "a spit in the face" for our efforts to be a better EU country by using English more and more and learning other EU official languages like German (very popular in Latvia now) and French.


So what is your attitude to people who come to Latvia to study Russian? I nearly decided to study in this school in Riga, but in the end opted for a school in Kiev.

http://www.russian.edu.lv/
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LatinoBoy84
Bilingual Triglot
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United States
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 Message 10 of 25
02 August 2011 at 3:50am | IP Logged 
What if you went through each of the languages you know in an attempt to communicate...
Excuse me...Do you speak English? Habla usted Español? Parlez vous Français? Вы говорите
по России?..Would anyone be offended if one made Russian an option, not the default?
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arturs
Triglot
Senior Member
Latvia
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Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English

 
 Message 11 of 25
02 August 2011 at 7:15am | IP Logged 
stelingo wrote:
arturs wrote:
Everyone who's wondering about the Baltic situation - there is practically no such thing as negative associations with Russian, because younger people try to stay more away of these dirty political games. The main factor is that Russians should show that they know and speak good Latvian - then everybody is OK with that person, even to a degree that sometimes Latvians want to speak Russian in order to practice it, but Russians prefer Latvian so that they can practice it.

If you are a tourist, I would recommend using English, not because everyone's afraid of Russian language, but just because people will think that you haven't taken some lessons that Latvia (Lithuania, Estonia) is not a part of Russia anymore but a more pro-Western European Union country. If you're a tourist from ex-Soviet countries then everybody is OK to use Russian (even more nationalistic people), but if you're a tourist from Europe or other country, then speaking Russian is viewed, as we say, "a spit in the face" for our efforts to be a better EU country by using English more and more and learning other EU official languages like German (very popular in Latvia now) and French.


So what is your attitude to people who come to Latvia to study Russian? I nearly decided to study in this school in Riga, but in the end opted for a school in Kiev.

http://www.russian.edu.lv/


My personal attitude is - do whatever you want. If it's the best place to learn, do it. General attitude would be a bit negative, because of the fact that Russian is not an official language here and people would view this as certain politicians trying to get more people in the EU to speak Russian, so that they can ask that Russian becomes an official language here.

Interesting fact - many Russians from Russia laugh at Latvia's Russians that they speak crippled Russian.
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Dragomanno
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Zimbabwe
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 Message 12 of 25
02 August 2011 at 11:36pm | IP Logged 
espejismo wrote:
Have you actually been to any Baltic state? In tourist areas they will speak to you in any language as long as you have money.


I lived in Pribaltija and extensively travelled in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. That's true, people speak with you in any language as long as they got paid. But nontheless, to speak Russian in some areas is seriously not advisable. Of course I am not saying I find it right. But that's the way the things are there...

Edited by Dragomanno on 02 August 2011 at 11:38pm
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zorglub
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France
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 Message 13 of 25
03 August 2011 at 1:59am | IP Logged 
Dragomanno wrote:
espejismo wrote:
Have you actually been to any Baltic state? In tourist areas they will speak to you in any language as long as you have money.


I lived in Pribaltija and extensively travelled in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. That's true, people speak with you in any language as long as they got paid. But nontheless, to speak Russian in some areas is seriously not advisable. Of course I am not saying I find it right. But that's the way the things are there...


This is quite far from Uzbekistan where I wiil be going, and where a forumite told me Russian is even on street signs.

But out of curiosity, do you think that :
- if i try and say "hello, excuse me" (in Baltician 1, 2 or 3) "do you speak English?" And the person says no, it would be felt offensive if I asked about French, German and then Russian ?
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vykis92
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LithuaniaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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 Message 14 of 25
03 August 2011 at 3:20pm | IP Logged 
Well I live in Lithuania and I can just advise you if you want to speak to an elder person(35 or more) use russian and for younger people (especially students) use English.
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Evita
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Latvia
learnlatvian.info
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Speaks: Latvian*, English, German, Russian
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 Message 15 of 25
03 August 2011 at 7:25pm | IP Logged 
zorglub wrote:
This is quite far from Uzbekistan where I wiil be going, and where a forumite told me Russian is even on street signs.

But out of curiosity, do you think that :
- if i try and say "hello, excuse me" (in Baltician 1, 2 or 3) "do you speak English?" And the person says no, it would be felt offensive if I asked about French, German and then Russian ?


In Latvia, it would definitely not be offensive. Actually, I don't think people are that reluctant to speak Russian in Latvia, it's more that the younger generation simply can't speak it (very well).

Obviously, if you are trying to buy something it doesn't matter in what language you speak as long as the person understands you. But otherwise, there's a difference whether you are speaking to a Russian (born and living in Latvia) or a Latvian. The Russian population in Latvia is about 30%, I think, so there's a good chance you would meet some of them, especially in Riga and in the Eastern part of the country. Obviously Russians would prefer that you speak to them in Russian but younger people would likely know some English as well.

It's a different situation with Latvians. The main situation when Latvians are sometimes reluctant to speak Russian is when they have to speak Russian to a local person who has lived his/her whole life in Latvia and hasn't bothered to learn Latvian. It's perceived as "showing disrespect to the country" so it's more about the person, not the language itself. As long as you make it clear you're a tourist you don't have to worry about this aspect.

What Latvians do hate are ignorant people who think Russian is an official language here, or people who perhaps aren't even aware that a Latvian language exists. So as a tourist you should make it clear that you are aware of it all, give "proper respect" to Latvian and then you can use any language you like. Simply learning how to say "Hello" in Latvian will buy you a lot of goodwill.
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Dragomanno
Triglot
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Zimbabwe
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 Message 16 of 25
04 August 2011 at 12:01pm | IP Logged 
zorglub wrote:
This is quite far from Uzbekistan where I wiil be going, and where a forumite told me Russian is even on street signs.

But out of curiosity, do you think that :
- if i try and say "hello, excuse me" (in Baltician 1, 2 or 3) "do you speak English?" And the person says no, it would be felt offensive if I asked about French, German and then Russian ?


In most of the cases, I would say no. But it's really up to the situation. I used to live in a city where speaking Russian was highly discouraged... On the other hand, I met plenty of people in Vilnius who were answering me in Russian when I was asking in Lithuanian. And they really undestood what I was saying. Again: it's up to the situation.

Absolutely true, Uzbekistan is quite a different world from the Baltic. You can easily go for Russian there.

Evita wrote:
   

In Latvia, it would definitely not be offensive. Actually, I don't think people are that reluctant to speak Russian in Latvia, it's more that the younger generation simply can't speak it (very well).

Obviously, if you are trying to buy something it doesn't matter in what language you speak as long as the person understands you. But otherwise, there's a difference whether you are speaking to a Russian (born and living in Latvia) or a Latvian. The Russian population in Latvia is about 30%, I think, so there's a good chance you would meet some of them, especially in Riga and in the Eastern part of the country. Obviously Russians would prefer that you speak to them in Russian but younger people would likely know some English as well.

It's a different situation with Latvians. The main situation when Latvians are sometimes reluctant to speak Russian is when they have to speak Russian to a local person who has lived his/her whole life in Latvia and hasn't bothered to learn Latvian. It's perceived as "showing disrespect to the country" so it's more about the person, not the language itself. As long as you make it clear you're a tourist you don't have to worry about this aspect.

What Latvians do hate are ignorant people who think Russian is an official language here, or people who perhaps aren't even aware that a Latvian language exists. So as a tourist you should make it clear that you are aware of it all, give "proper respect" to Latvian and then you can use any language you like. Simply learning how to say "Hello" in Latvian will buy you a lot of goodwill.


I definitively agree. I would also add "prieka" to the list of useful Latvian words ;-)

Edited by Dragomanno on 04 August 2011 at 1:12pm


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