Can I get by in Russia without speaking Russian?
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at
4:44 pm
I plan on traveling to Russia next year to tutor a family on English. Will I be able to enjoy what Russia has to offer without being able to speak any Russian?
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You can get by in the major cities, remoter places would be more challenging. I managed in Moscow, but at times you need to rely on friends for help (Government departments and train tickets can be difficult). Learning the Russian alphabet is not as difficult as it first seems and in time your language skills will develop.
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PlayMate – You can easily get a 6-12 month business visa. There are visa companies that will issue you the invite and register the visa once in the country. I’ve used both of these -
http://www.waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html
http://www.gotorussia.com/visa_services.php3
Well, I think it is respectful and a good idea to learn another countries language. It is really annoying when people come here speaking a foreign language and expect us to know what they are saying. If they understand and speak English then I think it is fine, but I would at least learn basic things you would need to say to get around.
Hello Alliance,
I have recently discovered that there are ONLY THREE ways that Russia will allow a single person into their country! And, they are:
1) You must be invited by a specific business to join them.
2) You must be invited by the Russian government.
3) You must be part of a "tour group" in the country for less than three weeks.
——My fiance is stranded in Russia, and I am NOT allowed to visit her! The Russian government does not like (..or tolerate..) Americans.
you will! i think
- if you learn the basic phrases its gonna be fine,
also i recommend to go to st. petersburg (way more beauriful than moscow, and less dangerous~)
oh, and it will be waaaaaay easier to get into the country if a citizen of russia writes you an invite!
- there are sites where you exchange invites with people from different countries, you might wanna look for that^^
hope u enjoy!
You might, not that many russians know english
russia and russian language is full of fun things. right now ice and snow america only dreams about with 50 below wind chills! we are only at -24 farenheit, right now. LIFE GOES ON.
the alphabet IS dependable except for a FEW exceptions. сегодня looks like segodnya but is pronounced sevodnya. and a host of other …годня words kill you as an english speaker trying in vain to learn… but usually, you can rely on phonics.
then and forgive me for errors here, but words like of are replaced with an ending on the word uded with of. like sugar is сахар "sahar" (almost like soccer) cup OF sugar, makes сахара. and "with" changes the word for poppy seed мак (sounds lick mock). so a bread with poppy seed would make the word change to маком one word meaning "with poppyseed" -маком. i hate to tell you this, but this rule applies only to MALE gender words. female words are a whole ‘nother ball of wax.
so learn "spasibo" -thank you, "nye ponimayu" – i don’t understand. just kidding. but learn a few words. and be aware! word choice can differ. english "what time is it" is said in russian "skolka vremya" -how much time. there are no words for "is" and "it" in russian. there is no word for fun in the russian language, but we have a lot of fun anyway.
hopefully you will be in a city away from moscow and st petersburg. both are great to visit and see the sights, but a smaller city has charm you can see without dazzling scenes to hide it! try all kinds of food. borsch is not russian and has no "t". try to learn about things to see (in summer a frozen cave in the city kungur is interesting).
as you teach the family english, be prepared to learn an immense amount about a wildly different country! they will likely treat you like a family member and take care of the language issues! you will feel adopted…
i am american and have been back and forth for 19 years. i usually stay six months or more at a time. and i still have terrible time withthe language!! one step forward… two steps back!
it depends what you mean by no russian.
very few people besides younger people speak a word of english. if you go over with literally none you’ll miss out on a lot and probably feel very isolated.
i went there with basic russian, and used every word i knew over there. i found that everyone went out of their way to help me when i needed it, and i’d say the fact that i was making the effort to speak their language was a big factor in this.
at an absolute minimum you’ll need to be able to read the alphabet, which won’t take very long at all. also some basic phrases, please thank you etc.
if you aren’t going for another year though i’d strongly advise you to start learning russian, because the experience you get will be directly proportional to how much russian you can speak. just pick up a book, it’s hard to learn but if you make a decent effort you’ll be able to pick up enough to converse no problem.
Playmate, not that i have any sympathy for someone who doesn’t make the most basic enquiries about a their travel requirements, but if your fiancee really is stranded she can get out through the ukraine. there’s no real border between russia and ukraine, and ukraine doesn’t require a visa. she could then get into the eu from there, and if there are any problems which there probably won’t be the guards in the smaller crossings (ukraine/eu) are ridiculously easy to bribe, they’ll try to get one anyway.
Not a lot of people speak english even in Moscow.
But in Moscow, I believe, there will always be 2-3 people out of 20 who speak english and will be able to help you in case of a problem. But do not expect english from metro tickets vendors, bus controllers etc. and people over 50-60 years old.
I’d recommend to learn some basic phrases..
If you know some easy words and phrases you will "get by" everywhere. Try to find out the examples of how it`s REALLY pronounced and learn them by heart. And you will be o`kay
most people in Russia don’t speak English, so it will be very difficult for you to communicate