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Languages in Eastern Europe

Czech Wins Poll: A Language to Learn

May 18, 2006

This month’s Eastern European language poll results are in with an overwhelming majority of you voting Czech as the language you’d most like to speak!

Our poll at Eastern Europe and Russia Travel this month asked you which of Estonian, Czech, Romanian, Lithuanian and Albanian you'd like to learn. Whether the votes came in mostly on familiarity or if you really like the sound of Czech the best, "Dobrý den" and "Na shledanou" scored more than 60% of the votes, with the rest of the votes spread evenly amongst the others.

Language Families in Eastern Europe

Or maybe you figured out that Czech would be the most useful. A Slavic language, it's very closely related to about a dozen other Eastern European languages, including Russian, Polish, Croatian, Bulgarian and of course Slovak - in fact Slovak and Czech are so similar that they are called "mutually comprehensible": if Slovaks and Czechs speak together in their own language, they can understand each other.

Curiously, despite being separated by half a dozen countries, Hungarian and Estonian share similarities, both being related to Finnish, and win my prize for the most comical looking words in Eastern Europe! In Latvia and Lithuania, locals speak Baltic-related languages, quite different from their Baltic sister, Estonia.

Speaking Russian in Eastern Europe

True, Russian or a close variant will get you by in the biggest country on earth, plus a few of its close relatives, like Belarus, Kazakhstan and parts of Ukraine. It's also a fact that until the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russian was the second language in most schools of the region. But in those countries which have now loosened their close ties to Russia - English is the language of choice. Good news for us English speaking travelers, and an important tip: while many people might understand your Russian questions anywhere from Estonia to Slovakia, most will be very reluctant to speak it.

Having Something to Say in Eastern Europe

Many people traveling through this region hope to find a magic one language that'll get them through. But part of the wonder of Eastern Europe is the diversity of cultures and - therefore, sorry - languages! English is spreading, particularly amongst younger people, so head to the nearest gang of teenagers and ask them for the train station. There are also useful phrasebooks covering up to a dozen Eastern European languages. And of course, a pen, paper and rudimentary sketching skills always prove that a picture is worth a thousand words - of any language.

The copyright of the article Languages in Eastern Europe in E Europe Travel is owned by Amanda Kendle. Permission to republish Languages in Eastern Europe in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Comments

May 18, 2006 5:23 AM

Bridget Lux :

As a traveler, I find it both comforting and disappointing that English is spreading so quickly. When I traveled around Europe in '98, it was at least a challenge to find someone who spoke English. Now, it's hard to find someone who doesn't (at least in Western Europe). Obviously, that makes it easier for an English-only speaking person to travel, but I fear we're losing something. At some point - and I mean, possibly a couple hundred years from now - everyone will be speaking English, or so it seems. Is that a good thing?

May 18, 2006 8:20 AM

Amanda Kendle :

That's a really good point. I teach English as a foreign language (so it's doubly to my advantage that English is becoming so widespread) but I <i>still</i> think it's a pity. A related point that bothers me is that many European languages are increasingly adopting English words in everyday use - when they could use a perfectly good Slovak or German or Estonian word with the same meaning. My students have told me it's cool, but like you said, aren't we losing something? I still want to travel somewhere where the signs are bewildering and I can get by only with violent sign language and bad drawings.

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