The 3 most beneficial languages of Eastern Europe to learn
When traveling Eastern Europe apart from the big metropolises, bumping into someone who’s speaking English can be challenging. As in all Europe, the likelihood of meeting someone with sufficient skills decreases with the age of the person. However, being able to communicate with locals doesn’t only make travels way easier but also allows another access to the country’s people and their culture.
The following three languages may be difficult to learn for English speakers at the beginning but their benefits will eventually be worth the effort.
Polish is the official language of only Poland. However, the language reveals many similarities to both the Czech and Slovak language what means that one can be understood in those two countries. The same applies to the Ukrainian language that has been heavily influenced by the Polish language.
The situation in Former Yugoslavia has never been easy since the falling apart of the former communistic state. These days every state claims to have its own language. There is nothing wrong about that even though critics label these languages commonly as dialects. The bottom line is that knowing one of these languages will enable you to be fully understood in Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Unlike the other countries, Serbia is using the Cyrillic alphabet. The closest language to Serbo-Croatian is Slovenian. It has its differences but with some effort by both sides communication will work out.
By far, the Russian language is the most beneficial one to learn in that matter. Being the official language of the world’s biggest country already seems to be a fair reason. However, due to the former Soviet Republic, the Russian language is still widely spread all over Eastern Europe. In Belarus, it is the official language and in Ukraine (apart from the Western part) the lingua franca. Additionally, the Russian language is commonly used in parts of Moldova and in the Caucasian states of Armenia and Georgia. In the Baltic States especially in Estonia and Latvia, Russian is nearly understood throughout the country.
As it was compulsory in the former Soviet states to study Russian, you will still find the older population of the following countries with a basic understanding of Russian: Czech Republic, Germany (Eastern part), Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. If there is the will of still wanting to speak that language heavily depends on the person and their attitude to Russia and its language. Apart from these countries, Russian is commonly understood in Bulgaria.
Last but not least, learning Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet simplifies the orientation in countries that are using the Cyrillic alphabet such as Macedonia, Serbia or Ukraine.
