In which countries is Russian useful for anglophone tourists?

In which countries is Russian useful for anglophone tourists? - Man and Woman Statue Near Brown Concrete Building

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I'm thinking of visiting Ukraine, and I'm deciding whether to learn Russian or learn Ukrainian. I'm already familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet, though I recognise its pronunciation will be a bit different for Russian or Ukrainian compared to Mongolian. One factor I'm evaluating is whether Russian will be useful in countries other than Ukraine.

Amongst countries which are reasonably "touristy", ie places where the locals won't raise an eyebrow at an Australian visiting their country for tourism, and assuming I stay on the "beaten track" within those countries, where is knowing Russian useful to tourists who can already speak English?

Wikivoyage's phrasebook for Russian describes where Russian is spoken, but doesn't summarize where it's useful for those who speak English, and the promotional page for Lonely Planet's Russian phrasebook only mentions Russia.

russian-language


Best Answer

When I visited in 2010 I found that this was the case in the Republic of Georgia.
When I visited it was nearly impossible to find anyone who understood even basic english words. Even our guides had poor English.

A number of people on our trip spoke Russian however and were able to communicate with nearly everyone (though apparently there is a reluctance to associate with/speak Russian among some people since the invasion of Ingushetia).



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What countries is Russian useful in?

Russian is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and it's considered an unofficial lingua franca in Ukraine and many former Soviet countries. These include Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Which countries are open to Russian tourists?

Countries like Cuba, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey have welcomed an ever-growing number of Russian tourists. The Maldives, the Seychelles and Sri Lanka have also attracted more and more guests from Russia, as did sun-drenched Cyprus in the Mediterranean, the United Nations Tourism Organization (UNWTO) told DW.

Is Russian useful in the UK?

A report by the British Council, Languages for the future, makes clear the importance of Russian, ranking in its top 10 most important languages to the UK. We've written about GDP Per Language\u2026 and estimates suggest that Russian accounts for over $1,031bn and 3.1% of global GDP.

Is Russia English friendly?

Russia ranked just below China on the EPI at 38th, but with 5.48 percent of its population speaking English \u2014 not to mention a foreign alphabet you won't be able to easily read \u2014 this definitely counts as a challenging travel destination. Once again, big cities like Moscow and St.


Which Country Do You Hate The Most? | RUSSIA



More answers regarding in which countries is Russian useful for anglophone tourists?

Answer 2

In Israel, Russian can be quite helpful.

Most of the population speaks English more or less, but a significant part of lthe population are immigrants from Russia and other ex-USSR countries, who speak fluent Russian.

Answer 3

I am native Polish, I speak fluent English and I was pretty much surprised to have had problems with communicating with people in Turkey. In tourist areas, all signs and attractions are very Russian-friendly. Probably it's not the case deeper in the country, but on the sea shore where many many Russians come, Turkish people in tourism industry are speaking Russian. Though, I also don't know Russian much, so I can't tell if it was good :)

I heard similar about Egypt, but I didn't have chance to be there myself.

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