Help needed from anyone familiar with Slavic languages

Started by drummerboy, January 11, 2019, 12:25:34 PM

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drummerboy

So I load trucks for a living, and inevitably run into alot of Slavic truckers. Although communication is very limited for this work in general, there are still circumstances where knowing a smidget of the language would be handy.  Of course the problem is there are lots of slavic peoples and its impossible to know who's what.  How far would Russian or perhaps Czech (covering east and west slavs)  get a guy who needs barebones basic phrases?
- I'll get with the times when the times are worth getting with

"I like grumpy old cusses.  Hope to live long enough to be one" - John Wayne

Fleur-de-Lys

There is a high level of mutual intelligibility among Slavic languages, as compared to other language families. If you are dealing with a wide variety of Slavs, I would recommend Russian, as it is the biggest by far, and also the most likely to be familiar as a second language, if not a first.