Learn Polish or Russian

Perhaps you should consider learning German one day then.


That's quite idiotic statement, if someone has some business in Africa or South America is Russian more useful than Spanish or French?

First of all, I know German and you don't! Second of all, Africa and Latin America are scarcely global competitors at this point, lacking both the manpower, wherewithal and sheer size of Mother Russian:-)

Don't let's quibble over bragging rights to idiotic statements, Wulkan my friend. You share the prize more than equally!

But not fluently, you can always try to get close to the native level.


You are quite wrong, there are much more expats living in Africa or South America than in Russia by far. You also seem to not realizing that Spanish is the second language in the USA.

German is nearly my native language as I was raised all but bilingual:-)My German level is higher than your English level, any day of the week. Furthermore, you're betraying a typically Polish prejudice against both Russia and Russians which is not anchored in reality.

Spanish as the "second language" of America is principally Latin American, not "Spain" Spanish, and even Colombians (who speak presumably the "best" Spanish in the New World) are as immigrants hardly of the educated classes.

The difference between the German, Russians, Poles and European Spaniards, is that the latter cultivate their language, most Latinos do NOT!

Bull. And you are forgetting Belarus and Ukraine - which will only grow.


Bull^2. You are clearly talking nonsense - your Russo phobia is showing through.
Practical examples? One of my visits to Albania, I was stopped by the police. They did not speak English. Guess which language they new? Just last year in a Muslim populated area of Birmingham I accidentally overheard two men dressed and looking like they were fresh from Pakistan speaking... guess which language?

Russian is being eradicated in both countries due to the filthy association of the Russian threat to those countries.


What wrong with having a hatred of Russian? there is NOTHING good about the country. Its a wasteland and will never improve.

With the greatest respect, let me turn this around for you: tell me what is good about your hatred of a language? Absolutely nothing (not to mention that it doesn't even make sense to hate a language).


It is very difficult to 'eradicate' a language that is the speakers' both native and official tongue (Belarus), and at least 30% ethnic Russians in Ukraine (probably 95% of Ukranian nationals know it), not to mention the Baltic states.

Or so you wish. JollyRomek who is a native speaker of German said that your German is a joke.


No, I only disagree with your statements of how useful Russian language is, it surely is good for a professional traveling to Russia but saying it's more useful than Spanish is yet another joke of yours.


There are minor differences and they usually include slang words.


It doesn't stop Spanish from being second language of the US.


You must be talking about Saltley or Small Heat... been there a lot?


That must have been Urudu or Punjabi.

Hehe, nice try, but no cigar: Pусский язык, конечно! ;-)

They could be Latvian or Lithuanian gypsies.

or citizens of former soviet republics...
you know- if you take (traditionally) clothed Tajik and Uzbek you may confuse them with Pakistani or Afghani.
Russian is still a quite useful language, if we are talking abut Euroasia only, then it's much more useful then Spanish (or French for that matter). Obviously, in Americas Spanish and, to a lesser degree, Portugese are more useful then Russian.

Hating a language is justified when that language is used as a justification on invasion by a fascist dictatorship.Which is why both countries are moving away from Russian due to the threat to their security from the Russian empire. And yes it can be eradicated the same way it was imposed - by force.

you call for eradication of ethnic group and accuse others of being fascist in the same post.nice standards you got there bro

There is zero point learning russian for business, education or anything. None whatsoever.

well.with russian language you can communicate with people in whole EE to some degree.poles would understand about 20-25% of russian language.balkan people and Bulgarians probably even more. thats some few hundreds million people

Wulkan, why should you trust Jolly to judge the language of someone whom he doesn't even know? I'm a teacher of the language. If Jolly were to say that he teaches English, the jolly joke would be on him:-)

In addition, Russian is the language of most of Eastern Europe, second only to German as a lingua franca which bridges East with West. English?? Only among the insular intelligentsia!

Polish is practical because there are soooooo many Poles living and working within the EU, most of whom have limited English skills.

Its a language not an ethnic group. Thats why the language should be eradicated, because a fascist state have used the Russian language to claim ownership of Russian speakers.


Most are in the UK and Ireland and most speak pretty good English

That's deranged and kind of inaccurate. What should Russians speak instead?

@Peterweg,

They may know enough English for their job, but certainly appreciate being spoken with in their native tongue:-)
I've found that over and over again. Unlike many Germans, Poles are usually modest about their English skills, know they'll probably never attain a native speaker level and are grateful that others have mastered or at least tried to master their undeniably rich and textured language.

Speakers of even less widely spoken languages, e.g. Hungarian or Icelandic, have been know to blatantly laugh at foreigners who "deign" to attempt conversation in those languages!

Russians typically consider the challenging nature of both their grammar as well the supposedly imprenetrable Cyrillic alphabet as signs of cultural, along with geopolitical superiority over the rest of the Occident.

Russians in Russia should speak Russian, other nations should stick to their national language unless they want to be invaded. Belorussian, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are moving away from Russian because of the threat.


The point is that English is the second language of choice for young Poles and those emigrated. Not Russian.

Seems a tad provincial on your part! After all, no single country "owns" their language. If the English, Americans, Canadians and Australians all took your attitude, no one would be speaking any language other than their own:-)

During the Sputnik Era, learning Russian was all the rage, as was German during and right after WWII.

Arabic is an exceedingly practical language also nowadays. Would you then assert that only Arabic native speakers should speak Arabic?? It makes little to no sense.

You seem to be completely unaware of Russia's policy of claiming ownership of Russian speakers and the countries that they reside. This was the justification of the invasion of Ukraine, Georgia and the threats made against Belorussian, Kazakhstan and the Baltic states.

Russia will 'protect' Russian speakers by invading their host countries, that is Russia's often stated policy and it matches the claims made by Hitler to justify the invasion of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Why do you think Nato has beefed-up security in the East?

not sure.in case of Crimea one would come to completely opposite conclusion.it was Ukraine who took possession of land that had never belonged to them in the past ,and had no Ukrainians living there neither.not too mention,Ukraine pursued policy of ethnic cleansing there,banning Russian language,and top ukra politicians calling for nuking Crimea and russians.


good.i would hope for our government to act in same manner in case of ,lets say Lithuanians murdering poles in Lithuania.


oooo..the nazi fascism argument.how original.
if thats nazi policy what Russia is doing,what would you call,illegal,criminal invasion and occupation of IRAQ BY US,Poland and errr Ukraine?

killing and wounding 1 million Iraqis,war crimes like torture camps in Poland,looting resources ect.huh?
so invasion in defence of citizens is fascist policy,but invading another country just to grab and loot is Okey?

Straight from the Russian talking points, thanks Putin.

Peterweg, are you conversely aware that Russia wanted to enforce Russian-only language politics on former satellite states such as Estonia and Lithuania?

The new, post Glasnost policy was then to encourage cultural independence, that is, until "Czar Vlad" took the reigns:-)

Yes. I was aware.