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What is the reaction of Poles to Russian? [95]
I'm not sure what the OP is trying to get at with his question and having read through all the comments I think some people have presumed the OP is looking for a negative reaction to his speaking Russian in Poland ie Russian is the language of the oppressor and Poles don't want to hear it etc etc
On the other hand if it's about the understanding of the language then I would think the reaction would depend on the person and whether or not that person understood Russian. There are similarities in the language ie if a Spaniard spoke only in Spanish in Italy and vice versa then a certain level of understanding and communication could be achieved, likewise with Polish and Russian. I was in a café in Kraków in June and the people in the queue in front of me were Russian and spoke all the time in Russian. The staff mostly understood what they were saying but the Russians did seem to get a bit annoyed and frustrated when they weren't understood, very similar to how Brits react when speaking to someone whose first language isn't English. Maybe a touch of the "we used to rule you, you should understand our language" sort of attitude maybe? However I did come across many Russians in Warsaw in the days leading up to the game who were very friendly and very polite, it all depends on the person so it's unfair to generalise, even about Brits abroad ;)
I know learning Russian was compulsory at school during Communist times but just because it was compulsory to learn it doesn't mean a person was any good at it and even though someone learnt it at school doesn't necessarily mean they'll still have a good understanding of the language today.
