I want to learn is Russian so that I can feel more at ease when traveling to Eastern Europe. Over there, one feels quite lost since a large part of the population doesn't speak English at all. Specially the older people who are working at restaurants, supermarkets and shops.
hmmm! there a few good points here, but... but.... you dont actually need to learn language if its your only purpose! no, not really! you must be hiding something among your intentions :)))
there are not so much older generations folks left at the service / tourist field... especially in big cities (are you plan to visit small towns, travel to the province?..) and even in such case... small guides will surely help you to receive what you want, help to get mutual understanding... no one here will feel offended that you do not speak Russian with him.
in my strong opinion, Russian worth learning if you really feel urge to get acquainted with out classical literature, especially great poetry, or maybe cinema...
ps. sorry I am not a target market and cant you advice directly anything on the subject's certain post :P
have a !BEER, my friend, or !COFFEEA - up to you what to start your morning with!
Well, that was my experience so far. For example, in Lithuania I had a friend who had to go to the hospital and between us both and the medical staff, we spoke around 10 languages - but not a single one in common! We were quite surprised, to say the truth. 😵
mda. :/
they refused to use English????!
They didn't know English. They spoke Lithuanian, Russian, German and even a little bit of Finish but no English.