Survival Russian Language Skills
Saying Hello, Asking Directions and Going Shopping in Moscow
You probably can't learn fluent Russian before your Trans-Siberian trip, but knowing greetings, common questions and numbers can help you get more from a trip to Russia.
If you’re heading for Russia, try to learn a few Russian phrases before you go. It’ll make your trip a little easier, you’re more likely to make a few Russian friends, and above all, it’ll be fun!
Why Learn Russian For Your Trip?
Why not? No local expects you to speak fluent Russian when you’re only spending a few days or weeks in their country, but being able to say good morning or ask a basic question in Russian shows that you respect and are interested in their language, and that naturally makes people more helpful, even if you can’t say anything more than a couple of sentences. Sometimes, of course, it can backfire a little – people might assume that you can speak more Russian than just a simple question and will give you a long all-Russian answer – but that’s part of the fun anyhow.
Handy Phrases in Russian
Russian, of course, is written using the Cyrillic alphabet. We’ll use a phonetic transliteration from Cyrillic that makes it easiest for you to pronounce the phrases as accurately as possible.
When you want to learn a little Russian, greetings are a great start. If you can enter a shop or restaurant and at least say good morning or good evening, it feels more like you’re in a foreign country. Try these phrases:
- good morning – dobrae utro
- good afternoon/good day – dobry den
- good evening – dobry vecher
- goodbye – da svidanya
Being polite: of course, a few Ps and Qs will help any situation:
- please – pazhalsta
- thank you - spasiba
When you ask directions, you probably won’t understand much of the answer, but people will literally point you in the right direction:
- Where’s the bus station? – gde aftavagzal?
- Where’s the train station? – gde vagzal?
- Turn right – pavernite naprava
- Turn left – pavernite naleva
Finally, learning to count in Russian can be useful in many situations – when negotiating prices at a market, ordering beers or getting the number of a train or bus. Learning the numbers from one to ten is enough to cover many situations – for bigger numbers, you can always “spell” the numbers out using single digits.
- one – adin
- two – dva
- three – tri
- four – chetiri
- five – pyat
- six – shest
- seven – sem
- eight – vosem
- nine – deviat
- ten – desiat
How To Learn Your Russian Phrases
Start practising as long as possible before your trip. Make some flashcards or write the key phrases on a small note to put in your wallet; something you can look at quickly while on a bus, in a traffic jam or during a break at work. Learning vocabulary and phrases is mostly about repetition, so try to read and say the words, then test yourself by covering the notes. Better still, if you’re travelling with a partner or friend, try and learn together.
