Eastern Europe phrasebook

This Eastern Europe phrasebook for hitchhikers is a work in progress.

Eastern Europe

Russian is probably the most important language to learn. Many older people speak or at least understand Russian, especially when their mother tongue is a Slavic language. The second most important language is probably Polish, since it is widely understood in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

Czech

I don't speak Czech - Nemluvím Český
Do you speak English? - Mluvíte Anglicky?
Hello (formal) – Dobrý den
Hello (informal) – Ahoj!
Help! – Pomoc!
I understand - Rozumím
I don’t understand – Nerozumím

Czech Pronunciation

Here are the main differences from regular English pronunciation:

c – ts, as in cats, even if it comes at the beginning of the word č – ch, as in chin ch – soft, as in the Scottish word, loch j – y, as in yellow (Y is also pronounced the same way, but is very rare) ň – nya, as in onion r – a rolled R sound ř – a rolled R sound that ends in a soft Z (ž) sound, as in Dvořak š – sh, as in shoe ť – tya, as in stew w – v ž – a soft Z sound (zh), as in pleasure

It’s also worth remembering that in Czech the emphasis is nearly always on the first syllable of a word, and hardly ever on its second or third syllable.

Romanian

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Romanian is one of the few non-Slavic East-European languages. It is related with French, Italian, Spanish etc. Speakers of one of these languages will find it easier to pronounce and understand Romanian.