Slavic languages | Are they similar and can you learn all of them?

There are three groups of Slavic languages :
West Slavic (Czech, Polish, Slovak)
East Slavic (Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian)
South Slavic (Slovenian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Croatian)
Let's found out how similar or different their syntax, grammar and vocabulary is.
/FAQ/
- Who am I?
My name is Elina, friends call me Eli. I am from Russia, and on my channel I share the Russian culture and my international experiences of studying, working and traveling abroad.
-What can you find on my channel?
Foreigners and expats' stories about life in Russia, explanation of Russian habits and traditions, opportunities for education in Russia and learning the Russian language.
Besides, I talk about scholarships to study abroad for free, opportunities all over the world and make interviews with people whenever I travel ;)
More videos:
• Learning Slavic Langua... - Differences in Russian and Ukrainian
• Foreigners about educa... - Foreigners about education in Russia | Is it hard to study in a Russian university?
• Russian culture | Habi... - Russian culture | Habits you should adopt in Russia
___
/ elibakunova - on my Instagram I share more content about programs abroad, traveling and my daily life
www.rbth.com/education/333222... - information source for this video

[@billrittenhouse6088]

I'm 73 years old and I'm learning Russian because it's good mental gymnastics. I find it to be a very logical language. I can read and understand some but speaking is hard for me. But I enjoy learning and I enjoy you videos.

[@ImperatorSomnium]

If you want to understand all Slavic languages, you should learn Bulgarian. It is the origin of all Slavic languages and all Cyrillic alphabets/variations. Also, if you want to learn about the culture, Bulgaria was the first country to establish an autokephale orthodox church, about 300 years before the Serbs and 600 years before the Russians.... Please consider this, you will find historical evidence Incase you don't believe me....

[@dk2428]

I started to learn Russian because i'm really interested in the culture and want to travel the less touristy places. I just started a month ago, but so far i made a lot more progress than i thought i would. Its definitely not the hardest language (like many ppl will tell you). The hardest part for me is definitely the pronunciation.

[@ImperatorSomnium]

@@dk2428 руския език произлиза от Българския ....както и кирилицата

[@Pidalin]

@@ImperatorSomnium Bulgarian is actually the farest from other slavic languages, it even doesn't have grammar cases. There was civilisation in region early, but it doesn't mean it was slavic civilisation, but "slavic" is pretty much panslavistic propaganda created in 19th century and spreaded later in communism time, you can't really say what is slavic. Mosft of people say that Slovak is the lingua franca of slavic languages, so if he wants understand all other slavic languages, slovak will be probably more usefull than bulgarian.

[@ImperatorSomnium]

@@Pidalin hahahahahah bullshit 🤣🤣🤣👍

[@kadi2456]

love from Bulgaria to all Slavic countries 🥺🇧🇬

[@simonezaza78]

Те трябва да ни благодарят и плащат авторски права за Азбуката .

[@uabjurivina1798]

yes, russians are sending a lot love from Bucha !

[@Makedonac007]

Momče🐺 ... momčinata .... 🌙 momčina ..🐥. meçečinata 🐣

[@simonezaza78]

Гоце Делчев, Даме Груев, Яне Сандански, Тодор Александров, Иван Михайлов и още много войводи умряха за да живеете свободни, но вие се оказахте слаби и предпочетохте да сте под Югославско робство ( балкански СССР).

[@user-bf4wq4uz8d]

@@uabjurivina1798Бедненькая, тебя отбучили буряты? Если понравилось приезжай к нам, но продолжение только за деньги.

[@MegaTali15]

I'm Mexican and I'm learning Serbian. It's quite tricky at some point but it's not impossible to learn it. Anyway, I still understand some things in Slovak, Czech and Russian and I've try watching videos in Interslavic Language, and it is very interesting, I can understand around a 30% to 40% of it, even when I don't speak fluent Serbian. I'm also interested in learning Slovak and Russia, but not yet, I need first to reach a higher level in Serbian. What I really like of Serbian is that people can easily speak with Croats and Bosnians without trouble. Greetings from Mexico to all my Slavic brothers and sisters!! 🇲🇽♥️🇷🇺🇧🇾🇺🇦🇵🇱🇨🇿🇸🇰🇷🇸🇭🇷🇧🇦🇲🇪🇸🇮🇧🇬🇲🇰

[@cloud42269]

Hello from Serbia! Kako ide učenje? :)

[@bojanbojic9230]

Одлично!

[@macakucizmama831]

because Bosnians and Croats speak Serbian which they call differently. It is one language

[@qlango]

I do not know how to write it, but our language learning application is probably the best for Slavic languages and also for Serbian. Maybe it would help you learn it :)

[@slavictaco]

Saludos desde Polonia ❤

[@vapidcity]

I'm learning Bulgarian right now, the most difficult part is finding content to be exposed to the language constantly and when it comes to the language itself I suppose it's the vocabulary. The alphabet so far doesn't seem to be that bad! The few Bulgarians I've talked to usually ask me "why?" lol I think the country is so underrated, seems like a hikers paradise plus I love sunflower seeds and roses and they are a thing in Bulgaria so I'm sold, don't need much else, can't wait to visit. Native Spanish speaker here

[@letecmig]

leaarning a foreign language is a massive investment in terms of time and effort. I am Czech and I would be also surprised you are learning Czech if you are not an immigrant. Within the Slavic group, Russian opens you 250 million+ people and territory from the Baltics to the sea of Japan, plus massively wider cultural and other contents than Czech or Bulgarian or Polish. I am just practical. If I wanted to learn some east asian language, I would probably not chosen Vietnamese if there is Chinese.....

[@vapidcity]

@@letecmig That's how I view Bulgarian since I also want to learn Slovene and Macedonian but not Russian, so I would be closer to those two with Bulgarian than I would be with Russian

[@nikolakrastev8880]

Thank you for the kind words, regarding my country

[@vapidcity]

@@nikolakrastev8880 :D

[@mila100_80]

I'm from Bulgaria, but I'll agree the Bulgarian language is hard.

[@petra_bunic]

hello from croatia!🖐 can't believe someone from russia said that croatian or serbian are hard to learn to russians. I learn russian for two years and i found so many words that are similar to croatian. actually, russian is too easy to me. when i watch tv documentaries or news, i understand like every 4,5th word. as i said, there are many similar words with just small difference in pronouncing. we have so many similarities with russian language. ofc, we are in the same language group. Greetings from CRO!🖐🥰

[@verbrannte]

Mogu to da ti potvrdim. Mađar sam, pričam ruski i srpski/hrvatski. Zbog toga što nisam govornik ni ruskog, ni srpskohrvatskog, mogu ti dati objektivno, nezavisno mnenje. Ruski jezik ima nešto komplikovaniju gramatiku, ali, ima manje izuzetaka. Srpskohrvatski ima jednostavniju gramatiku, ali ima gomila izuzetaka...

[@_Your_Wifes_Boyfriend]

Serbo-Croatian is virtually impossible to learn for a Russian because you have tons of long vowels and tones that don't exist in Russian. Neither tones nor long vowels are marked with special characters, by the way, which makes it even more difficult to distinguish them for a Russian.

[@alexeikolesnikov7529]

u pravu si. učim hrvatski i primjećujem mnoge sličnosti. veze u jezicima nisu izravne ili eksplicitne ali zanimanje je zanimljivije.

[@minimalizam2]

@@_Your_Wifes_Boyfriend I've met and talked to Russian guy who said he learned Serbian in 2 years living in Serbia and his pronunciation is perfect. No foreign accent , no grammar mistakes.

[@solehbandung5974]

Hrvatska❤ rusky

[@DjoleMSVP]

You pronounced words in Serbian very nice! Greetings from Belgrade! :)

[@geoeconomics3067]

Anyone can pronounce Serbian words it only needs to learn alphabet Letters 1 letter 1 voice and you can start reading books in 30 minutes

[@dankokovacevic]

In Croatian too 😋

[@paulohagan3309]

@@geoeconomics3067 I take your point if a student is studying the language. However , in many short KZbin videos there are often bitter complaints about a non-native speakers's pronunciation of say, place names. So if a native speaker compliments a KZbinr on getting it right or nearly right, that's an achievement.

[@geoeconomics3067]

@@paulohagan3309 First thing you need to learn is how to pronounce letters 1 voice 1 letter that is how you are going to read you will read every letter read every letter in a sentence name of city and so on ... BEOGRAD is capital of Serbia or Zagreb capital of Croatia You read every letter the same way you learn how to pronounce every letter People who can not pronounce names of cities or whatever are those people who did not learn how to pronounce letters When you learn how to pronounce each letter correctly than you will be able to read anything written in SerboCroatian for an English speaker pronouncing letter right way will be difficult probably because of 1 sound is 1 letter in English you have 26 letters and 44 sounds it is a mess to spell correctly

[@MrSloika]

There is no such thing as 'Serbian', It's Serbo-Croatian. The Serbs and Croats speak a different dialect of the same language. Don't even get me started on people who claim they speak "Bosnian'.

[@Bajker4ever]

All three words (vrt, brk, grk) you spoke were corectly pronounced, good job Elina, hi from Serbia.

[@user-du5tn1kp8w]

I learn 4 Slavic languages right now (Russian, Czech, Polish, Slovak) And I must say, learning Russian and Polish made me understand Czech and Slovak a lot better (I am currently trying to get fluent in Czech, it goes very well)

[@WeiSsRuthenien]

I'm belarussuan, russian and ukrainian. Learn polish language

[@WeiSsRuthenien]

I'm from Belarus

[@izy9911]

Good luck with your czech studies I'm czech 🇨🇿 and wish you warm welcome to learn this unique language and it is very interesting you want to learn it. Good luck and keep learning !

[@CO84trucker]

During my first trip to Europe back in 1997, my Polish mother, younger sister and I flew into Prague then took a train to Poland after a little sightseeing in Czechia. The Czech people understood my mother's Polish fairly well thanks to linguistic similarities in the West Slavic languages.

[@derionone]

Im from balkans and with me also knowing Czech I was also able to understand polish and they were able to understand me

[@polishhussarmapping258]

As a Polish speaker I can read articles in Czech.

[@martinfratric5304]

As a Slovak can only say that there are only small differences in Czech and Slovak and we perfectly understand each other speaking their native language fluently. For me the Czech is something like my second native language. And I can say that I understand Polish pretty good too but the differences are much bigger and sometimes Polish people needs to speak slowly to understand them.

[@roboticbaboon3125]

Sorry to spoil the party but if you speak Polish and think you understand Czech (or the other way around), you're living in a world seen through a distorted mirror. Polish and Czech have so many false friends that you actually think you understand the other language but in fact, you're understanding something completely different, even opposite.

[@polishhussarmapping258]

@@roboticbaboon3125 I don't really agree. You can normally, correctly understand the opposite language. You just have to watch out for certain words and not fall for them.

[@smtuscany]

To me, an Italian, South Slavic languages sound like an Italian trying to speak Russian (sort of). That's because their phonology is almost the same as ours, so they sound familiar and different from Russian, but words and grammar are unmistakably Slavic.

[@GEROCIKAst]

Whereas to us on the eastern coast of Adriatic, Italian sounds like South Slavs giving up on Russian centuries ago... :)) Jokes aside, I think you may have something here. I heard the same remark from a Japanese guy. To him the Croatian sounded like a strange mix between Russian and Italian, but I pointed out this might be more pronounced in coastal dialects of Croatian (Dalmatia, Istria). Many words and expressions in those dialects are borrowed from Italian language.

[@pawelp8307]

I agree, I'm Polish.

[@emanuel3345]

You are mainly speaking here about croatian. No other south slavic language, not even serbian, has this for of pronouncing words that may sound like an italian accent speaking slavic language.

[@19PURGER86]

You're talking only about Croatia mate and not the whole Croatia, about part of Croatia called Istria and Dalmatia cuz they have different dialect and a lot of words from Italian while you also have the Zagreb and around Zagreb where it sound a little bit more like a west slavic but still almost all south slavs will understand all of it... And you have Slavonia which is basically normal Croatian which every south slav will understand...

[@smtuscany]

@@19PURGER86 I was talking about sounds, not words. Even Serbian vowel sounds are basically the same as Italian, while Russian ones are very different from both. Also the intonation (prosody) when speaking is very similar. Obviously words and grammar are totally different, but if you just listen to which sounds are used you’ll understand what I mean.

[@robosas6114]

Hi Eli :) I'm from Slovakia and I´m always wondering that my Russian friends don't understand a word, but I can understand them pretty well..... if they speak slowly. The thing is that when you live in Slovakia for example, you naturally understand Czech, we were one country and even though our languages are quite different, up to nowadays when I read a book and someone asks me if it was in Czech or Slovak....I can't answer. We going for shopping in Poland because they have lower VAT and the prices are better and we go on holidays to Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria because Slovakia has no sea and it's really close. From each of these countries we bring some minimal vocabulary. You probably already know what I mean. When I hear "yesli" (if) from my Russian friend I wouldn't understand it at all because in Slovak it's "ak" , which is completely different......... but I automatically switch to Czech and czech word "jestli" is much closer to yesli makes sense to me immediately :) I´m think that its the same for the rest of western and southern Slavic Countries as well. .... thank you for your amazing channel , Bye! :)

[@cadicamo8720]

Shouldn't we consider Czech and Slovak as two dialects of the same language?

[@robosas6114]

@@cadicamo8720 no....might 60% of vocabulary is complete different. Sk and Cz people dont even realize it (as per my previous post) but comparing same text in both lenguages, you can find really just a few same words. Last, but not least both countries have its own dialects.....🤔 and for example sometimes im hardly understand the dialect commonly used in the east of Slovakia

[@cadicamo8720]

@@robosas6114 Thanks. I wonder if there also some politics in the mix like the the case of Serbo-Croatian.

[@robosas6114]

@@cadicamo8720 no, I dont think so. We are ok 😊👍

[@robosas6114]

@@patatrak68 hovorím slovensky mluvim česky Sending many regards to Slovenia 😊👍 I like your country a lot 🥰 have a lot of good friends over there 🫠

[@user-DV-Gradinar]

My language is Serbian. Slavic languages are similar. I understand: - Serbian / Croatian - 100% - Macedonian - 70% - Bulgarian - 60% - Slovenian - 50% - Russian - 50% (I studied Russian for several years in school) - Slovak - 40% - Czech - 30% - Polish - 20% Approximately...

[@crimsondragon5742]

How much % you understand Moravian and Sorbian and Turkish? By the way Croatian and Serbian are two tongues not the same and not just because unlike Serbian, Croatian wasn't under Turkish influence.

[@ultravioletdream102]

There isn't Macedonian language bro. Macedonia is in North Greece and they talk Greek language. Macedonia is a city in Greece not a different country and Greek language has it's own nature, it's not slavic dialect.

[@vladimirglibusic1511]

You propably understand bosnian and montenegrin language as well but i know that the distinction is sensitive and political. Especially the montenegrin language. ;-)

[@crimsondragon5742]

@@ultravioletdream102 Macedonian is actually Bulgarian. Slavic Macedonians are actually Bulgarians.

[@MyNameIsSteveYesitis]

@@crimsondragon5742 they're like 98% identical. Some words are different here and there and the accent is slightly different but that's about it. It's as different as English in Canada vs English in America for example

[@paolodominici202]

I'd like to learn them all😭

[@balazskiss985]

@@ElifromRussia are you from Baku? (does Bakunova means from Baku?)

[@markusbg8]

I m Serbian and my favorite is Czech ( also Slovak wich I can understand more as native serbian speaker)

[@JTM1809]

Great choice, mate! I approve. I always found the Southern Slavic languages fascinating. You pronunciation is more close to ours than Polish or Russian is. And I also like Slovak. Even though I’m Czech, I personally think Slovak is the most pleasantly sounding Slavic language. It’s very melodic and a great language for songs. Czech is more flat, but it’s broader in expression: it can sound both very hard and very soft, depending on the circumstance.

[@ghregoryk4830]

@@JTM1809 czech is more suited for men and slovak for women i think

[@JTM1809]

@@ghregoryk4830 I agree. Women speaking Slovak sounds so good.

[@lucyra56]

I'm so glad that Czech language is your favorite language ( I 'm a native speaker of Czech language ) and one little explanation you can understand the Slovaks more due to our words taken from German language

[@JTM1809]

@@lucyra56 Not really. The languages are so close, that most of the vocabulary is very similar, including the words of Slavic etymology. The amount of German loanwords in both languages is commonly overplayed for reasons beyond my understanding, while in reality the vast majority of Czech and Slovak vocabulary is of Slavic origin. Another thing, that’s typical for Czech language is, that to almost every loanword (German, Greek, Latin … it doesn’t really matter), there is an existing Czech synonym, that’s only being used less frequently, because many people believe, that overuse of foreign-sourced words would make them appear smarter. While people with truly thorough education in humanities (Jan Sokol, Tomáš Halík) could speak in incredibly rich Czech without ever having to resort to buttressing their speech with faux sophistication through overuse of unnecessary foreign words.

[@lenaSRB]

Is it funny that I want to learn all Slavic languages one day. I am Serbian and I learned a little bit of Russian by myself, I realized that I don't even need subtitles for Russian videos anymore most of the time (I do need them when people are talking very fast tho 🤣 ). I think all Slavic languages are beautiful ♥️ love you all 💞

[@zanenobbs352]

My studies include Russian, mostly because of an interest in Russian culture, but also, as you describe, as a means to learn other Slavic languages. My main difficulty now is remembering the rules as I've not used it in about 20 years, since working with the United Nations. I'll look into your channel as a way to refresh my knowledge! Thank you for posting this wonderful episode!

[@reqontra]

Some days ago a guy asked me how do I differentiate Slovak and Slovenian. "By 1 letter," I said. "How's that possible," he asked. I replied: "It's simple. Slovaks call their language slovenčina, while Slovenians call their language slovenščina."

[@HeroManNick132]

Slovak has the most letters in their Latin alphabet from all Slavic languages so this another thing is how you can differenciate it. And by reading it is closer to Czech and Slovenian to Serbo-Croatian.

[@rekin1654]

If you see any sentence in Slovak, there is 90% chance they will include / over their vowel(á, é...) Slovenians don't use this

[@alfredschmitz2926]

Thank you for your very informative video(s) ! I learnt a lot about slavic languages from you!

[@leonpascar9676]

I am a Russian speaker. I was capable to communicate with people in Serbia and Macedonia. I understood them, and they understood me because of similarity of many words

[@mirafranka8364]

já zase rozumím polsky taky máme mnoho slov společných když s nimi jsem naposled mluvil tak jsme si rozuměli

[@HladniSjeverniVjetar]

@@mirafranka8364 You see, I understood everything what you wrote here but I'm not sure I would have been able to understand it if I heard it instead.

[@andrewshepitko6354]

Because russian is based on bulgarian

[@dl8909]

@@andrewshepitko6354Church Slavonic. It’s different.

[@andrewshepitko6354]

@@dl8909 yes, it is the dialect of Bulgarian.

[@ako6252]

well, if you are a foreigner and learned russian - yeah, probably czech and slovak would be a whole new world for you. But as a native russian speaker who learns czech now I must say it helps a freaking lot to speak russian. Same for slovak because they are basically the same with czech. When I moved to CZ I could already understand something when I was reading a menu in a restaurant or some street signs. Spoken language was a nightmare for quite a long time though. But once you start learning it just clicks at some point. The structure of slavic languages is the same, so intuitively I can guess the right word ending before I learn the rule. And regarding vocabulary - roughly 30% of words are the same or very similar (zub, smetana, klobasa instead of kolbasa, kochka instead of koshka). Another 50% you can guess just thinking what this word would sound like in old russian, centuries ago (thanks to classic literature), so you end up with 'usta' - lips, 'chelo'- forehead, 'zhivot'- life, 'semafor'- traffic lights and so on. And true, 20% is mostly german influence. But overall its not that different.

[@kkarx]

Man, I am Czech learning Russian language and I can pretty much understand almost everything in news after a year but movies are way more difficult for some peculiar reason. Some are just little harder but something like Преступление и наказание is "nightmare" difficulty. I can catch few sentences and here and there but there are so many words I just dont know. Very humbling experience.

[@pat2row]

Traveled to Belgrade as it’s still open to USA passport holders. Good place to meet Russian speakers and they even had a Russian Festival (bought a St Petersburg made telnyashka there) in the pedestrian shopping area on the way to the National Museum. It’s also safer to travel as there are too many uncertainties within Russian visa process for US passports. Serbians very helpful in fostering competency in their language and could use Russian as Serbs can travel to Russia without visa.

[@Got-lander]

@@ElifromRussia Russia has been shut down for most of foreign visas longer than any country except for New Zealand maybe, due to the ‘situation’ despite Putin and Lukashenka claiming nothing was happening with a bit of their “flu” (well, Belarus is shut down for other reasons though…)

[@user-tt1dy1ud7h]

@@Got-lander Really? A friend of mine came to Russia from Munich with his wife. He was vaccinated and his wife nent. They entered Russia without any problems. After spending 21 days, they flew back. But according to the rules established by Germany, his wife was not allowed back on the flight, having been delayed for a day in Moscow due to the unavailability of the test. At the same time, they had to pay extra for an air ticket.

[@markusbg8]

@@ElifromRussia he ment - During covid lockdowns Anericans could enter Serbia without any restrictions

[@anthonyp9591]

Petrograd

[@Slaweniskadela]

Hello, from all slavic polyglot :) To speak all slavic languages? Sure, it is possible. I must say though, that for me, even from my childhood, no slavic language had a foreign sound to me. I would say sooner it was like "they speak "corrupted" version of our language. I'm glad this video and this channel got recommended to me. Cheers!

[@goranjovic3174]

Just as for me ! Pozdrav iz Niša Antone ! :) )))

[@Slaweniskadela]

@@goranjovic3174 Pozdrav Gorane! Ovaj put iz Rusije :))))

[@skelet8337]

I aways can understand at least a few words and can peace what they meant.

[@user-nf6lq7ew4z]

Dobar večer

[@Lim0n41k]

What's your native language is? and from what language you started to learn other slavic languages?

[@spiritofthewinds9089]

I'm learning Czech because to me it's the most beautiful and unique language I've ever heard❤ but I always have been fascinated by Slavic cultures. Russian folk music was a huge part of my life since I was 3 years old. And since I became aware of the Czech culture I've been listening nonstop to Czech/+Moravian, Slovak and Rusyn music and been fascinated by folk music and dances from almost all Slavic cultures and tried to understand all those connections between them, especially the west Slavic ones. This is such an interesting video, thank you for doing it! And much love from my home country Germany😊❤

[@HeroManNick132]

What about Sorbian languages which are minority in your country?

[@spiritofthewinds9089]

@@HeroManNick132 sadly I don't know much about it, even though I live in the Wendland area. I don't know how I can learn more about that culture, but I would love to! You're right, I'll try to find out more about it :) thanks for making me aware of which should be so obvious to me actually..🙈🤣

[@HeroManNick132]

@@spiritofthewinds9089 Sadly they are spoken by less than 20K people.

[@spiritofthewinds9089]

@@HeroManNick132 that's really very sad😕

[@HeroManNick132]

@@EvelynMedrano-if1bj Thank you :D

[@letecmig]

I am native speaker of the westernmost slavic language: Czech. And I learned the eaternmost slavic language: Russian. With this background, knowledge of both vocabularies and grammar on the 'extremes', I am able to 'decode' any slavic language inbetween;)

[@RositsaPetrovarjp7]

How about Bulgarian?

[@BeerRepublic]

@@RositsaPetrovarjp7 Probably won't understand much, because of the difference in the grammar like ceaseless system, articles and complicated tenses.

[@helenatokarska8364]

How about Polish?

[@plenex]

I was native speaker of Slovak and Czech language, because i was born in Czechoslovakia :) But i knew all the dialects in slovak and czech language, + thanks to my grandparents, some very old slavic words. I discovered that i can learn Polish very quickly thanks to this base and my new Polish coleagues. With CZ+SK+PL .. Ukraine language was not so difficult and very similar. Now im learning Russian and i understand pretty well most of it. Side quest, i speak english from my childhood, thanx to cartoon network, and german thanx to prosieben :D I never really learned in school any kind of language, all was by ear and reading. I live in Switzerland where i use german language daily.

[@paunitka7]

@@katarzynaporoszewska3204 "Also, what does the "I am the westernmost" mean" - look at the map, maybe? Before you offend people for nothing?

[@Ah0jtadyHanka]

Hi, I am from Czechia, and I want soon make video about these differences between our slavic languages by my czech view, because as you said, we have completely different way of slavic language. You also helped me to understand more about east slavs, So I hope I will just add an other view about this interesting topic And help you to more understand West slavs :). Really nice video, Zdravím z Česka 😁 (I believe you understand this xD)

[@wielblad1344]

zetkniesz się z szowinizmem wschodnich Słowian... i zdziwisz się jak bliski będzie ci język ukraiński... jest tego parę przyczyn jedna to to że Ruś podbiła również zachodnich Słowian (te mapy z zasięgiem wschodnich Słowian to taki dzisiejszy szowinistyczny teatrzyk polityki historycznej) a po drugie wasz język odrodził się w podobnym czasie gdy język ukraiński powstawał czy raczej powstawały jego normy i forma literacka... a i jeszcze jedno czy wiesz że Bułgarzy nie są Słowianami??? oni przejęli język i kulturę ale Słowianami nie byli...

[@pskovityanina8549]

@@wielblad1344 Here is a linguistic forum. You are spoiling it with politics and your petty pathetic village-like nationalism in EVERY your post. You are an ill man.

[@wielblad1344]

@@pskovityanina8549 jestem chorym człowiekiem... no cóż choć zastanawiałeś się dlaczego akurat ty natrafiasz na moje komentarze? nie ciągnie cię do nich czasem??? choroba?

[@BeerRepublic]

Do you know what is CHEKIA in Bulgarian? Lol 😂

[@izy9911]

Zdravím⭐⭐ czech 🇨🇿 language is gorgeous

[@v.m.4900]

Your explaning of Serbian,is just great,im impressed

[@arditi.204]

I am an extremely passionate language enthusiasts and Slavic languages are my “specialty “ !:) As per proficiency I speak the languages following this order .....Bulgarian, Croatian/ Serbian , Macedonian, Slovenian, Polish , Russian , Czech.......looking forward to expand my linguistic knowledge in Ukrainian &Belarusian 🙂! Thanks for your informative video :):)

[@user-wb2tm3hv8w]

Meanwhile I, a Belarusian, struggle to learn my own language: *struggling noises*

[@ChrisBattrick]

Я очень рад услышать о вашей беглости, связанной с полиглотом. Я изучаю русский язык последние 306 дней и хотел бы узнать больше о славянских языках. Ich lerne auch Deutsch, wenn auch nicht so “wild” wie Russisch. L’altra lingua che sto affrontando al momento è l’Italiano. È motto più facile per me, dato che parlo già spagnolo, quindi confesso che non mi impegno tanto. No sé si hablas otros idiomas basados en el latín que los que ya mencionaste, pero tu inglés es excelente, Amigo? Do you happen to speak or have familiarity with any other linguistic branches, i.e. Asiatic, Middle-Eastern, etc? Feel free to correspond with me, Ardit. Also, have an excellent day!

[@user-zi9tj9zc3i]

Macedonian doesn't exist.

[@tokie5705]

@@user-zi9tj9zc3i neither does your mom 🇲🇰

[@pivkemrzli2297]

i suspect russian speakers may have a hard time understanding a south slavic person because here in the balkans almost everyone speaks in their local dialect. we got A LOT of different dialects cramped in such a small place, and many of them are wildly different from the official language.

[@ridleyroid9060]

And near the borders dialects can take some characteristics of the bordered countries. Sometimes i find it difficult to understand southern Serbian dialects

[@dimitar1443]

@@ridleyroid9060 I'm from Bulgaria and to be honest very few people can speak Bulgarian here. Different dialect in every single city :D

[@victorchostrashniq3456]

@@dimitar1443 Всеки приема диалекта на неговата област като официален език и няма друг. Умните Македонци вече взеха един диалект и си биха камшика 😆 Ако всеки диалект последва Македония, всеки град ще си е отделна държава

[@user-dq8km4zt7f]

i remember when some boys from Senta in Serbia talked to me. I thought that they were speaking Hungarian, but no, they were just speaking in very very weird dialect

[@augustovargashemeryth896]

I'd like to learn Croatian or Poland. As a Peruvian, I find these languages not only to sound beautiful to my ears, but also they are pretty exotic and brand new to my mindset. So the initial challenge would turn out to be a pleassnt rewarding task if I were to take up Croatian or Polish. I really hope I can learn one of these languages someday.

[@HeroManNick132]

Learning Croatian is like saying "I'm learning American English instead of British English or I learn the Latin Spanish instead of the Castilian one." Basically if you learn Croatian you'll automatically learn Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin too. And with that knowledge you can kinda also learn/understand Slovene, Macedonian and Bulgarian which are still similar but actually the Slovene language is the most exotic from all South Slavic languages even though it shares the same accent accent as the Croats and kinda the similarities with Serbo-Croatian but it is more distinctive than the rest of South Slavic languages. Bulgarian and Macedonian are like Czech and Slovak or like Hindi and Urdu. 99% the same language, different influence. If you know Polish you might also understand Ukrainian, Belarusian as well Czech and Slovak better than Russian but I don't like how many clusters of consonants and weird pronunciation Polish has. And as Bulgarian it is impossible to understand it in normal conversation unless if it is spoken REALLY slowly I can understand something but not all of it. Vise-versa also for them. I mean the weirdest part of knowing how some words can unite us and understanding how similar all of them are just like the Romance languages but at the same time very different. And Polish to most people feels like "the French" language of the Slavic languages. Weirdly how Slovak is much clearer than Czech and almost all of the Slavic speakers can understand Slovak better than Czech. There also excist the so called "Esperanto of the Slavic languages" - Interslavic which basically takes the most common words that connect us and make it into 1 language but unfortunately it is not used or taught anywhere.

[@11spaggy]

I'm Czech and I learned Russian for four years. I have to say that I have forgotten a lot, because in the Czech Republic I don't have such an opportunity to speak Russian every day, rather English or German, but when there is an opportunity to speak Russian, I feel that if I didn't know Russian, I would understand 5% of it.

[@jansvoboda6198]

tak přijeď do Prahy, v mhd, v obchodech, na ulicích je kolikrát více ruštiny než češtiny. Můžeš si tu procvičit i ukrajinštinu, polštinu a slovenšinu.

[@mateuszt661]

@@jansvoboda6198 To z tym ukraińskim to prawda, jak byłem w Pradze to dość często było go słychać

[@scaredpaul540]

@@mateuszt661 a tu je krásne vidieť ako si Čech,Poliak a Slovák dokážu rozumieť

[@mateuszt661]

@@scaredpaul540 ano, teraz będzie ich słychać więcej, ale trzeba im pomóc, to wciąż nasi słowiańscy bracia i siostry

[@martinbartosik2440]

@@mateuszt661 Sestry beriem, bratov nepotrebujem.

[@RockBassTv]

I'm Hungarian but I'm fluent in Russian, Slovak & Czech. I love this video.

[@Chrisamos412]

Very nice presentation, thank you! I’ve always been curious about the Slavic languages compared to the Russian language.

[@HeroManNick132]

Why Russian has to be the center of the Slavic languages I don't get it?

[@qlango]

@@HeroManNick132 Because of Russian influence and because of tsar Peter the second Russian is native to 160 million people. The next is Polish with 40 millions (only one forth) and then Ukrainian, I think. In internet most resources are available in Russian, also for learning Russian. Earlier Russian was important for scientists too. The influence is fading because former Soviet countries do not want to use Russian anymore and English is nowadays the language of science with the most resources in the internet and so on. And it is one of the United Nations languages too.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@qlango If in alternative universe Russia and Bulgaria swap their places it will be another story.

[@qlango]

@@HeroManNick132 Of course. I only tried to explain it.

[@briangentle5515]

Very interesting video. I have struggled with Russian for years. It's a fascinating language and the (ordinary) people are super. You have to go there to realise what are stereotypes and what the truth is. I was fairly good at Russian for a long time, but a lack of practice is starting to take its toll. Some people said to me that as I knew Russian, it would be easy to learn Polish or Czech. I always was of the opinion that this really wasn't the case and used to say so quite strongly! As a native English speaker, I would agree with many of your conclusions. Of the other Slav languages I heard in my travels, the ones I got closest to at least getting a feel for what was going on(!), were Croatian and possibly Ukrainian, though I had thought I might have understood more of the latter than I did! I've no experience of Serbian. Anyway, enjoyed this very much. Keep up the good work.

[@polinaten]

Ой, я как украинка, свободно говорю на украинском (так как он родной), свободно на русском (так как учила его со школы) и так же я хорошо понимаю польский и белорусский, так как много слов похожи на украинский, русский и английский.

[@zt8417]

I am Serbian and I understand every single word that you wrote . 😉

[@oklahoma1232]

You are a gem, I am glad I prescribed to your Channel ! RUSSIA has a lot to offer the world, Thanks for sharing.

[@PJ-we7cy]

You're so lovely, Eli!! Keep up the good work!! 👏👍 Greetings from Sweden. 👋🌟

[@LenaRose1204]

Hey, I'm from Bulgaria :) Thanks for the nice video! I would love to learn Russian one day! It is a very beautiful language! P.s: I love your hair!

[@cirmogcirmog3088]

You're cute

[@SuperCosty2010]

On my 4th trip to Croatia on summer vacation I noticed that I can understand speech on radio pretty well (not that I didn't do it before, it's that I never made a notion), the same goes to writings, most of which I cound understand from the beginning. After Croatia I went to Czechia where I literally couldn't understand almost a single word, it's incredible.

[@josedosanjos2200]

Thank you so much for the lesson !

[@hiberniancaveman8970]

I started to (sort of) teach myself Russian many years ago. Having done Latin in school, I found many correlations (not complete coincidences) between Russian and Latin inflections, which was very helpful. When I first encountered Polish (I haven’t learnt it) I noticed that nasalized inflections correspond to ‘n‘ or ‘m’ in Latin grammar, and further on study I found that these are inherited from an early form of the language close to Old Church Slavonic.

[@KMadvisor]

Eli, your videos are simply wonderful. I enjoy the craft of language and my greatest challenges are: a) perfectionism that makes me shy to speak and b) the ideas I wish to express are far beyond my capacity in all languages, sometime even with a considerable vocabulary in English! Languages I work on periodically include Russian, French, Guangdonghua, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch (in order of familiarity and effort ;-) I mostly claim Russian and French as second "rusty" languages. Sending best wishes for much success, John James from Canada

[@gasperkosmac7672]

Slovenian getting dropped as always lol

[@mehanikal5639]

Slovenian couldn't come, it was busy climbing on Triglav :)

[@sun_geography]

@@mehanikal5639 lol

[@sun_geography]

@@mehanikal5639 😂

[@Turagrong]

Laughing in dual Btw kudos also for having both the schwa (ъ/') and vowel r/l - if I remember well that you have it. No other Slavic language does it, afaik.

[@MrCr00wn]

Slovenia is switzerland of east greetings from PL

[@amonshumate4957]

You are a good teacher, thank you. You also have beautiful hair.

[@robetheridge6999]

I am an American who lived in Croatian 2019-2020. I have a working knowledge of the language, but can understand some Polish. I started learning Russian a month ago and it has helped me in learning Russian. I follow Olly Richards reading style and Watch ”Russian with Max”. I also attending a Russian Baptist Church near Nashville that has helped me tremendously.

[@soldo630]

I am Croatian, and when hear Russians speaking, I recognize some of the words and they mean the same thing, but they are pronounced differently in Croatian

[@matt_aviz]

My wife is Polish, so I've been learning Polish along with my ancestral Lithuanian. What is difficult for me about Polish are all the conjugations. What is easier is the Latin alphabet which makes it easier to recognize the appropriate phoneme when pronouncing words. Same with Lithuanian. Learning the Cyrillic alphabet is problematic, but hey!, if Russian kids can do it, it's nothing sufficient exposure can't resolve, amirite or am I right?

[@breznik1197]

Slavic languages have the advantage that their writings are very phonetic, especially compared to English. In fact, almost all European languages have a phonetic writing, except English and French. If you want to learn Cyrillic, start with the Greek script. Everyone who had physics and geometry at school should be able to do that. Friedrich Nietzsche helped me with a fluent reading of Greek, in his works the Greek words in the original are used. But I don't know if it's customary in English translations as well. Declension and conjugation in Slavic languages are also based on the same principles as in classical languages, Latin and Ancient Greek. In this sense, Slavic languages are archaic, grammatically preserved.

[@HistoryShell1786]

I can read Cyrillic writing with no problem, I learned it overnight

[@sovaoriginal5377]

The Cyrillic alphabet is super easy. It might take you a couple of hours if you’re really concentrating to learn it

[@HistoryShell1786]

@@sovaoriginal5377 yes it is, if you get the right sources, you can read it proficiently in a few hours

[@jaegerms]

I thought all Lithuanians know Russian because of USSR

[@ChrisBattrick]

Ели, спасибо большое за видео, как всегда. Мне очень нравится ваше обучение. :)

[@ChrisBattrick]

@@donofon101 - Eli, a big thank you for your video, as always. I really like your education ("teaching" doesn't transliterate well)

[@AbroadonaBudget]

The article at the end of the word is how Swedish works, too- experiencing that helped the article on the end for Bulgarian makes more sense. Thanks for such a detailed video!

[@HeroManNick132]

Macedonian is the same

[@eipiplusone3791]

Serbian is the most beautiful one to my Russian ears.

[@HeroManNick132]

А хърватския, босненския, черногорския език? Нали знаеш, че те са почти едни и същи езици? Също ти какво мислиш за българския език?

[@arsenic5249]

@@HeroManNick132 болгарский на мой взгляд звучит очень странно, так как много турецких слов и падежей нет.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@arsenic5249 Падежи все още има в българския език, но почти не се използват и най-вече са в местоименията като *кой - кого/кому,* но дали има вече и един падеж останал в тях... И относно за турските думи - това леко зависи. По принцип хората, които живеят в Пловдив, Кърджали, Разград - там можеш по-често да срещнеш повече турци. И там може по-често да се използват турски думи, отколкото в други региони в България. Даже има един език, който се говори в Източните Родопи от мюсюлманското население от така наречените ,,помаци" - помашки език, който за съжаление този език умира и е съчетан от български (най-вече) с турски и гръцки думи.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@mehanikal5639 I know lol but what does he think?

[@dragan024]

@@HeroManNick132 Čovek je rekao srpski. To je jezik. Ovo ostalo što si nabrojao su politički nazivi istog tog jezika.

[@markoignjatovic5630]

From Balto-Slavic language groups. 🇧🇬 🇨🇿 🇭🇷 🇱🇹 🇱🇻 🇲🇰 🇲🇪 🇸🇮 🇷🇸 🇷🇺 🇸🇰 🇵🇱 🇧🇾 🇺🇦 🇧🇦

[@charlesdegaulle4463]

Balto-slavic group doesn't exist. Balts has nothing i common with slavs.

[@kekeke8988]

@@charlesdegaulle4463 Slavic languages originate as a Baltic dialect.

[@charlesdegaulle4463]

stop smoking, wherever you use😆and go back to school ☝ @@kekeke8988

[@noahriding5780]

I find this to be an interesting topic. And very curious about it. Thanks.

[@MiguelSanchez-rl8kc]

I really appreciate your incredible knowledge about the Slavic languages! You are awesome!!! I found this video really interesting; completely different and outstandingly explained by you!!! I'm a teacher of English in Argentina; are you a linguist? I really find the cirilic alphabet hard to acquire; but it's a pleasure to learn Russian!! Congratulations for this video and its content is great!! Da svidania krasiveia diebushka!

[@sophab1156]

Крутое и весьма познавательное видео! Но, как жительница Беларуси, хотела бы заметить, что Belarusian читается через "с" (беларусиан). Нас в школе за произношение через "ш" морально бьют, потому слух уже автоматом ловит такое)

[@marynavesialukha2891]

Если образовывать форму от Белоруссии (как любят наш восточные соседи) - то тогда Беларашан ) но это фу )

[@gleb202]

@@marynavesialukha2891 Я ваш "восточный сосед" и впервые "беларашн" услышал из уст англоязычных. Чтобы никого не разгневать, я просто никак не называю ту страну где столица Киев и никак не называю ту страну, где столица - Минск. Я стараюсь вообще не упоминать эти места всуе. Я точно также называю их "наши западные и юго-западные соседи". Очень нейтрально, политкорректно и безопасно для жизни и здоровья. За "НА Украине" вместо "в Украине" и за "Белоруссия" вместо "Беларусь" сегодня могут убить бутылкой от пива или тупым напильником средь бела дня.

[@samuan001]

Спорный вопрос. Как знаете сочитание звуков /s+j/ в английском дает /ш/. Music - musician, Belarus - Belarusian. Miss - miss you (mishya), so in best terms it could be optional but very hypercorrect. It would like saying "mission" as мисйон, not мышн. English has its own rules despite political correctness.

[@user-se9nm1tl9l]

@@samuan001 белораша

[@mishacol]

По-турецки Беларусь вообще называют "Белая Россия")

[@tozainamboku]

I'd be interested in a video on the influence of Old Church Slavonic on Russian. Old Church Slavonic is still the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, my understanding is that it is much closer to Bulgarian and Macedonian since it was originally based on the south Slavic dialect that eventually became these two languages. Over time the Russian Orthodox Church has made recensions (извод) to the Old Church Slavonic texts to make them easier for Russian speakers to read, but I would still that these religious texts would have a great influence on the speakers of Russian.

[@johniewalker4356]

It’s old Bulgarian, it was the official language of the Bulgarian Tsardom when it was decided that it can be used in church instead of Latin or Greek.

[@HladniSjeverniVjetar]

@@johniewalker4356 So old Bulgarians spoke more similar to how Croats and Serbs speak today, that's interesting?

[@johniewalker4356]

@@HladniSjeverniVjetar maybe. I don’t know how close is modern servo-Croatian to old Bulgarian. But it was the only literary Slavic language and thus influenced other languages with words and grammar.

[@HladniSjeverniVjetar]

@@johniewalker4356 Could be. There is one little flaw in that thinking. Unless you swapped Glagolitic with Cyrilic we had written stuff a century before you in Croatia. So how do you explain this? Saying that Old church Slavonic was old Bulgarian doesn't make much sense if you didn't speak like this before as well and continue speaking like this today. "Otče naš iže jesi na nebesih sveti se ime Tvoje. Pridi cesarstvo Tvoje budi volja Tvoja jako na nebu i na zemlji. Hlib naš vsegdanji daj nam ga danas i otpusti nam dlgi naše jakože i mi otpuščaem dlge dlžnikom našim. I ne vavedi nas v napast na izbavi nas od neprijazni" This is how Croatian sounded like back in the time when Glagolitic script was in common use in Croatia. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the dialectal language spoken on the coast will understand it even today with no problems. So how does Bulgarian sound today? Similar?

[@johniewalker4356]

@@HladniSjeverniVjetar The thing is firstly that Glagolitic was also used in Bulgaria as well before Cyrillic was created. Also your argument is flawed since your assumption that a language is the same only if it stays the same for 1000+ years is wrong. Numerous counter examples exist to your “argument”, one is English. Most modern English people will have quite a hard time understanding even Middle English much less older versions of it. Yet it’s still English. Therefore you can’t base any claims on this. Moreover at the end of the second Bulgarian empire Bulgaria was split in three and after the ottomans conquered it Bulgarians split it different regional identities and the language evolved separately in different regions. For example a dying dialect in the Rhodope mountains is much closer to old Bulgarian than the official version which was created from the dialect in Veliko Tărnovo (old capital). After that the alphabet and languages was reworked two times again, and was further distanced from its roots (last time was by the communists). So the language is a living thing and the 500 years of no centralised official Version exacerbated that effect.

[@jailtongiraodasilva2427]

I'm Brazilian, my native language is Portuguese. I've been studying English since 2015 and now I'm trying to learn Russian. But the long words in Russian made me get discouraged. Great video. Thanks a lot!

[@Mmm1222_]

You can do it. Just listen to native speakers a lot and pronounciation will come more easily. It can be tricky, but you’re at advatage since portuguese sometimes sounds like russian..especially the way Brazilians pronounce the endings of words like “genTE” “saudaDE” and the “nh” sound in like “maoziNHa” which is also very present in russian. Good luck😊

[@jailtongiraodasilva2427]

@@Mmm1222_ Thanks good lady.

[@bhutchin1996]

On Ecolinguist there's a 30-minute conversation with a native Polish speaker and an Interslavic speaker. They seemed to understand each other well.

[@westernwanderer8397]

I am attempting to learn Russian, Polish, German, and Ukrainian. There are many similarities which make them easier to learn the other. Oh, and FIRST!

[@westernwanderer8397]

@@ElifromRussia Thank you! I started with German, then Polish. Recently I started studying Russian and Polish.

[@westernwanderer8397]

@Samuel Montoya Paniagua KZbin, Duolingo, and books. It also help knowing a bit of Russian and German, the languages all share many words.

[@juniorcrusher2245]

@@westernwanderer8397 German and polish dont care many words. Though polish and Russian do

[@bobeczek01]

@@juniorcrusher2245 well if you actually look into it a lot of words have been borrowed back and forth

[@sylwiadrozd9899]

@@westernwanderer8397 if you need help in Polish i can help u check ur results, me native Polish, feel free to ask if you needed, good luck mate!:)

[@jamaldinosaur8815]

Cool video! ❤ Also congrats on 20k subs. so proud of you 😊

[@williamdavenport6863]

Eli, I really enjoy your videos and you are a very well educated woman who is well traveled around the globe and knowledgeable. I think you are probably an excellent teacher and somebody I would love to learn from. If you are not a university professor already, you should study further to become one.

[@BettiVB]

Great video! Bulgarian is an analytical language and there are no cases (phew) :) Bulgarian is quite a modern language in this sense and easier to learn. Greetings from Bulgaria :) I also love Slovak and Czech as my second languages.

[@HeroManNick132]

Забравяш, че и македонския няма.

[@tst678pgp]

Bulgarian is a phonetic language, which makes pronunciation very easy to understand. Each letter of the alphabet has only one sound with just a few exceptions and it always sounds the same no matter where it appears in a word.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@tst678pgp Ама сърбохърватските езици и македонският са малко по-фонетични от българския език.

[@rafaelgiovannetti8340]

If i subscribe to the russian course, what would be the set time for the group online practice (that would be good if you could put the time zone), and do people still get active on the telegram chat after the 3 weeks?

[@emolasker]

From the scientific and language fan points of view, the best way is to start with Old Church Slavonic (or even with its more tough ancestor Proto-Slavic) and then only go through historic changes in grammar, phonetics, vocabulary etc. There have been many attempts to create a new common Slavic language as a kind of Slavic Esperanto (because with the return to Proto-Slavic you would break your tongue and nose). From those attempts you can find up Inter-Slavic on wiki. However, I cannot imagine that without political support the semi-artificial language can flourish. From the practical point of view you can start with Serbian (I myself am Slovak). The "official" Serbian language was standardized somewhere in the middle of 19th century. Probably this is reason it has a relatively simple grammar (said relatively but posses thousand pages text-book): - you do not need to worry about tough sounds - nasals (Polish), ř (Czech), dark L (Polish), - you do not lack noun cases (which were lost in Bulgarian and Macedonian), - you are still in touch with aorist (simple past) and other tenses of Proto-Slavic, - you are not sentenced to overuse personal pronouns (Russian), - you can use both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets and the language is very close to "official" Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian languages, - you write as you hear (mostly), - similarly to Russian, you have to cope with the floating syllable stress (sometimes even more than one) but it is not so strong as in Russian and therefore the pronunciation is very close/almost identical to the written form (no akanie, minimally swallowed unstressed vowels, which are monsters in spoken Russian), - you can watch Kusturica's movies without subtitles. :-D My estimate is that a Slav from one nation can be fluent in other Slavic language in 3-6 months if he/she practices it daily. It is because of the common word roots, suffixes and prefixes. If we omit nowadays English, and old Latin and Greek, here are the biggest non-Slavic contributors: East Slavic - borrowings from Turkic languages, South Slavic - borrowings from Turkish, Italian, West Slavic - borrowings from German.

[@malleus2997]

as a Turk learning Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, I find this a quite useful summary, but as a non-native speaker of a Slavic language, I find my Serbian gets in the way more as an obstacle when I try to learn Russian for example and vice versa. Maybe I should only confine myself to BCS until I reach roughly B2 level

[@emolasker]

@@malleus2997 yeah, to learn similar languages is hard. I cannot imagine learning Daniish and Swedish in the same tíme.

[@emolasker]

@Richard Schiffman Yes, I started with Latin :-) You can LOL now.

[@user-kf9ze2et7v]

I would say that for Russian anyways, the biggest non-Slavic borrowings apart from OCS are actually French/German, with possibly Turkic being next (I can’t say exactly though).

[@emolasker]

@@user-kf9ze2et7v A mozhno ty prav. ;-)

[@turbinexman]

Happy Birthday, Eli!! I hope that it is a very special day for you!!

[@francescopaladini5273]

Thank you so much, I loved this video! I love russian language and I fond of slavistics, I am learning Russian at university and I have studied polish for one year... I would really love to learn Croatian/Serbian in the future. Love this channel, greetings from Italy!!!

[@zoranorlic2423]

Se Io fossi al posto tuo, inizierei col Istro-veneto, e poi con Rovignese and finalmente con Fiuman. Questi dialetti sono un miscuglio (un impasto) tra il Croato parlato sulla costa Istriana e Italiano. In bocca al luppo amico mio.

[@francescopaladini5273]

@@zoranorlic2423 ti ringrazio! Ma penso che imparare dialetti italiani non miei sia molto più complesso, ma ti ringrazio per il consiglio e la buona fortuna🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️

[@havemercy]

Thank you for your videos.) I am beginning to learn the Russian language and hope to eventually use it in travel to CIS countries. Hopefully I will be ready when your club starts in June. I especially enjoy your travel videos.) Btw, I am not trying to be nit picky as I understand you and that is what communication is all about, but in American, Macedonia is pronounced with a soft 'c'.

[@zigalisjak]

Too bad she's not American then, huh ;)

[@Chrisamos412]

@@zigalisjak lol

[@jreid641]

Very interesting. The Cyrillic alphabet is tough to learn as is the pronunciation of words. I have a Russian friend who told me that “the Russian language is even hard for them”.

[@Pidalin]

Same in Czech, even older people sometimes don't know if somewhere is MĚ or MNĚ. :-D

[@yorgunsamuray]

I studied Russian for a while. Then I tried my hand at Bulgarian. There was some common Slavic vocabulary, but some had a slightly different meaning and there were some structural differences too. It does help some, but not too much. Besides the article thing. My native Turkish was helpful for Bulgarian too though. We're neighbors, used to be under the same empire in the past, there are many common words too. Besides that, once my Russian knowledge helped me decipher one Croatian hotel website and I understood the Ukrainian street signs in Kyiv with my beginner's Russian.

[@kosh2001]

Very interesting thanks for sharing!

[@hughjass1044]

English is my native language. I've been speaking it my whole life and I still can't get it right!

[@droty]

Legend

[@jaysterling26]

Write it you native like a.

[@skelet8337]

English is easy to learn hard to master language.

[@ingnavar]

🤣🤣🤣

[@solorock28]

@@skelet8337 every language is hard to master, english is one of the easiest languages in the world, and probably the easiest in all of Europe, the only difficulty is that English has no rule for pronunciation, that is why you have to memorize every word pronunciation and spelling

[@Noldorwarrior92]

I am from scandinavia. And I know advanced german. it got some similar words with russian. Do wanna learn some Russian though since I got a friend from Saint Petersburg. She knows english but I wanna talk to her friends. Russian is beuitful :) really nice video by the way. Keep it up :)

[@Mike8827]

German here , do you mean German loans into Russian ( quite a few ) or Russian loans into German , because for the latter I can’t think of any right now , except Samowar and Babuschka

[@Noldorwarrior92]

@@Mike8827 yeah I meant German loan words into Russian. Think rucksack/which is backpack in English and Kartoffel which is potato is the same in Russian. Not sure though

[@juniorcrusher2245]

@@Noldorwarrior92 I always thought kartoffel was dialectal rather then standardised Russian

[@johngalt4657]

Great stuff!!! Thank you!!! Very Informative!!!😃👍💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@iovitamonk7409]

I'm a native English speaker learning Ukrainian, but I'm able to understand bits and pieces of Russian (I think listening to a lot of Russian music helps). Belarusian is more similar to Ukrainian but it still sounds very confusing to me because the vowels are so different.

[@Aegon11907]

Поважаю вас рідко є люди які вчать нашу мову👍

[@Pilum1000]

@@Aegon11907 что значит : "уважаю вас, редко есть люди какие учат наш язык" Я никогда не учил украинский, например. :>

[@kiravampira1456]

You look like the Russian version of Simone Simons 🧡 beyond stunning 💙

[@doratheace]

No one can look like THE QUEEN! She's the modt divine!

[@kiravampira1456]

@Epicanforetirnity ... and I thought no one is more "Simone-obsessed" than me 🙃

[@josephng8505]

I am interested in Czech because my boyfriend's family is from Brno. It's actually quite fun, but the declensions are so difficult. My native language doesn't have any declensions. I now understand the system of cases a bit, like when to use which case. But memorising the endings... it's hell.

[@vedrancroatiaradanoviccvit8058]

Your knowledge awernes is amazing.

[@LucyByrsely]

I don't know which language out of these was the hardest to learn or understand. I speak Slovak and Czech and even these two languages are hard for me 😂 Otherwise I learned Serbian in maybe 3 months, but only because I was living there and half of my family lives there 😊 I love Serbia. So for me Serbian was a bonus when we traveled to Croatia...I could easier understand them. Also I kind of understand Polish, but usually when they speak slower or Ukrainian...sometimes I'd understand Russian, but I think that that's it. I also learned Azbuka which was fun! 😁

[@alex-em4em]

In fact the Bulgarian and the Russian use the same alphabet. The Bulgarian have all letters except three - [э] [ы] [ё]. For the sound [ё] we in Bulgaria use a combination of [ьо].

[@mara4569]

Really interesting video :) I've been learning Russian for some years now and although my level is not advanced at all, when travelling to Slovenia and Croatia I noticed how similar some common words in Slovenian and Croatian are to Russian. That being said, nobody would probably understand me if I spoke Russian to them and viceversa :D

[@HeroManNick132]

Eh, this very depends. Russian can be yes and not similar at all and I don't guarantee you if you speak in Russian everyone will understand you. Yes we share similarities a lot but that doesn't mean everyone is capable of understanding Russian or other Slavic languages. Usually if you are able to speak Croatian basically you'll be able to speak Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin because they are the same languages with slight changes like if you speak British, American or Australian English just divided politically by etnicity and religion. Slovenian, Macedonian/Bulgarian might be bit more distant compared to Serbo-Croatian but nevertheless very similar.

[@shinnyspace]

agree some russian words are same or similar to slovenian but me as slovenian don't understand russian.

[@josedosanjos2200]

Thanks for the informations about your culture.

[@lydiaredl9879]

Eli it's great to see you still on U tube Lydia

[@robertlove2168]

Very interesting. I found my very minimal Russian knowledge helpful in Czech. First as the woman counting people on the bus I could understand the numbers. Second reading a sign in the Latin Alphabet that said "starry most" I could understand as old bridge. I keep plugging away at Russian because I want to travel more in Russia and the former republics of central Asia.

[@paulsdancing5429]

@@ElifromRussia ...it is the pronunciation. After a week you would start catching the words, (the 60% of proto-Slavic). After a month you would be 90% efficient. 40% of non Slavic words, used in Slavic languages, are of Greek and Latin origin which are used in the languages of all Western countries as well. (Croatia cleaned up its language. A Croatian priest, in Canada, for Christmas Eve mass makes an hour long speech without using a single non Slavic word. I am of Slovenian origin. For my soul it is soothing to listen to pure Slavic Croatian, which I understand 100%. On the other hand Slovenian I understand 60%. Because Slovenia went the other way and is daily adding foreign words into the Slovenian language).

[@user-lr5zn3gy4u]

@@paulsdancing5429 Share your feelings, prijatel. Im russian speaker myself, and to me listening to south slavics after modern russian - as if drinking clean water after cola. As for czech: hearing it i understand nothing, but when i read it i understand quite a lot.

[@JTM1809]

*“starý most” 😉 And you’re quite right: it means “old bridge”

[@kevinkanter2537]

@@user-lr5zn3gy4u ahh - interesting - would trying to read a modern author with english translation then help? I need to understand for my new Czech in-laws. If so, any recommendation for an author?

[@user-lr5zn3gy4u]

@@kevinkanter2537 Im quite out of this topic, sorry. Not sure if such thing as modern czech literature even exists. Never heard of that. They had a couple of names in past though - such as Hasek or Capek - whose writings may have been translated. But i want to warn you (if you dare to read): your love for your new relatives will be tested hard.

[@Sandalwoodrk]

I'm most interested in learning Croatian cause I think it has the prettiest phonology. I'm also interested in the cultural and linguistic influences the Mediterranean has had on it

[@HeroManNick132]

So you want to learn Serbo-Croatian in general?

[@Sandalwoodrk]

@@HeroManNick132 Maybe. But I'm most interested in the Croatian variety. there are also loads of endangered local languages in Croatia I find fascinating

[@mitchyoung93]

@@Sandalwoodrk Not really loads. Just two, Chakavian and Kajkavian. Shtokavian, the third language/dialect isn't endangered as it is the basis for the standard of both Serbian and Croatian. All these are named for their word for 'what' (I'm using English orthography). Chakavian is spoken in Istria and Dalmatia, mostly the islands, whereas Kajkavian is spoken in the mountainous areas north of Zagreb. An interesting fact is that in Dalmatia the old Glagolytic alphabet was used well into the 20th century for religious writings/services of the Croatian version of the Catholic church.

[@Sandalwoodrk]

@@mitchyoung93 I was thinking of the local romance languages spoken in Istria. Like Istriot and Istro-Romanian. there's even an Istrian dialect of Venetian spoken there

[@Sandalwoodrk]

@@meduzsazsa8490 oh those aren't varieties of Croatian. those are romance languages.

[@Chezbythebay]

Thank you for the informative video I’m so interested in languages. It would be great to touch base about the languages within the Russian federation. What might be a second or other language commonly taught in school, for example? Or if you’re watching television, are there other channels that are in a foreign language and what might Be?

[@punkrockjoanofarc]

Russian is difficult for me. I tried learning it on Duolingo, but I quit. I’m learning French and Italian on Duolingo, but doing Spanish in school. Should I be learning multiple languages at the same time? Should I concentrate on the romantic languages before I move on to the Slavic languages?

[@almounasaddiyeh8685]

Very very interesting video for the language lovers, thank you so much. My mother tongue is French and Spanish was easy to learn. Now struggling with Russian declentions it's all a big salad and I'm confused at times. But I super love the language it's so classic.

[@HeroManNick132]

Of course the most spoken one...

[@mehanikal5639]

Pronunciation is good in Serbian-Croatian. There is also the word "grb" (coat of arms)

[@qlango]

smrt :)

[@whukriede]

That was very interesting! Btw, surely somewhat surprisingly, the article as suffix also appears in the Scandinavian languages, but most certainly only by coincidence, not relatedness.

[@HeroManNick132]

Romanian and Albanian have it too and I think Greek too.

[@ranadebray5440]

Very nice 👍 inputs shared from your side.

[@MICEVVV]

I'm Macedonian and the town I live in has a dialect that when I was in the army, I had to speak official Macedonian so we can communicate with other Macedonians from other towns, they didn't understand everything I say. I am from Gevgelija which is located to the south on the border with Greece, and if I speak fast even Macedonians don't understand me.

[@HeroManNick132]

Как така не те разбират? Ти да не си грък?

[@igekal2309]

​@@HeroManNick132gevgeliyskiya dialekt na makedonskiya ezik e trudno razbiraem otnosno vokabularya i morfologiyata, syshto kakto kumanovskiya edni s drugi izkluchitelno trudno se razbirat, osven ako govoryat na literaturen makedonski (bitola-prilep-veles dialekta) samo v takyv sluchay se razbirat napylno. Primerno kakto v bylgarskiya ezik dialektite ot Vidin i Rodopite obache vsepak razlikata e pomalka otkolkoto pri kumanovakiya s gevgeliyskiya v makedonskiya ezik.

[@DuStKalle]

One important aspect was missed in this discussion (probably for the lack of experience). If another language belongs to your native group of languages, you INTUITIVELY can understand the meaning of words even out of the vocabulary of your language and get the working of grammar rules even if they are not existent in your own language. However, if you learn a language out of your language group, you wouldn't have that sort of natural intuition helping you to understand another language of that group. And even if in time, especially when you live with that foreign language, you would get some of that intuitive feeling, it will never be as strong and instinctive as with languages of your native group!

[@denismolina9535]

hi Eli congratulations for your Chanel I'd watch it all the time here on Wisconsin USA

[@axxiom20001]

Your English is perfect! How many languages do you speak Eli and may I ask how did you start your interest in languages?

[@68leiah]

As I am a native speaker of a Slavic language it is a bit difficult for me to learn other Slavic languages. There are a lot of words, that sounds the same but have totally different meanings. Úžasný in Czech is amazing but very similar word in Croatian is terrible. In Czech život is a life in Russian it is a belly and there are many and many others... I can remember a situation from the school years ago... I told my Russian friend "ty máš krásný život" which ment you have a nice life. But she understood that she had a red belly. Same words different meanings 😀

[@fulger2010]

actually in Russia from the literature we know that Krasny is also can be Beautiful (for example the Red Square - Krasnaya Ploschad means not red but beautiful square), same for zivot, we have a saying "polozhit zivot za druga svoya" - means "to sacrifice life for friends" or, which is quite common, "ne zhaleya zivota svoego" - "not sparing your life"

[@s1lmal1r1on]

I'm south Slav, and this girl made my heart in Love

[@realestateinvestingforall]

Great video!!

[@cmconley33]

Eli, I am trying to learn Russian, but I have occasionally seen it written with accent marks like you would see in Spanish or Italian. Is this an official part of the Russian language, or something that is done to help people with the correct vowel stress? I also read and speak Hebrew, which is an alphabet with no characters for vowels. Instead, Hebrew uses a set of dots and dashes around the letters (called “niqqud”) that indicate what vowel should follow the letter-although once you become fluent in Hebrew you do not need the vowels written out to read.

[@michaelcoceski5442]

Privet Eli. My original language is Macedonian but English is my language in use (live in the west). I heard the song Daghestan and understood about 25 %, later I found the lyrics (in Cyrillic) and reading it I understood about 75%. That inspired me to learn Russian ( casually ). I am amazed how many words we share and our alfav(b)et is 95% same as Russian. Polish I barely understand 5%.

[@HeroManNick132]

Така и не разбрах ти къде живееш? Изглежда, че не живееш в Северна Македония и се преместил на запад и сигурно САЩ нали?

[@michaelcoceski5442]

@@HeroManNick132 Roden vo Ohrid (zapadna Bulgaria ..ha.ha ) z'iveam vo Australia od mal.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@michaelcoceski5442 Интересно

[@michaelcoceski5442]

@@HeroManNick132 Razbiram mnogu Italianski .. da sum vo Russia sigurno za 3 meseci bi nauc'il mnogu. (kolku poveke jazika c'ovek znae polesno se uc'i nov jazik) pozdrav brat.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@michaelcoceski5442 Благодаря и на теб!

[@tomredd9025]

My father was born and raised in Slovakia. However, he was an American citizen by birth since his father, my grandfather, was born in the U.S. My grandfather traveled around the world in the merchant marine and ended back up in Slovakia (which was part of Czechoslovakia back then). My grandfather later moved back to America with the intent of bringing my grandmother, father and uncle and aunt over. It was April 1938 when my father, the eldest, came on the S.S. Europa to America. The manifest listed him an American citizen even though he couldn't speak a word of English. Unfortunately, a few months later Hitler took over Czechoslovakia and then started WW II the next year. This effectively split the family. During the War, my father was drafted by the American Army and was sent back to Europe. By this time, Germany had surrendered and my father was assigned to the army of occupation near the demarcation line between the Allies and the Soviets. I found this video very interesting because my father would talk about his interaction with troops from other nations. Apparently, the American mess was known for having the best food and officers from other armies could eat there. Russian officers were of course allowed to eat in the American mess of which they happily partook. Polish troops, as allies, were also allow to eat at the American mess. My father would speak in Slovak to the Polish troops. He said he could understand about 50% of what they said though it wasn't real clear. As far as the Russians, he said he could understand nothing.

[@jpal00]

Cool story from hard times!

[@ksawerykaminski2606]

Which slavic language to learn at first place? Practicality : Russian or Polish( my mother tongue :)) To learn with most ease: Bulgarian

[@HeroManNick132]

Bulgarian is not the easiest, you don't even speak it to tell it even if it is easy or not. Technically it's ''Macedonian'' but again no Slavic language is easy.