Thread: Hurrah, I spoke Russian "for real" for the first time!

Today I spoke Russian "for real", for the first time.
No mixing up with other languages, no fallback on English.
I am in Chisinau, Moldova which is a bilingual (Russian/Moldovan) city.

1) I spoke on the telephone with the hotel cleaner who called my room.
She wanted to know when she could clean my room and I told her to do it later.

2) I asked two people for directions to the hotel that I am staying at (because I got a bit lost). Luckily the hotel is well known and they pointed me in the right direction. I did not understand everything they said, but understood roughly.

3) I asked for Colgate Total toothpaste in a pharmacy and was understood.

Congrats!

Awesome!
Speaking on the phone is especially difficult.

I'm jealous (in a good way)

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Awesome!
Speaking on the phone is especially difficult.

Yes, exactly! I haven't tried to practice Russian over Skype for that reason.

Moldova has been a bit "cheating" though, because about 60% of signs on town are in Moldovan, not Russian.
Moldovan is written with Latin letters and although I can't understand it when spoken, in written form it is a bit similar to Italian.... which is very similar to French/Spanish - which I can speak up to a point. So there are a lot of signs which are easier to read in Moldovan, than Russian, simply because they are in latin letters and sound like a French/Spanish/Italian word.... Food = Alimente comes to mind
But if I see a Russian word I don't know - most of the time I can't guess what it means. Because of the greater difference between Slavic languages and Latin/Germanic languages.

Today I am going to the Transdniestr (if they let me in without an excessive bribe!) and/or Odessa,

After my nice experiences today (see my travel blog in the Travel section) I like the Russian language and people more than ever and I will definitely try to find a Russian course to attend, maybe for 2 weeks or so.. Not sure where though. I haven't got a visa for Russia yet, so unless I can sort that out, it'll have to be in Ukraine or Belarus.