Quote Originally Posted by gRomoZeka View Post
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,