Quote Originally Posted by paulb
On my one visit to London I was surprised at how difficult it was for me to understand many people I passed by. I once asked someone what was the best way to get to Picadilly Circus, and I didn't understand ANYTHING he said back to me.
Обалдеть! It's impossible in Russia, definitely. So maybe Russia is a sort of phenomenon from this point of view, but it is as it is - modern Russian is quite a uniform language. Sometimes (very often) it's so hard to explain to foreigners...

What do you mean "sophisticated"? Elegant, graceful?