Living in Russia without speaking Russian | British expat experience
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 05. 2024
- My guest Kat Sullivan from the UK and I went to the streets of Moscow for an experiment! We tried to speak English with strangers to ask for directions or to buy something. Watch to find out what happened and see how Russians speak English. Kat also told me about moving to Moscow and her expat life in Russia.
00:00 meeting Kat - an expat from the UK
2:21 cultural differences between Russia & the UK
5:53 the image of Russia abroad
10:35 teaching English in Russia
11:34 how well do Russians speak English?
13:49 living in Russia without speaking Russian
18:35 learning Russian as a foreign language
24:04 Do Russians speak English? Experiment in Moscow!
📌elinabakunova.com/russianclub - Russian Speaking Club where you can practice the Russian language. Join us from any level ;)
📌 / katsullivan - Kat's channel where she talks about her expat life
🔸What can you find on my channel?
👉🏻explanation of the Russian culture and facts about Russia that you won't find on google
👉🏻interviews with people in the streets on controversial topics
👉🏻opportunities for education for international students and learning the Russian language
👉🏻travel vlogs from the Big country
📍 More videos:
• Foreigners about educa... - Russian girls about beauty standards in Russia
• Russian culture | Habi... - Russian culture | Habits you should adopt in Russia
• Slavic languages | Are... - Slavic languages | Are they similar and can you learn all of them?
___
📸 / elibakunova - on my Instagram I share more content about Russia, cultures, traveling and my daily life
🤍 / elifromrussia - if you feel like supporting my channel through Patreon
Thanks for having me Eli ❤️ it was so much fun to film!
+1 sub x
I saw you made a video with Natasha from yeah Russia just a few days ago too! What a week!!!! Like your videos. Your boyfriends Russian is amazing, he sounds Russian, it's incredible.
You should try doing it in reverse, go over to the UK and try speaking Russian, lol. If there's one place in the world where no-one is going to try and understand it's the UK. It's almost a badge of pride that you haven't got a clue what anyone is saying in a foreign language. You're too young to remember it but back when I was a kid there was some comedian who used to actually do that, I'm not sure if he was Russian but he spoke Russian and he used to go around doing Russian things and people thought he was bonkers. The one I remember is when he goes into a pub and says: "Можно мне пожалуйста водка." And the bar guy understands "vodka" and pours him a shot of vodka and he starts going through all the Russian toasts "за ваше доровье" etc. then "ещё раз", points at the glass for a refill and then he gets to one where he throws the glass into the fireplace and they think he's gone mad. He used to pretend he was a Russian sailor, iirc, he'd wear a тельняшка. No doubt it's somewhere on CZcams. (I doubt any Russian would ever actually do that though.)
czcams.com/video/Ixyuvdo_Sjg/video.html
@@ElifromRussia Thanks for both of you, that was interesting!
Got a question: I wonder what they learn about the WW2 in UK, specifically if they know anything about the Eastern front?
Would be interesting to watch you both react together to this super popular video on CZcams called The Fallen of WW2 by Neil Halloran (if you haven't seen it yet).
Nice meeting with two tea nations..😄🫖🫖🇬🇧🇷🇺
I am a 68 year old American and took the Russian language in high school..my very best subject.
I love how whenever girls 'talk' they always giggle. It's so cute.
czcams.com/video/Ixyuvdo_Sjg/video.html
@@ElifromRussia Priveyte Ruskiy Kak Dela?? Its nice to see you Laughing so Cute @Eli from Russia
This vid is a feline OD.
Feminine girls like this, yes. It's one of the marvels of the fairer sex, that warm feminine energy! Very light, laughing often. Compare this with the dour-faced stooges in say the USA or even parts of the UK, where their femininity has been stripped by feminist brainwashing and such nonsense. They no longer laugh! Sad to see.
@@harrypike5140 Are you alright?
Hi Eli, I am a software engineer from Austin, Texas USA. I often have CZcams playing on my Television as background noise while working from home and this lead to running across your channel. I enjoy learning from your content and feel you do a great job of not only showing the cultural differences of Russian's and other nations but also just how similar we all truly are. Keep up the great content.
Eli, your blogs are always interesting and informative with diverse content. You would make an excellent talk show host.
I cant believe what happened in Perm! Lots of love, prayers 🙏, and warm thoughts coming to you from all over the world.
Wow!!. My two favourite bloggers in Russia in a collabo. These was very interesting indeed Eli. Much love from Botswana, Africa.
Very professional Eli, you really look like a TV host. As usual you look so elegant and refined. I'm glad you brought us gorgeous Kat again she is just adorable.
If you are visiting Moscow or St Petersburg with little Russian, its fine. If you are living in Moscow/St Petersburg for a while, or visiting other parts of Russia, learning Russian is important. English is barely spoken outside major cities
I think it's right to learn the language of the country you intend to live.
I guess this problem doesn't exist anymore now.
@@YannR34 why???
@@soumyaranjanpatro1131 because there is many more places I would like to visit before to go to Russia now.
It would be like, just before North Korea, or some others, same "style", countries. And I doubt I will have opportunities to see all the others before. I bet that tourism in Russia will not be a major issue in the coming years, decade(s) maybe.
@@YannR34 russia is nothing like north korea lol. The fact that people there can use social media and are free to enter and exit the country already makes it very different
I really enjoyed that interview. Excellent job. Thank you. 🙏
Kat is adorable 😂 I’m from Russia but I live the United States. Russians absolutely love when you try to talk to them in English. When I lived there, I used to be so excited to finally be able to practice my English IRL. Russians love western tourists cuz I think a lot of us romanticize places like England and the United States.
who'd you move to the states?
@@thedmitryguy like...a lot of people? US is number one destination for immigrants
@@slava8617 I meant, HOW'd you move to the US
@@slava8617 sorry for the confusion
I really enjoyed this informative conversation from two genuine and charismatic people.
That was a fun experiment. The Russians seem to be a helpful people 😃❤️👍
I don't know wether they changed after the fall of Soviet Union or not. I still have this warm feeling about my stay in Leningrad and my experiences there. It was in 1969. I just arrived to study Russian at Leningrad Politechnical Institute .
I was at the Metro station trying to figure the system and what trains to get to my destination. I must have looked lost. I was. Ha ha ha.
Suddenly 2 teenage girls (14-15 years) approached me and offered their help. I was able to explain to they my destination. Without any hesitation they dragged me into the next train. We had many stops to change train lines. Leningrad's metro system is very elaborate and I believe the best and cleanest in the world.
Sorry, I live now in the Washington DC metro area. You call this a metro system? Lmao.
I was not even expressed by NY metro system. Sorry, let's go back to my story.
I suspect it took them 1 to 1 and half hours to bring me to my destination. At least same time to go back.
It's 52 years since then. I did not forget their kindness and never will.
When, later, any of my Russian co-students at Moscow Energy acted Institute acted funny I was quick to forgive them for the sake of those wonderful little girls.
This was such an awesome video to watch and the two of you really collaborated so well together! It was also very informative! Thank you both!
Elly ,You blog was so educational for me ,i was never taught much about Russia in school.I really enjoy watching it I think you are very creative, thank you for all of your hard work .I have learned so much about Russia because of you.😎
Your videos are very interesting ! I'm learning so much about your country.
She smiled a lot when asking Russian people for direction. Hopefully the Russians don't think she is crazy. I like her confidence! Good job!
I'm investigating for my channel covering life in Russia, it's about 4 years old and also I have about 200 videos yet the algorithm sill hasn't loved me yet as it did Eli. Can you help me? Can you take a look channel and see what is missing because I really want to improve. Almost everyone who views my videos leave incredible comments about how much they like my content
Hmmm...so smiling in Russia makes you seem "crazy"?
@@AK49IAN Only smiling at strangers
@@AK49IAN they don't have the same facial muscles as everyone else. They're physically unable to smilr
Eli has a very good channel,always entertaining,and informative,she is an ambassador for the way the world should be
The last part of the video where you test English on the streets of Moscow is genius. I could watch this for hours. Probably exhausting to do and film, but I would love to see more of this!
So great; awesome memories! Thank you! :) I spent the last 2 weeks in Petersburg in excactly these situations. But we always figured a way out in russian / english / even german. So much fun! Great time.
It brings me joy to hear these two talk.
Russian landlords aren’t as intimidating as I thought 😂
Mr ditkovich is scarier 😂
@@ElifromRussia search on CZcams, mr ditkovich wants rent 😂
@@AusValue you are 2 months late, AGAIN!
Thats why the women like foreign men apparently. They were complaining about the ukranian men in other vids
Hi Eli, I'm from Brazil and I really like your videos. Your channel is very good ^^/
So much fun to watch:) I dream of visiting Moscow one day and this video was helpful with showing me how it would be as an English speaker. Dostoyevsky is a wonderful writer unfortunately here in Canada we learned nothing of Russia. I am particularly interested in Russian culture especially the arts. Dance, language, and especially music. I really enjoy your videos, thank you for sharing.
CBC is a total trash and russophobic media.
Go to UBC
I'm American but I feel the same way
Moscow is a brutal hellhole. If you are open-minded, the people will think that you are a weirdo.
Eli, what a great video! This makes me want to travel to Russia even more now 😃😃😃😃
Eli, you are a Star. You are so creative and have a pleasant, approachable and positive personality. Keep it up! A little feedback about the sound quality, not sure why but it wasn’t the best (some echo?). Anyways, that’s it :).
POLITE PEOPLE are in Russia; and these interviews are amazing content for a British audience! / / \ \ Keep up the great work!
Hi David, I'm investigating for my channel concerning life in Russia, it's going on 4 years now and I have over 200 videos yet the algorithm hasn't promoted me so far as it did Eli. Can you help me? Can you take a look channel and see how I can improve because I really want to improve. just about everyone who found my videos leave brilliant comments about how much they love my videos
Just don't cross Putin or you will be poisoned to death
Nice and cool entherview
Greetings from Brazil
I feel sorry for your landlord, maybe can include him in the next video so he can be a famous CZcamsr too haha
Ого! Модные ютуб-девчонки, говорят о насущном.. Радует одно - мне кажется, мы "о них", всё-таки, знаем больше, чем они о нас.. Рано или поздно, это будет нашим конкурентным преимуществом :)
Thank you. A very interesting video. Yours always are.
What a beautiful video. I always wanted a video on this topic
Very nice video, Eli, very interesting and informative. Thanks.
Great video. Thanks Eli!
I definitely enjoyed this vlog with Kat Sullivan, You guys are really good together, You Eli took Kat of the hook from buying a chain saw😎
@@ElifromRussia Yeah I saw that and you came to the rescue, obviously Kat living in an apartment does not need one.
Fascinating culture! Thanks Elina
Great perspectives, thank you.
😄😄😄👍🏻I really liked the last part of the video, kat was great!!!! A fantastic video Eli, I really liked it!!! 😊😉😉
@@ElifromRussia 😄😄😄👍🏻Super
Very nice video Eli. Best of luck!
Eli ! You are making interesting videos. Thank you.
Clever exercise on the street - creative informative channel - thank you!
I'm researching for my channel about life in Russia, it's around 4 years old and also I have over 200 videos however the algorithm sill hasn't found me yet as it did Eli. Can you help me? Can you look at channel and see if my topics are not good because I really want to improve. just about everyone who found my videos leave overwhelming comments about how much they like my content
Eli and kat I enjoyed your chat it was very nice and educational lots of love girls 😘😘
You are wonderfull, both of you. Keep up the good work.
Здравствуйте Ели. Я Пол и я англичанин. Я изучал русскую историю в школе. Ленин, Сталин ……….. скоро я буду жить в Питере. Спасибо за твоё видео 😊
In school in France, we had almost no Shakespeare, but we did read Tolstoy's war and peace and also Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment as well as some German authors in addition to French authors (and English authors, too, just not much foreign theatre, only French theatre.)
We also studied the Grand Inquisitor in philosophy class.
This is a great video !! Please ...more , more, more !!
Hi Mate, I'm researching for my channel covering life in Russia, it's 4 years old and I have about 200 videos yet the algorithm sill hasn't promoted me yet like it did Eli. Can you help me? Can you look at channel and see what I can do better because I very much want to improve. Almost everyone who views my videos leave overwhelming comments about just how much they adore my videos
Thank you. Very educational.
I was impressed on how many people actually helped.
As a child growing up watching US TV, it took me a while to understand the UK accent and their choice of English words.
In the bigger cities of both Russia and Ukraine it is amazing how many people speak excellent English. You can be trying to indicate to a sales person what you are looking for, and suddenly hear someone nearby say, "If you would like, I will try to help." That person then proceeds to help immensely.
"Shakespeare is boring", yes if you already read Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy then you really know how great Russian literature is, actually there are many people try to learn Russian language after reading Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy, so I encourage you to read them, they're really worth reading and eye-opening !
I read Dostoievsky and I converted to Orthodoxy :-D So what you are saying is true.
I haven’t read any Tolstoy, but I’ve read some some Dostoevsky and found I love his genius. My favorite of his novels so far (still reading through his works) is The Double. Tolstoy is on my list too. His works and genius have made me love pre-Soviet Russian literature.
Anna akhmatova " Poem with no heroes", she was a survivor of Stalin.
My English teachers always said Shakespeare would find it funny that his works were taught to children because a bunch of them are comedies with stuff like dick jokes, just in an older dialect of English
Come on Shakespeare boring? It was biggest influence on writes and play rights the World over! However your right Russian writers like Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, aren't so well known outside of writers and actors!
Kat Sullivan is so beautiful, what a dress.... Elegant and Beautiful 😍
Also Eli is a beauty, Nice video as always 😘
I'm investigating for my channel concerning life in Russia, it's around 4 years old and also I have around 200 videos yet the algorithm hasn't found me yet as it did Eli. Can you help me? Can you look at channel and see what is missing because I desperately want to improve. Almost everyone who saw my videos leave incredible comments about how much they love my videos
Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, and Solzhenitsyn ought to be required reading everywhere! ♥️🇨🇦
why you put Solzhenitsyn here
@@aur485 : IMO, Solzhenitsyn` s "Gulag Archipelago " is an essential read because it provides insights into brutal totalitarianism, Comunist type. I considerate it a serious warning for Americans, because the Democrat Party is taking America in that direction via "feel good" ideas and policies. One day, we Americans will wake up and .... well, read the book.
@@meteor2012able It's fairytale, fiction. Brutal totalitarianism has been and is in America.
Delightful! And very interesting. Your channel, and Natasha's (Yeah Russia), and a few others have certainly given me new appreciation for the Russian people.
I like Your 'Talk Show Format' !
You must do a video on navigating the Moscow Metro. I loved visiting Moscow and found the Metro easy to use. But some visitors found it daunting.
Hey Eli, I was watching on CZcams “ The Largest SuperYachts of Monaco Yacht Show,” some extremely rich people are in the video, one lady was wearing a shirt just like the one you have own. You wear it well and could fit right in among the richest people in the highest society. The way you present yourself, your wonderful personality, education, mannerisms, taking care of yourself by physical exercise, you could marry a Prince and make him very happy. I hope you do find your Prince Charming someday if you haven’t already. I enjoy your videos. Thank you.
I already watched this video before, but I just saw the news about the shooting in Perm and wanted to share my sympathies. I hope no one you know was affected. Much love from New Zealand.
The walk in the city asking the people in English was funny))
A little throwback to my own vacation in Moskva & Peterburg. Although i was able to get around just fine.
Activating my phone in Russia was the most difficult thing for me because i forgot to inform myself in advance. Totally forgot !
Hi Eli, great video. Very Elegant outfit and congratulations to your hair dresser ! From my personal experience, many native English speakers have problems pronouncing the Russian letter -X- . And yes, Moscow is not cheap, but I heard that it can be a lot fun 😊
I always wondered about the "w" and "v" distinction, because my family from Eastern Europe have no difficulty making either sound, but they reverse which words they use them in. Same thing for the "ee" sound versus "ih" sound. I feel like they speak English better than me sometimes, though, because they use more precise wording and are more careful about pronunciation. And the accents are so beautiful. I've heard an American accent does not sound so pretty when we speak other languages.
When I was at school…some years ago now. Russia came up in geography and history. We learned about superpowers, USSR, the Cuban missile crisis and a lot about WW2 and The USSRs part in that.
History seems to be taught really badly in the UK, but did plant the interest in me because I love history now!
Let’s not discuss foreign languages in England - we don’t even learn other British languages like Welsh or Gaelic let alone Russian!
I love Eli channel.
9:34 Russian literature has never been on the English school curriculum. Unlike in the USA we only study books written in English in our English classes (in the United States where they do sometimes study great Russian novels in translation, I have heard).
The only chance to study foreign literature at school was if you took French or German A Level. Those were the only foreign languages available at my school. (This was back in the 1980s by the way 🤪!) Spanish was a pretty rare language in schools (I would have liked to do Spanish).
The only other language I ever heard of being taught in state schools was... wait for it... RUSSIAN🤪 but this was pretty rare. I would have **loved** to learn Russian. Russian literature is the best in the world (in my opinion) and I was fascinated with life in Eastern Bloc countries.
I finally started learning Russian a month ago, but all I can say so far is спасибо, большой, хорошо, телевизор and хомяк🐹‼️
Hi😊😊I am from Indonesia and glad to see your videos😊😊👍👍👍👍💖💖💖
Have you been interested in Russia for long? I'd be fascinated to know your opinion. I'm likewise a big fan of this channel and I likewise create vlogs about life in Russia. Unfortunately the youtube algorithm has not been as favourable to me yet. Almost anyone who enjoys my content states that it is excellent, yet very few are able to watch it. Can you be brutally honest and say just how I can make it better? I value your sincere viewpoint.
The atmosphere is so cool
the street questions was so funny to watch, i had the same issue with my near zero russian. i could find people with pretty rough english but i did also experience many more people who didnt speak english at all. I found the younger people spoke English a bit more. Im doing my best to speak russian so when i return to moscow i can meet more people
Hi Eli thenku this vidio
I love these videos and typically have no trouble hearing them. This one though is particularly hard to hear. Since I see no audio pick-up equipment clipped to clothing, I assume that equipment is in the foreground. Perhaps that distance is giving the reverberation effect being heard here. That, or this older set of ears here is the issue.
I agree Eli. The sound on your other videos was so great it was disappointing this one didn't work as well.
Wow beautiful guest.
Thanks!
The street segment was great
You're both so cute.Thank you.
At 25:00 minutes the young and others were very friendly when trying to explain where was the metro.
Cool concept!
Hope your CZcams channel becomes the TOP 10 CZcams channel because , world needs beautiful Russia to be shown for people around the world . Russia has wonderful art and culture . Russia has a rich ancient history . WORLD AND INDIA LOVES RUSSIA
Nice way how you ended an interview which turned into a social reaction experiment!
Hi I am new subscriber from Philippines i like your content for your blogging. Keep it up
Great vid. Would love to see you interview Bald and Bankrupt.
Holy cow; in high school (as a Senior, in USA, Alabama) we had to read Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn -- great authors but they took SO LONG to read (and the NAMEs, oh my).
We students were terrified of English class that year!
We were told that the brothers in Brothers Karamazov are common Russian archetypes. Do you agree?
Absolutely not! I’m telling you this as a Russian.
Your "Landlord" is way too soft hehehe... Kat is sooo cute... as well as you too Eli...!! An interesting experiment about the percentage of people able to speak English in Moskow, I could tell maybe 1 out of 10, do speak English or at least try in this video; when I visited Moskow in 1995, I hardly found 1 person that could speak English out of 20 or more that I asked to. That time I got to the airport by "Miracle" virtually...
How about you guys make a video of Londoners speaking Russian, or any language other than English? I wonder how would that turn out :)
I think Russians were very friendly and helpful, and spoke English well enough to help a foreigner in need.
I really liked the edition of this vid
Hi Eli, its great i like this video, i dream also visiting Russia to experience snow a cold weather in Far North hehehehe smile ah these vlog is very good mindset opener and help boosting tourism & cultural exchange. Hoping this conflict will end soon coz we are all experiencing high inflation. Greetings from island Philippines
As far as I am aware the 'th' sound comes from Scandinavian, and the Thorn and Eth letters (that would represent the voiced and unvoiced 'th' in Old English) still exist as distinct letters in Icelandic. No mainland European language, as far as I am aware, has those sounds.
Spanish does, I think?
In my Grammar School in Essex, in the UK in the 1960s we learned French, German, Russian, Latin and Greek, but now, I believe that I'm correct in saying that there is no compulsion to learn a foreign language, which I think is disgraceful, but not really surprising, for the attitude I hear from kids in the UK is, "why should I bother when every country speaks English".
I think that Europe is better off without us.
As a Portuguese, it makes me sad that the UK left the EU. We've been brothers and strong allies for like 500 years or so
The young lady you interviewed obviously hadn't read any Russian literature but I, and my friends at school and University, were familiar with & had read works by Tolstoy (definitely regarded as one of the world's great authors), Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn and TV when I was young had plays like The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya & The Three Sisters (Checkov) from time to time - and those plays are performed in theatres frequently in the UK.
Russian composers are well known in the UK.
So some Russian culture is known here..
Good video though!
I'm Scottish and live in a small town in the south of Russia. My experiences Vs Kat in Moscow is pretty large, I think in Moscow it's more easier to get around since it's more of an international city
It’s like comparing Edinburgh with Arbroath
Hope your experience of Russia in small town is not much worse than in central regions !! 🤔 Mostly people see Moscow and think that Russia is all the same everywhere ... It is as stupid as thinking that US is the same everywhere as in New York.
🙏❤️❤️🌲🌲🌎 keep our world green and love everything and everyone ❤️🙏
😁 Very good 😊 Conversation 😅
The dd character in Welsh is the soft TH sound. From Canada
Thanks for your videos. I don't normally subscribe but have a Russian girlfriend and your videos help me understand the culture. I would love to see more on Izhevsk.
I am Croatian and I can speak some words in Russian. My favorite words are: Gopnik, Hardbasseri, blyaaat and Privet. Spasibo🙏🏻
Hi! I'm russian) what is hardbasseri???😂
@@nevagerber2434 I am not Russian but I did study at московский Энергечитский Институт имени Ленина and speak Russian. This word does not look or sound Russian. I think our Croatian friend has invented it. By the way he also mentioned bilaat as a Russian word. I think he meant blyad Блядь which is Kurva in Cerbo-crоatian.
He also wrote Gopnik. I think he meant Gornik. He mixed the Russian letter R (written as P) with Latin/English letter P.
Gornik (Горник) means mountaineer.
@@ab1858 No, gopnik is a russian slang word, it's like bandit in Russia but they also have sort of subculture compared to regular bandits and thugs.
@@JOHNVS7 I still don't think there is a Russian word Gopnik even in slang. But, hey, the only Russian person here is Neva, I would like her to clarify.
Love the channel, well done. I think what your friend means is that the UK has been screwed up by Americanisation and all the social media nonsense they created which has broken down conventional values, communication and traditional relationships, young people can't even apparently build rapport with potential dates anymore. Yes I'm older but for goodness sake how can you replicate the chemistry that occurs between two people that are attracted to each other by looking at posed photo's of faces and other intimate parts?
Well said my friend!
Can we please just all agree to nuke California?
It is a degenerate cesspit of insanity that is destroying the whole world.
How do you apparently build something. I'm 65 myself, but I've been some places.
@@disposabull It is indeed a cesspit of woke, SJW and the like. We do not need it, we should turn away from Silicon Valley and build alternatives. (It is already happening, the tech-exodus)
@@disposabull Don't leave out Washington DC and NY.
In the UAE we had some of Russian literature, translated to Arabic of course.
VERY NICE INTERVIEWS AND STREET TALKS GIRLS ! 🙂
I wish I could be there with you. When people asked "do you speak English" I really should have been there.
I grew up in germany and learned the language with my family (half american, half german) but settled down back in the states. when I would visit germany and spoke in german, they detected my rough german and answered back in english. lol. I speak well enough to get by but i'm getting rusty now that I haven't used it in so long since my grandparents passed away. Last time i was there was 2003. love your channel.