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English-speaking travelers in Eastern Europe may be in for a culture shock if they are not aware of the linguistic differences that exist in this unique part of the world. Fortunately, the reasons for visiting these countries completely outweigh the language barrier. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania are fascinating places to visit, and knowing get by without knowing the local language can greatly increase the quality of your trip.
Instructions
1. Go on a guided tour. This is the easiest way to beat the language barrier. There are numerous tours for English-speaking travelers, which can be anything from a boat cruise along the shores of the Baltic, to a trip down the Danube River to a week spent entirely in one city, like Prague or Krakow.
2. Make arrangements beforehand at overnight accommodations that employ English-speaking employees (tip: make you travel arrangements during the daytime). Most hotels or inns will be more than happy to help you make find the right bus or hire a cab that will get you to the station on time. Here, you can take full advantage of the fact that the travel industry employs abundant English-speakers. At the same time you will start pick up a few words of the various Slavic languages in the places where you travel. You might find more similarities than you expect. For travelers on a tight budget, the same thing can be done at youth hostels. Hostelling International is well represented all throughout Eastern Europe.
3. Use a secondary language. German comes first to mind. This is most effective in countries like Poland, the Czech Republic or Slovenia, which actually border a German-speaking country (Germany or Austria). These countries also have minority populations, whose first language is German. You also might have more limited luck in finding a French or Italian speaker.
4. Immerse yourself in the area and language. Try learning the language from scratch. This is only for the very adventuresome and it is still a very good idea to book a room at a place where you can communicate with someone in English. The countries that border Western Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Croatia) are generally friendly to travelers, but difficulties can develop as you travel further east.
5. Study the languages online before you go. The problem with this resource is two-fold. First of all, these places don't always deal with every Slavic language. And learning a language in this manner is just a beginning. Still, you might want to check out internetpolyglot.com, where you can study Polish and Czech or search the database for podcast instruction in the area of your choice (see Resources below).
Tags: Czech Republic, Czech Republic Slovenia, Eastern Europe, English-speaking travelers, language barrier, language German, language learning