Crimea talk · Languages in Crimea
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Languages in Crimea
Languages in Crimea
In Crimea, Russian is the universal language of communication. (Stalin imported Russian families into the Crimea, whilst exporting the local Tatars to Uzbekistan) Tatar (a Turkic language, closely related to Turkish) is also widely spoken by the Crimean Tatars. Few people speak or wish to speak Ukrainian. In decidedly and staunchly pro-Moscow Crimea, some might be met with a degree of hostility if spoken to in Ukrainian.
Memorize your phrase book as you most likely will be communicating with Russian speakers.
Few people speak or understand English.
Spoken English in the Crimea is of a low standard. Few people have more than a passing knowledge of English. A lack of exposure to the language and the relatively low number of foreign tourists, coupled with a continued Soviet-style education means that the population is decidedly monolingual.
Be prepared to memorize words in Russian and to become familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet. A few select older people have some familiarity with German, which may be of some use. Those proficient or familiar with Turkish will have a great deal of success in communicating with Tatar speakers.
Some of the street signs in Yalta are in English from the time of the Yalta Conference in 1945.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Crimea
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Crimea - updated Apr 2024
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Crimea Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.