Zhytomyr is a hospitable city. The lawyer from Poland, Sebastian Pliachetskyi, who came to Zhytomyr to friends, assured himself of that personally. Our hero started his journey from the bus station. Although the Polish language seems more understandable, he decided to experiment: to speak English. About the results of a small experiment, his impressions of Zhytomyr and the people he met, Sebastian told Zhytomyr.Travel
“I decided to change money at the exchange office at the station and spoke only in English. I asked a woman to change 20 zloty, but she did not understand anything from what I said. I took the money out of my purse, showed it and repeated it the same. From the whole context, she understood only the word “money”. Having exchanged 20 zlotys for the hryvnia, he received a document on the operation and asked where the Mikhailovskaya street was and how I could get there. After all, she understood only Mikhailovskaya, took a blank piece of paper and began to draw a trolley bus, on another sheet she wrote “Trolleybus 1, Mykhailivska”. After showing on a piece of paper, she repeatedly repeated:
“Trollleeeeeeyyyybuuuuus, Trollleeeeeeyyyybuuuuus”. I asked about the direction where to go: to the left or to the right. The woman showed up towards the train station, and when I asked, she showed in the opposite direction and gave me a piece of paper. On this, our communication was over”
“In the premises of the bus station, I began to ask people:” Sorry, where is the ticket office here? But nobody understood English, only some showed their hand where there were cashiers. I was indifferent to what to approach, so I chose the first-best and headed to the window. I started again in English: “Sorry, how to get to Vinnytsia?” The woman understood the word “Vinnytsia”. She showed me something on the screen, but I could not view the image on her computer screen. I just saw that the first bus will be at 13:45. Then he asked if this bus was going today. She began to cry to colleagues from other cassettes: “There, there”. Something like to know what “there” means. Maybe she got the answer, but I’m not sure. She finally told me that today the first bus will be for “5 minutes” and something else that I did not understand. At this point, I changed the language to Polish, breaking the rules of our experiment. When my language became more understandable to her, she asked me if I knew Polish. She also said: “If you know Polish, why did not you first use it, but speak English?” She spoke all the time, as it seemed to me, mixing Polish and Ukrainian. I asked her about the price of the ticket she wrote on the paper. Here I saw that the bus to Vinnytsia will be at 10:50. At that moment, I realized that Polish Ukrainians understand much better”
“When I left the bus station, I asked young people, where is the nearest bus or trolleybus stop, from which I will reach the city center. The guy did not really know English, but the girl answered and showed the direction. It was around the corner”
“In the trolley, I bought a ticket, also speaking in English, which the lady did not understand the conductor. I decided to show a paper with the inscription “Mykhailivska”, which was given to me at an exchange office. The lady conductor answered that she would show when it was necessary to leave, and then she showed gestures to Mykhailivska from the window of the trolleybus”
“Asking people in the St. Michael’s Church was rather problematic: they did not understand. One of the women thought that I was asking her about the street, and when she asked the Polish, she showed her hand, but not the other side. I asked others about the same, but nobody understood. I came across an Italian who, obviously, did not know. Then I stumbled upon Zhytomyr citizen, and it was my turn to be surprised: she told English about the route without any problems”
“In many cities on the main street there are people who sell souvenirs for tourists. I decided to talk to a man who sold the paintings, but he did not understand what I was asking him about. It turned out that he speaks German, but I do not know much about it”
“The restaurant also had an interesting story. The first waitress to whom we addressed did not understand, the other understood only a few words. I made an order thanks to the English menu that was in the restaurant”
“As an experiment I decided to ask where there is a” restroom “- a toilet, not a restaurant. The first person I asked was a boy. He came to the aid of a friend who offered to go to the cafe closest to us and ask them about the possibility of using the toilet. Subsequently, I asked the elder woman about the same thing. After clarifying that I needed a “toilet”, she also offered to go to the cafe and ask”
“I understood that without a Polish or Russian travel to Zhytomyr, it is the same as visiting an exotic Africa. Even if you know the language, it is still difficult, because not all people who work in one or another sphere, are confident in their actions and can help on a particular issue. Each city will have more opportunities if the locals will know a foreign language. This is a long process, but it is necessary. It was easier for me, because I was accompanied by my girlfriend, Zhytomyr, but imagine the situation if I was traveling alone? I do not say everyone should know English, but people who work in taxis, exchange offices or at the train station should know. It is important. And I really liked Zhytomyr!”
An active participant in the experiment and the author of the text, Anna Crystal
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
