Can anyone please translate what they said to each other?
I understand Tom Hanks was speaking bulgarian and the russian was speaking russian I don't know if they would really understand each other, but I wanted to know what they meant in the script, how he would make the other say "goat".
I speak portuguese and understand spanish, but most spanish speakers don't understand portuguese. maybe bulgarian and russian have the same issue.

I'm Russian. I could understand words but not sentences of what Viktor was saying. I think a Russian could make sense of Bulgarian if spoken to slowly - I doubt in real life the Russian guy would understand him.. It's odd that they couldn't find a Russian interpreter at JFK

I'm a bulgarian and i can say that this scene is very very unrealistic.The russian language use the bulgarian alphabet but they're not simmilar languages.Russians cannot understand bulgarians and bulgarians cannot understand russians.As the guy before me said "In real life I doubt that a Russian could understand a word of what Navorski told the Russian guy".End of story.

Colword you shoud be a genius (lol)
Im Brazilian and, naturally, Im a Portuguese speaker. Yes, with some effort and patience, we can understand some spoken Spanish and even read some words in this language. But it doesnt mean we can understand French. No way. French is as far from Portuguese as English is. Even the written French is totally unintelligible for a Portuguese speaker/reader. The structure is different and the Portuguese vocabulary has the same similarities with the French one as it has with English.
Maybe, a Portuguese speaker reading Italian can understand a word here another there, but we cant understand an Italian speaker, even if he speaks slowly.
Its the same for the Spanish speaker. They cant understand Italian, and French is even worse.

"Yeah, Russians tend to be quite ignorant in that aspect. While we (Bulgarians) were forced to learn their language"
Now that is a very strange thing to say. What can word "ignorant" do anything with this? Its not like Bulgaria was dominating in that ussr-thing so why russians could possibly be forced to learn your language in those times? Its not a matter of ignorance, it a matter of popularity.
"I can literally spend an entire hour attempting to communicate something to a Russian without him/her showing a sign of understanding"
And that is not a sign of stupidity, how can someone understand you if you're speaking with him in a complete different language

I can agree with chochko23. The similarity between Bulgarian and Russian is more like the similarity between English and French than Dutch and German which are Germanic.
My experience shows that Russians do not tend to understand Bulgarian but certain similar words.
In real life I doubt that a Russian could understand a word of what Navorski told the Russian guy.
I'd say that Bulgarian is not quite Slavic language as scholars claim. It is a very different language than Russian, Polish, Czech or Serbian grammatically. Yes there are very similar words but there there are also many similar words in English and French.
BTW The language thing in the movie was funny. Navorski spoke Bulgarian but read booklets in Russian. LOL.

I would agree with vlahov - Tom Hanks most certainly speaks bulgarian in the movie. I am Bulgarian as well so I can confirm that. Regarding the Bulgarian/Russian thing Bulgarians understand russian but russians rarely understand bulgarian.

Tom Hanks speaks almost fluent Bulgarian. That is because of some member of his family - his wife is half greek half Bulgarian (he does not speak greek obviously because it is more known to americans than bulgarian language)
The movie is also full of cliches such as "God knows what Gulag he is been running from" regarding Bulgaria but who (out of Americans) bloody cares
It's part of my job to communicate with people of all different nationalities here in Bulgaria. Done so I've met Russians who learned Bulgarian in 2 years so well you can barely notice the accent and I know also a Russian guy who is 45 yrs old, living in Bulgaria for 25 years and can speak the language with horrible accent as if he is visiting the country for couple of days and is using phrase-book. It's maybe because the people are different. To be quite frankly, I have never ever meet an American speaking Bulgarian with no noticeable mistakes, it is only that I don't really care about that.

Yeah, Russians tend to be quite ignorant in that aspect. While we (Bulgarians) were forced to learn their language, I can literally spend an entire hour attempting to communicate something to a Russian without him/her showing a sign of understanding.

I am Bulgarian. Though Russian and Bulgarian are similar languages, Bulgarians can understand and speak russian, the opposite is not quite right. That's because Bulgarians until 1989 learned russian at school as a compulsory language.
Tom Hanks speaks bulgarian and the guy with the goat speaks russian. It's quite strange that the Russian understood what Tom Hanks was saying. Usually that doesn't happens in the real life

Im Russian and I didnt understand a word But I wasnt trying to, I heard the first two lines of what he said and switched my brain off, because I thought he was just mumbling something with an accent.
However, I do agree that if two languages are alike, its possible to understand them even if you dont speak both. For example, I speak Spanish and I understand Italian, French and Portuguese.
.Brain is a muscle. Use it or lose it.

He is not speaking bulgarian. It is a mix of several slavic languages. Some of the words he was saying even dont exist. However, I am Macedonian. I understand Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Croatian Even though i never learned those languages. I understand 90% of everything you say in those languages.

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But the trick is that the "Russian with the medicine for the goat" in the movie doesn't speak Russian Being Russian myself, I know that for sure:) I didn't understand a word from what he was saying, though it did sound like a Slavic language
what the hell? maybe you sould turn up the volume or something? This was the RARE case in the US movie when there was the REAL russian-talking guy without any foolish accent! I'm always getting realy mad when they try to make somebody speak "real" russian in the movies but NOT in this one

I laughed at that too! But the whole movie, I felt I was watching my ex boyfriend (crat) and his family (Bosnian) and the Serbs in my hometown. Mannerisms and all.
Then they brought in the shiptar!

The big deal is no one should pull statements like that out of their ass. Its just about being respectful you know?

Russia never ruled Bulgaria Timmetie you are an idiot.. before you say something stupid like that check it
Maybe not, but Bulgaria was part of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Sphere of Influence. So what's the big deal?

I am Bulgarian first Russia never ruled Bulgaria Timmetie you are an idiot.. before you say something stupid like that check it . and most of you are right we Slavs can understand each other

I'm Serbian and I agree most Slavs could understand each other in a conversation if they put some work in it.
But the thing I don't understand is the taxi driver at the end
Goran
being Albanian.. that doesn't make sense

That is very weird since I'm Russian too and i clearly uderstood what the guy with medicine was saying, with no accent of course being well known russian actor. Though I did get nothin of Tom Hanks speach addressed to the guy.
The languages are close, right. I've been to Bulgaria once, but probably not being so bright I understood nothing from their talking, thx to god they spoke russian. Some words sounded familiar but when they were speaking fast it was complete blank.

My parents are Macedonian which was one of those countries a part of Yugoslavia so they understood a lot of it, I even knew some words although my skills in speaking the language is poor.
It might be different grammar and different words here and there most Slav languages can be understood if you know one language.
I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
Dancin to electropop like a robot
from 1984:SPERM-TTW

It's not like Victor and the Russian were having an intellectual conversation, so it's completely believable that they'd understand each other, even if slightly.
You are right, Slavic languages are quite similar in grammar, lexis and pronunciation, so if you are familiar with the context, or if it is not very difficult, Russians/Bulgarians/Polish/Chech/Ukranians etc. can understand each other, or at least make themselves understood. Plus, as some of the posters have already said, Russian used to be one of the major foreign languages learnt at Eastern European schools until early 90's.
But the trick is that
the "Russian with the medicine for the goat" in the movie doesn't speak Russian
Being Russian myself, I know that for sure:) I didn't understand a word from what he was saying, though it did sound like a Slavic language
What I can't get here is why the producers would hire a gifted and popular Russian actor for the role which makes no sense at all, and make him speak gibberish at that?%%%

My friend speaks Slovenian but is able to understand Czech. Slavic languages are quite similar when you take it down to the basics.
Everyone has the freedom of religion, but religion should be free.
~Anonymous

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Its a very similar dialect, I speak Polish and was surprised about the similarity to Polish