I narrowed it down to these four languages that seem to appeal to me the most. If it helps you decide, I'm a native European Spanish speaker, fluent in English, almost fluent in French and learning German, Italian, Norwegian and Levantine Arabic.

I'm interested in a language most intelligible with languages from the same family (slavic), and from a country with a rich and open culture. It doesn't matter to me whether the country is small or has little population, but I would prefer a language that I could learn for free or for little money, so no expensive online tutors (I would love to interact with natives but I just can't afford it).

Thank you in advance for your time! :)

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Hi all this is a thing that I’m wondering about for some time: are there tell tale signs how to find out what Slavic language you are dealing with?

Are there special words, letters or sounds that could help on sort of a decision tree to single out or pinpoint a specific language?

Like in a situation where you meet a random person, listen to them talk and in your head you are going “ok, they are saying this, but they used that sound so it’s not polish…” and so on

Let me start, maybe things get clearer:

I would say the easiest one is “ř” - if the person says the “ř” sound in every second sentence, the language must be CZECH (ř is “r” sound with a “sh” sound simultaneously)

…with the caveat that (AFAIK) only Polish uses a similar sound, but it’s more “r” and “sh” sequentially (i hope I’m not saying anything wrong here…)

How would we continue?

My grandparents came to Canada because of WWII. At that time our last name was shortened, they assimilated pretty heavily into Anglican Canadian culture, and I think survival and fitting in became more important than holding onto old traditions.

I grew up knowing we were Czech/Slavic, and I have a deep desire to connect with my culture more than just passively.

I think what looking for is human connection from people who still carry some of this culture in their everyday lives.

If anyone else has gone through this, do you feel the same way? Or does anyone have advice on how I can reconnect with my culture outside of passive ways?

I’ve been getting really curious about how different Slavic people behave online and wanted to ask you all :)

For example — the “)))” thing instead of emojis. I know it’s super common in Russian-speaking spaces, but do other Slavic countries use it too? Or do you have your own versions?

Also curious about other little habits:
– how you show emotions (like laughing, being ironic, awkward, etc.)
– any specific slang or typing styles
– things that instantly give away “yep, this person is from my country”
– anything that feels normal to you but weird to outsiders

If I get enough fun stuff, I might turn it into a short video (Reels/TikTok) later 👀

Looking for subs for Slavs as I've got jealous of how much activity the balkan sub has... Is there any other sub or is this the most active one?