If, as a Polish speaker, all you have really dealt with is Russian and Ukrainian, then you probably underestimate how different the Slavic languages are. Ukrain

If, as a Polish speaker, all you have really dealt with is Russian and Ukrainian, then you probably underestimate how different the Slavic languages are. Ukrainian and Polish are often considered mutually intelligible (at international events it is not unusual to see Ukrainians and Poles chatting with each other, each speaking their own language). Poles have already been exposed to a lot of Russian, either passively through media and literature or Communist-era schooling. Yet there are plenty of Slavic languages that will completely baffle Poles. A Polish acquaintance with whom I traveled in the former Yugoslavia found that she could not even get the gist of television talk shows. Even within Poland, speakers of Polish admit to not understanding a single word of spoken Kashubian, even though Kashubian belongs to the same sub-branch of Slavic as Polish (Lechitic) and, on paper, does not seem so different from Polish at all.