"Pretend you don't understand anything": Olha Freimut explains how to communicate with Russian-speaking people according to etiquette rules

TV presenter and etiquette expert Olha Freimut shared how to communicate with Russian-speaking people. She says that etiquette usually requires switching to the interlocutor's language, but in certain cases, this rule can be ignored.

That's why, according to the TV presenter, you should ask if this person knows English or any other language, and if they don't know anything else, you should pretend that what they said is incomprehensible. Olha Freimuth revealed the life hack on her Instagram.

"What should you do when someone speaks to you in Russian? According to etiquette rules, you should switch to the language of your interlocutor. But since it is the language of murderers... If a person is not from the aggressor country but cannot speak Ukrainian, English, Polish, or Georgian and understand only Russian, sometimes it is better to switch to that language," she explained the rule and added, "Tell them to learn Ukrainian."

However, the TV presenter took into account the fact that speaking Russian while the residents of the aggressor country are killing our citizens may be unacceptable. Therefore, she advised to pretend that nothing the interlocutor said was clear, "If you can't see a way out, smile and pretend you don't understand anything."

She also emphasized that one should avoid making comments about a person who has recently switched to Ukrainian and may speak with mistakes or in surzhyk. This can only be done in one case.

"Never make fun of someone who has switched to Ukrainian and speaks hesitantly unless the person asks you to correct them. We don't laugh at children who take their first steps..." says Olha Freimut.

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